h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I agree that the avoidance of the stale and predictable is one of the challenges of the contemporary writer.

The people who write stuff for staff seminars and the like seem particularly prone to ghastly cliche. I remember 'blue sky thinking', 'step change', 'thinking out of the box' and 'breaking out of silos'. The worst was 'working smarter, not harder', which meant that jobs were going to be cut.

But what I was going to say, before I got distracted, was one helpful tip for avoiding cliche is to look for the specific detail, rather than the general statement. So, instead of writing 'the wind was whistling down the street', write 'the wind caught the edge of an old hoarding, tore a piece off and sent it flapping down the street'.

Good one.

I think that goes along with 'show, don't tell'. If you show the effect of the wind, you share the experience.

Also, if the reader gets to draw the conclusion, the reader's getting to do the work - which makes it much more enjoyable, not to mention more vivid.