what's the definition of a clichée and how do i avoid it?

>>9182518
or even better, not write such unnecessary stuff at all? leave out the color of the sky, the weather, sensory perception?

>>9182518
He had a mountainous voice yada yada

Her velvet skin blah blah blah

similes are for gays, write facts instead.

>>9183606
figured. but what about facts that are clichées?

>>9183612
well then try instead writing about the effects of those facts rather than their physical attributes.

>>9183678
to stay with my example:
instead of a dark and stromy night, i'd write "not even the moonlight could penetrate the thick clouds and the wind almost ripped out the big tree in the backyard"?

sounds like an alright rule of thumb

>>9182518
>what about overused stuff like a "dark, stormy night" or "bright, blue sky"?
>would it make sense to resort to analogies in such cases? like: the sky looked like a clear aquamarine or the night rumbled as if my grandmothers armoure fell over in the attic.

please do not write this
if the night is dark and stormy you don't have a problem with writing descriptions you have a problem with building a scene
if there's actually a good reason for the night to be dark and stormy then the description will be obvious

cliches are bad because they're lazy, because they're the first thing that comes to mind. Throw away your first idea, and your second, an so on down to your fifth or sixth idea, and you may have something worth putting in print