Crime, Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

At a New York City newspaper where I worked, an editor once told a very famous and successful columnist: "I took the cliches out of your copy." The columnist replied: "Well, put them back in...the cliches are there for a reason." I agree that cliches are not always bad.

Sometimes they say exactly what we need them to.

I'm not afraid to use cliches in dialogue...I think that's how people speak, but I do try not to use them anywhere else.

But I like the cliche challenge! Blond bombshell...blond with a figure that made men speechless. A perfect example of how not using the cliche makes the description less concise.

How about - all hell broke loose. (I've actually seen this one used and it made me laugh).

People talk a lot in cliches. So why not use them in writing too? They help capture the feel of a lot of real life conversations in a novel...The Kennedy Connection: A Gil Malloy Novel