Tone deaf

[ksmith]

This post in janni's LJ triggered something that has bothered me off and on for years. I wonder if I'm tone deaf to cliched writing, or would know a cliche if it reared up and picked my pocket.

Is cliched writing in the eye of the reader? If you read a lot, and in many genres, do you have a more difficult time finding prose that strikes you as evocative or that moves you in some way? Are there cliches that are genre-specific--the romance images of heaving bosom and throbbing manhood come to mind.

If you have a sentence handy that you find cliched, could you please post it in this thread, along with the reason you feel it's a cliche?

Update: The character describing themselves while looking in a mirror or any other type of reflection--I've seen enough complaints about that one, although I admit to having used it before I had heard it was a cliche. Now I make a conscious effort to avoid doing it.

Comments

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I quite liked Mallow myself, "Aye" and all. OTOH, reading all the erudite and thoughtful discourses on the nature and craft of writing have left me with the conviction that I'm never actually going to cut the mustard as a Fine Writer.

I've used the character-in-a-mirror/window trick; it bugs some people and doesn't bother others. In the interests of not repeating myself, I look for other ways to convey a sense of a viewpoint character. Particularly tricky in first person, of course, and the current book is in first person. At the moment, I've got the picture-of-the-heroine-as-kid on the mantlepiece, but I feel in my heart that's a cliche, too...

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'll ever be considered a Fine Writer, either. At times, this bothers me. Then I think about what I'm trying to do, and what I enjoy doing, and I realize that style and deathless prose aren't at the top of the list.

Maybe that should bother me. I don't know.