20 Cliches to Avoid In Your Writing

What is a cliché? It's an overdone phrase that has been done to death (notice the cliché). It's the job of writers to avoid them like the plague (which is another cliché). At the same time, ideas can be clichéd as well which makes us ask the question:
If they're so overdone, why do people use them?
And the answer is: Because they work. 
In fact, old ideas are being rehashed all the time. The difference between good and the bad writers is that good writers rehash old ideas and make them look fresh again. 
Here's twenty phrases that have done the rounds (another cliché) a thousand times too often:
jack of all trades in hot water get your feet wet afraid of his own shadow no love lost like clockwork clear as mud babe in the woods devil is in the detail high as a kite on a roll ear to the ground few and far between scared stiff par for the course man of few words go with the flow white as a sheet red as a beetroot worst nightmare
In terms of clichéd ideas, there are plenty of them. They range from the mentor whose job it is to train the apprentice to the road trip where a group of people are drawn together by adversity. These stories have appeared again and again throughout literature. 
No doubt you could turn on the television over the next few minutes and identify half a dozen ideas that have been repeatedly done. 
If you're going to use a clichéd idea, at least make it appear new.
If you're going to use a clichéd phrase – don't. 
There's no room for them in writing.
That's all for today.
Keep writing!
Darrellhttp://www.facebook.com/darrell.pitt