The key to strong writing is not just to communicate an emotion or idea, but to make the reader feel it through your words. Striving for originality helps your writing resonate more deeply with your audience. Work your way through the activities in these slides to practice avoiding clichés to keep your writing fresh.
Techniques need to be used deliberatively. Sometimes writers overuse a technique, usually the simile, which makes your writing seem repetitive. This is a sure fire way to pull your reader out of the spell that you're trying to cast upon them. Look through the slides to see some examples of this.