How to Avoid Cliches in Your Writing

Think laterally.

That's basically it.  Don't settle for the first thought that pops into your head.  Probe a little more deeply.  For example, one of the cliches which makes me cringe most of all is the device of conveying your heroine's appearance by having her look at herself in the mirror. However, if you are really stuck on using it, how about having another character watching her while she looks at herself in the mirror?  In this scenario you still get plenty of opportunity to describe her appearance, but there are several other little plums for you to pick at the same time:

• What is the relationship between the two people?  
• Do they have different responses to the heroine's image in the mirror?
• Is the watcher regarding his own reflection too, and if so what does he make of it?  
• Does the heroine know that she is being observed and if so, does this make her less artless, more guarded? 

 In this way, you can infuse what started out as something potentially extremely dull with some subtlety, and the end result is infinitely more intriguing.

N.B. The same process can be applied to other cliches too.

It's a Bit of a Cliche but...

I hate cliches.  Puffy white clouds? Bleugh! Clouds are always puffy.  How about swollen, for a change?At the very best, using cliches comes over as laziness, although the worst-case scenario indicates a complete lack of imagination and no self-respecting writer would want to take risks in either direction.

Write down your ten most hated cliches - dredge right down to the bottom of the barrel - and then see if you can provide a literary antidote to each of them: the most concise and revelatory description of which you are capable. This should help to sharpen your editorial eye so that you are alert to sloppy work, while at the same time providing you with creative stimulus.

NB There is only one situation in which it might conceivably be allowable to use a cliche and that is if it is a quirk one of your characters is prone to.  So I guess I'm saying it's okay to take stylistic risks like this if it is obviously something you consciously intend for literary effect, but not otherwise,

or you'll find yourself up shit creek without a paddle...