Clichés and favorite words

Wecome to the Redwood Writers blog. I have the honor of delivering the inaugural entry.

Is it any wonder we can't write without clichés? They pervade our speech. Why search for the right words to form a picture in the mind of our readers when a cliché will do? It's like serving tv dinners or hamburger helper to guests. It's lazy. And it cheats our readers out of using their imagination. Readers want to see, feel, smell and hear our tales.

So, here's a a little exercise. Try going a whole day without uttering a single cliché. Get your coworkers, family or friends to play. You'll notice them more. And, with luck, you'll use them less.

Then there's our favorite words. We all have them. Critique groups and first readers are great for pointing them out to us. Clichés will bore our readers, but overused words will distract them and pull them out of our story.

A later post will discuss flash fiction. It's a great way to learn to lose useless, filler words.