The Danamaniacs discussion

Part of the reason I'm a dedicated reader of Dana's works is that she brought back the mystery for me. Most of the time, she manages to avoid cliches and formulas when she writes. This is not always true of other writers.

Today for instance, I picked up a mystery that had five common cliches on the first page. Six if you count the delivery. Seven if you pick on the nameless "you" the first page is addressed to.

And that's when I put it back down.

So I'm curious. How many cliches is too many cliches for you?

I agree. Some writers tend to use the same phrases or a favorite word over and over. It becomes predictable and not good reading.