Cliches - How To Love Them

I had a great creative writing tutor when I was at college, which is a while ago now. He told us: 'Cliches are cliches because they work'. By that he meant that if a phrase only becomes a cliche because people decide that it works. Then he went on to tell us to avoid them at all costs.

So, in a way, that's contradictory advice.

Cliches can be good. With a cliche you know what you're getting. You have this phrase that, for years, people have used. Which is good. It means that they identify with it. It's familiar to them, like a pair of old slippers. They know exactly what it means, which removes any chance of misunderstanding. And misunderstanding is the enemy of good communications.

So what's the problem?

Cliches make the mind fog over. If used one after another, the reader or listener shuts off. We tell ourselves that this person has nothing new to say. The human mind is a wonderful device. Its curiosity has propelled us forward with great scientific advances. It likes nothing better than to make discoveries. If curiosity killed the cat it also drew the human race out of its caves and into the light.

From the point of view of the writer, cliches can be a product of the lazy side of the mind. When reaching for a phrase, often the first thing we think of is a cliche. And that's okay. We might beat ourselves up about it but it's natural. The mind wants to get a lot done as fast as possible. It's only when we settle for that initial phrase, rather than exploring other possibilities, that we should hit ourselves over the head with a blunt instrument.

But where does that leave us? Cliches are good and bad. Which is it? Do we use them or not?

Yes, we use them. Frankly, it would be hard not to. And sometimes they are a useful shortcut. But they should be used judiciously and sparingly. At the end of the day, when all's said and done, in a nutshell, come rain or shine, for better or worse, there's so many of them it would be hard to avoid them.

So you might as well love them.