Nightmares and Cliches

I finally finished the Fafsa. That application is a monkey's bare bottom. Not like I'll get any money from it, but I like to cross my t's and dot my i's.

So, I'm reading Stephen King's "The Green Mile" which is brilliant and creepy and I woke up in the middle of the night from a wierd nightmare that I sussed was based on my reading the book... I've spent the entire day trying to remember the nightmare, because while it was scary at the time, I recall waking up and being impressed with my subconcious for coming up with it.

For the last 5 weeks of my writing course, there seems to be a pattern emerging. I can do the characterization and the plot and the point of view - but I always use ten words where two would suffice. So, I'm working on sharpening my prose - and eliminating cliche's, though this is a toughie because certain characterizations necessitate cliches in the narrative, and it's a matter of knowing when.

I suppose you could take the previous paragraph as a "case in point." I couldn't come up with a good non-cliche for that.