EDIT TIP: Don’t Be Cliche

Avoid using cliches. First drafts are full of them. You know what I mean:

World turned upside down

Released a breath didn’t realize was holding

Diamond in the rough

Nerves of steel

Frightened to death

Time heals all wounds…

Read your work out loud, and these boring phrases will jump out at you.

If you are writing historical fiction, be mindful that these phrases were actually said then. For example: Bingley opened a can of worms when he asked Darcy to return to Netherfield with him. “Can of worms” is believed to have originated in the 1950s in the US by actual fishermen. So unless you are writing a contemporary novel, this phrase is far too modern.

My point: you are a writer. Use your own words.