As one of my favorite XKCD comics illustrates, it's easy to fall into the same shtick again and again.

Every writer has his or her habits” I’m not talking about our physical writing habits, such as when or where we write, but rather the phrases and structures that reappear in our writing time after time. Some people would call this a “signature style,” but often these habits devolve into lazy fallback devices.

In screenwriting, it’s particularly easy to fall back into personal cliches. Habits ingrained in our minds from years of watching television and movies become hard to break. I groan every time I find myself writing “she purses her lips” or “she quirks an eyebrow” and yet I do it again and again.

The best solution? For me, it’s all in the observation. I try to observe how people act at their most emotional. Skepticism is almost never demonstrated with a quirked eyebrow, for example. That’s visual shorthand and does nothing to add depth to an emotion. Perhaps the character can display their skepticism by tripping up their action a little or even acting towards a back-up plan if they think the plan they’re skeptical about won’t work.

I’d love to hear others writers’ takes on their own habits and how they break them, so feel free to comment away!