Engage your readers’ senses with metaphor
In A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor described a character as “a young woman in slacks…
“… whose face was as broad and innocent as a cabbage.”
You can describe all the details about a person, place or thing. But nothing helps your readers see your subject like analogy.
Or hear it.
In Double Image, David Morrell wrote:
“The voice chuckled, its crustiness reminding Coltrane
of a boot stomping dried mud.”
Or feel it.
Kurt Vonnegut wrote:
“He shuddered gently,
as though a small motor were idling inside.”
Or taste it.
How could anyone ever choose a bottle of wine without analogy? Yesterday, I had a glass of Spanish Grenache that was described as tasting like “smoked cherries.” (Mmmmmmm … smoked cherries.) I love the wine descriptions on Vinesugar.
But the best analogy for taste is Raymond Chandler’s line:
“I lit a cigarette [that]
tasted like a plumber’s handkerchief.”
Yuck!
Describing something? Engage your readers’ senses with analogy.
