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Q&A How to deal with cliche dialogue?

1) Lengthen it. You're not going to have rat-a-tat-tat patter graveside. 2) Take each phrase you feel is clichéd, determine the meaning, and rewrite it in different words. "All we want is for our ...

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:24Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/12781
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T03:43:51Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/12781
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T03:43:51Z (almost 5 years ago)
1) Lengthen it. You're not going to have rat-a-tat-tat patter graveside.

2) Take each phrase you feel is clichéd, determine the meaning, and rewrite it in different words. "All we want is for our children to grow healthy and happy" becomes "That's my biggest responsibility and my biggest hope — that my children are healthy and happy, and we didn't break them too much on the way to adulthood."

3) Try the exercise I recommended in my answer to [this question,](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/3938/dialogue-writing-practices) where you and a friend ad-lib the scene and record it. Play it back and see how real, unscripted dialogue sounds.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2014-09-05T10:05:38Z (about 10 years ago)
Original score: 5