It takes a lot of work to write well, and sometimes we go for what's easiest instead of what's original.
During the drafting stage of a manuscript, some phrases and combinations of words tend to roll off our fingers and into our stories because they're easy. These phrases aren’t clichés, per se, but they’ve been used so often by enough writers that they carry the same feeling as a cliché when readers read them.
- Beamed a smile
- Cacophony of sound
- Shrugged a shoulder
- Hair flowed down her back
- Any kind of glow from any kind of light
- Releasing a breath you didn't realize you were holding
They also tend to sound “right” to us, and that's the problem.
