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.
How can you tell better business stories?
Stories are so effective that Og Mandino, the late author of the bestselling The Greatest Salesman in the World, says, “If you have a point, find a story.”
Learn to find, develop and write stories that engage readers’ hearts and minds at Master the Art of Storytelling, our content-writing training workshop.
There, you’ll learn how to find the aha! moment that’s the gateway to every anecdote. How to start an anecdote with a bang — instead of a whimper. And how to use “the most powerful form of human communication” to grab attention, boost credibility, make messages more memorable and communicate better.
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