A side of hot tips: kiss clichés goodbye

Though easy and tempting to sprinkle throughout your writing (but oh-so lazy too), the consistent use of worn-out clichés is a recipe for boring your reader and yourself.

When we’re churning and burning a lot of copy in a short timeframe (hello, magazine deadlines!) it’s easy to become complacent and start reaching in to our bag of tricks for those cheeky clichés.

Not only do we start to use the same favoured sentence patterns over and over, but we also begin to pull out lines that don’t add any extra clarity or value to our work.

For a food writer, this can be something as simple as ‘cooked to perfection.’ A phrase like this doesn’t hold much meaning, nor does it give the reader any idea of how the dish should look, smell or taste.

And yet, once you know the rules and become aware of common clichés, you can learn to play around with them. You might begin to notice that ‘contradicting clichés’ is a common technique used in headlines. Think, ‘Here’s why you should judge a book by its cover’ (note: please don’t use this one – this too has become a cliché by being anti-cliché). Avoiding clichés means you have to work harder at being original – but that can only be a good thing (and can’t hurt your SEO either).

If you think you’re beginning to overuse particular phrases or rely on any clichés, keep a list of these pests near your workspace or in your phone so you can pull yourself up when you get tired. Many editorial teams have a ‘banned list’ of overused terms (think ‘this vintage store is a treasure trove’), which forces writers to get a little more creative (or accurate) with their descriptions.

Create your own list of words and terms you think you need to cut down on – and, if you come up with fresh, clever ideas to use in future, keep a list of these for those days when the sentences aren’t flowing as easily, or you’ve run out of coffee (again).