My attention was drawn to a blog from author and speaker, Leslie Wilson, who cautions writers about using cliches. These are overworked phrases that are trite andscream "weak writing" to editors. While the message is important, her article is funny since she's written the entire thing in cliches. It will give you a taste of why cliches detract from a fresh writing style. If you'd like to read No Really: Kill Your Cliches, hit the link below and get a chuckle as well as a great understanding of why not to use cliches.
http://www.marydemuth.com/2011/04/no-really-kill-your-cliches/
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4 comments:
Cliches do suck the life out of writing. If readers can afford it I recommended Serenity Software's Editor which is the best Grammar software I've come across after testing many. It picks up Cliches wonderfully as well as being an excellent all round Grammar checker. Failing that the inexpensive Cliché Cleaner also does a good job in highlighting those perhaps unnoticed cliches in writing.
What a great post! Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Gail.
I have been devouring the information on your blog, how insightful the information has been! The amount of spelling and grammar errors however throughout your posts tarnishes said information and makes me wonder whether the advice is as sound as it seems to be.
Anonymous - Thanks for letting me know that you've found the information helpful on this blog. I am a novelist and speaker, plus very involved in music. I love sharing the information I've garnered after writing 48 contracted novels. The novels as edited many times by me and by editors whose job it is to make my book the best it can be. The blog is another thing. I'm rushing to get these written so I can share things with you in a timely manner. I write it and read through it once and send it out. I always hope that I've caught most of the errors but I'm not the best proofreader in the word by any means. I'm sorry my lack of time tarnishes the information. I guarentee you that what I'm saying is what works for me and many traditionally published writers. was honored to write a book for Writers Digest, and I'm a certified teacher, working for many years in high school and at the universtiy level so I know good teaching techniques. Wish I could tell you the blogs will be perfect from now on. I can't if I want to continue to share this information with you. I hope you can look past the typos and careless grammar errors. (I am an English teacher) and still learn from what I've written. Thanks.
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