Avoiding Cliches

When I'm working on my first drafts, sometimes it's easier for me to choose a cliched description and keep going. It's natural. These are the things that come to mind first and when you're writing a couple of thousand words in a sitting, they're not going to all be gold.
It's a note I get back from all of my earliest readers, "Take out the red pen and get rid of the cliches."

In fact, that might have been my favorite note from one of my favorite authors after he'd read one of my books. Warren M...