Hello, writers. We talked a bit about clichés last week. What's wrong with them, anyway?
Nothing. It's just that when you're revising, you should be conscious of them. And, wherever possible, you should try to replace them with something more your own and closer to what you really want to say.
Clichés often catch on because they're very clever. Then they get repeated until they're no longer clever any more. Last year's was “I don't have any @#$%s to give.” This year's is “I can't even.”
I had some fun with old clichés in Storm Before Atlanta. Civil War era people said some catchy phrases.
Like
I don't care if school keeps or not.
and
It's darker than a stack of black cats out there.
But at some point those, too, must have become so old hat (that's one) that no one paid attention to them anymore.
So part of the revision process should be going through your manuscript, identifying the clichés, and deciding if there's a better way to say what you want to say. Sometimes there isn't. (“Night fell” is pretty succinct, after all. So is “old hat”.)
By the way, a cliché I've never understood is this one:
hoping against hope
What does that even mean, anyway? I have no idea what it means. It makes no sense.
Tonight's challenge, should you choose to accept it:
Write a passage, scene, limerick, or anything else in which you use the phrase “hope against hope” and it makes sense.
Try to limit yourself to 100 words.
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