Just Say No to Abuse Declaring War on Terrorism. Here are a few . . . Active sentences are better than passive ones. You may not be able to get rid of every single passive construction in your story, but make sure their quantity is kept to a minimum. Characters may say or ask.
Cliches are bad.
You can get away with them occasionally if you use them wisely and rarely. But the wise writer avoids them like the plague. If she always carries the box with her, it's important enough to be noted in the first bit of character description. Then, later, you only need to remind the reader that she has a box. Grab the reader by the nose.