How to Rejuvenate a Cliche for Creative Writing

Writers of all stripes often struggle with the old menace that is "the cliche." Cliches threaten to undermine the work of a writer at every turn, and avoiding them is part of keeping your style fresh and impressive. Some phrases and turns of speech can be redeemed from being "cliche" depending on the use or context. Here are some ways to redeem cliche phrases in a narrative.

Instructions

1. Use sarcasm. Some of today's best writers are adept at the mock art of making the trite or mundane come alive with hilarious double meaning. Even some old masters (the late Kurt Vonnegut among them) were great masters of sarcasm, or in Vonnegut's case, its cousin "black humor." These techniques can make even the most hackneyed words spring to life.

2. Put the cliche in the mouth of a cliche character. A writer can create a character who will predictably spout a cliche phrase, and it will become realistic. Giving cliches to character dialogue is part of skillful character creation, which is a cornerstone for fiction writers everywhere.

3. Insert a cliche in a stream of consciousness. You've probably seen it before: a trite, even silly phrase embedded in a babbling, flowing surreal narrative. From the old days of James Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake" and the poetry of E.E. Cummings, cliche has been flowering in stream-of-consciousness writing, where the rules of diction are admittedly a little different.

4. Use cliches in titles. As in character dialogue, a cliche can have a simpler, more realistic tone if set in a title of a chapter or humorous name of a noun in your writing. This makes the cliche more of a deliberate "slapstick" experience than a writing faux pas.

5. Give it a twist. If you feel a certain phrase has become cliche, change it slightly or say it another way. Making words your own is part of good writing overall, and if you're able to turn a cliche or trite phrase to your own ends, your writing will prosper for it.