Avoid transitional clichés
Transitions can be hard to write. Maybe that’s why we keep turning back to these hackneyed transitions, listed in a Poynter Institute forum:


until Aug. 31
- “But then the dream became a nightmare.”
- “But then something went horribly wrong.”
- “But that was about to change.”
- “When he first … he never dreamed …”
- “But then something happened that would change her life forever.”
- “Then she experienced every parent’s worst nightmare.”
- “For now they can only watch and wait.”
- “What a difference a (day, week, month, year) makes.”
- “Now the victims are picking up the pieces of their shattered lives.”
- “At the end of the day …”
Fresh transitions drive readers further into the story. These clichés just cause readers to roll their eyes — and go back to sleep.
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