Written Clichés. — Do you know some?

[Writer’s_Magic]

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t talk about clichés like the girl’s more a boy-thing. Or the chosen one.
I talk about those clichés which are often used in the texts. You know: “He smiled like a child in a candy store.”.—Kinda written clichés.
But this example can’t be the only one. Do you know some of this kind?

 

[Orc Knight]

Tossed like a ship at sea (or a salad, maybe also at sea).
A light in the dark.
Stumbled like a drunk.
Bull in a china shop.
Graceful as an orc.
Hoarding like a dragon.

That sort?

 

[Writer’s_Magic]

Orc Knight Is "My legs are like Jell-O." a cliché, too?

 

[Orc Knight]

Yeah. Or the legs turning to jelly, usually the love at first sight or being terrified. Or both at once, because why not?

 

[pmmg]

I thought boys mostly talked about girls...and sports and politics and beer. But clichés...I am not sure about that one.

I find, in my own writing, avoiding well worn phrases, such as 'like a child in a candy store' is not so hard to avoid. I like to be creative and in period, so as there are no candy stores in the story, no one would ever use that particular phrase in it. The cliches I find hard to avoid are the ones that would belong to fantasy tropes, such as dark lords, and chosen ones and dwarves who talk like Scots. I think, particularly in traditional fantasy, those are hard to avoid because they just seem to naturally fit in.

I do know more phrases like the one mentioned; A bull in a china shop, a cat who got the canary, a dragon who captured the princess (okay, not that one), but I dont really use them. I would not be opposed to them though, everything has its place, and sometimes these might serve to get something said without drawing a lot of attention to how I am not saying it (did that make sense?), but generally I try to write in a language, including a phraseology that the characters would understand, and be a part of their world. My character would never say white as snow, for instance, if they have never seen snow, but they might say white as a field of lillies if they were to want to say such.

All these cliche's though. I dont fret them. They are all just tools in a tool box. These might be in the part of the tool box with the duct tape and the collection of left over screws, but, if its the right thing to use, than I guess it should be used.

 

[Orc Knight]

Definitely in agreement with pmmg about the cliche thing. They are tools at the end of the day and just matters how you use them.

 

[Writer’s_Magic]

Orc Knight they make the picture in the reader’s head more vivid.

 

[Writer’s_Magic]

Don brought home the bacon.
My face is red and the veins popping. I would be able to throw him more than hundred miles away. I am as angry as the hulk.—However, I must keep calm if I don’t wanna to be fired.

And how about that? Is that clichéd?

 

[Epulon447]

Or how about how just about every spooky campfire story goes. Or the Scooby Doo "I would've gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddlin' kids!" trope. Plots can also fall into the same category of cliches that descriptions do. And you can tell just how good the storyteller/author is when they paint themselves into a corner with their cliches and they have to do a deus ex machina to save the story. There is a reason why not everyone is a writer. Although there are some horrible writers that somehow get famous. That always gets depressing quickly.