Category: Cliche

Don’t Take Writing Advice

1/1/2026

by Adam Buckley

Via Aaron Burden on Unsplash

The irony of this statement is not lost on me. By telling you not to take writing advice, I am, in fact, giving you writing advice—however!—if you follow me where I’m headed, you’ll see where I’m coming from. Age-old axioms like “show, don’t tell,” and “good characters have agency,” have kernels of truth to them; that’s why they’re so often repeated, but what comes after? How do writers really get better? My goal here isn’t to rebuke the institutions of writing criticism or education entirely, more so to make the case against generalized platitudes and advocate for contextual and self-motivated methods of improving one’s work.

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What's in a Name?

8/1/2025

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by Alexa Diamant

via flickr by Steve Jurvetson

The enemies have taken over the ship! Quick, Captain, we must board our escape pods and find life somewhere else. But before we go, you’ll need to verify your identity to access the pods. What do you mean you don’t know? What’s that you say—the author changed it again? Damn those writers and their incessant need to constantly change our names!

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Burying a Buzzword: Is Anything Unprecedented?

2/1/2025

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by Jamie M. Roes

Unprecedented means “unknown”: we have never done this before. We do not know how to do this thing and we do not know the level of success that lies before us. It is an intimidating word. Sometimes, we like this feeling of the unknown; it’s why mystery novels are so popular. Reading a mystery novel does not impact the larger areas of your life though. In 1927, writer H.P. Lovecraft stated, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest fear is the fear of the unknown.” This phrase was eventually reduced to “the fear of the unknown” and it is a fear caused by a lack of information and a low tolerance for uncertainty. Uncertainty does not allow us to predict an outcome, which means we can not make a future plan.

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The Cliche of the Month

6/1/2017

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by Rachel Saltzman

It begins in middle school; writing skills are in a crucial stage of development, and so teachers are more focused on systematic writing such as essays, grammatical structures, and proper spelling. At this age, kids are taught what effective, tasteful writing incorporates, and which elementary techniques can be rushed to the curb for good. This is when ‘it’s raining cats and dogs,’ and other cute phrases that are found in children’s books, are banished from any and all forms of writing.

We all know (supposedly) what a cliché is, what it looks and sounds like. But why are clichés considered bad for writing? The common argument is that clichés and common tropes are overused, to the point where most casual readers cringe at the sight of one. If the goal of any writer is to craft a story, essay, or narrative using a unique and well-developed voice, then of course clichés can only impede the process. If these banal phrases, expressions, and ideas have long been exhausted, then where and when were they first used?

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Don’t Take Writing Advice

What's in a Name?

Burying a Buzzword: Is Anything Unprecedented?

The Cliche of the Month

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