“I don’t quite know how to describe what I’m feeling,” you might say during your writing as you grope for a way to describe in words this emotion that is beyond words. There is a solution to this dilemma that writers often resort to—but too many writers are sure they can’t handle it. The solution? It is the use of images, specifically similes and metaphors. These will bring your text to a level beyond words.

Not sure how to handle these literary techniques? Not to worry. The following article explains much. You will read examples of similes and metaphors and learn the difference between similes and metaphors.

1. A simile is a comparison that uses like or as.

When you say, “Life is like a merry-go-round”, you are making an image we call a simile—even if it’s not a terribly original one. It’s a simile, too, if you write, “I’m busy as a bee.” In a simile, because of the use of like and as, it is clear that the writer is making a comparison. Here is an example of a simile:

2. A metaphor is a comparison that does not use like or as.

You make a metaphor when you say, “Life is a merry-go-round.” Metaphors are images just like similes but they are different from similes in that the comparison is a touch hidden. There is no like or as to cue the reader—that is the only difference between a simile and a metaphor. Life, of course, isn’t really a merry-go-round—what you mean is that life is like a merry-go-round: it has speed, a sense of thrill, and fancy. And of course, when you say “busy as a bee,” you do not mean to say you are a bee but that you are merely like a bee in your busy-ness”.

I hope Robert Burns will forgive me for altering his verses below but it’s done for the good of literature—your memoir. Had Burns omitted the word like he would have written a metaphor—but, of course, he did not. The image would have read like this:

Both similes and metaphors appropriate for one person, thing, or idea a quality that belongs to another. Robert Burns hoped that we would ascribe our feelings for the beauty and fragility of a red rose to love.

He is saying: Isn’t love just as beautiful and fragile as the rose?)

Similes and metaphors “borrow” meaning from other words, but they clearly “borrow” just a portion of the meaning of the person, the thing, or the idea which is being compared to another.

Like two gray circles that overlap only partially to create a darker area (the previous phrase is a part of a simile), similes and metaphors overlap only partially the meaning of the thing or person to which they are compared.

3. Similes and metaphors are not definitions of persons, things, or ideas.

They are different from definitions. Similes and metaphors are vague and so they are often used in clusters. In fact, writers often stack a number of similes or metaphors before they feel they have achieved the effect they were striving for.

Burns attempts to pinpoint his love one more time by writing  in the same stanza, “My love is like a melody/Sweetly played in tune”. When the author adds this new simile to that of “My love is like the red, red rose/That’s newly sprung in June,” he is attempting to create clearer meaning by stacking similes.

Your writing, too, will require that you stack a number of similes and metaphors before you achieve the effect you are striving for.

Again, similes and metaphors are not definitions! Definitions are precise. When you write that a merry-go-round is a carousel, you are not saying that it is like a carousel; you are clearly stating that a merry-go-round is a carousel. You are defining the word merry-go-round.

Unlike similes and metaphors that thrive on ambiguity, definitions thrive on clarity.

Similes and metaphors appeal to a poetic sense which accepts and appreciates without being judgmental and evaluative. They tap into our childlike relationship to the world.

By including appropriate similes and metaphors, you will engage your reader in a way that circumvents the rational mind.

Because of this, similes and metaphors are especially effective within lead paragraphs or for introducing characters.

4. Similes and metaphors have to make sense.

Many writers will let their imaginations wander and they will create fanciful images. It is always good to let one’s imagination wander, but then some part of you as a writer has to evaluate whether it has created appropriate images.

A best rule of thumb in creating an image is to look within the nature of the thing or person whose meaning you want to expand. If the person is a farmer, use farming analogy and not machine shop ones. If the person is a doctor use medical similes and metaphors and not merchandising ones. Here are some examples of wrong choices:

• When you write about the ebb and flow of desert life you have created a confused metaphor. Ebb and flow refers to the ocean’s tides, and by applying it to a desert, you are linking a dry environment with water. This is not appropriate. You need to find a simile or metaphor that doesn’t allude to moisture. You might refer to the comings and goings of desert life. Now this is not a metaphor but it does not give the reader an inappropriate image.
• More difficult to grasp is a phrase like “my life boiled down to.” This image refers to a liquid being reduced in quantity. If your life included a discussion on soap making where boiling down is a part of the process, this attempt at image introduces the evaporation image that may have nothing to do with your life. It might be better to write, “My life was reduced to.”

In conclusion

Using similes and metaphors can expand your story and bring meaning to an action, character or setting, but their use can also create meaningless and foolish images that distract the reader.

Good luck with your writing, and remember: whatever you do today, write a bit on your memoir.

ACTION STEPS

1. Keep a list of similes and metaphors that you have found while reading. This will make you much more aware of these devises and you may begin noticing how prevalent their use is in writing.
2. Take the similes and metaphors you have collected and change an element in each. Experience how much each word contributes to a particular meaning the author is reaching for. For instance, had you written in your notebook “the sun was a flower over the city” you might transform it into “the sun was a guardian over the city” or “the sun was a canopy over the city”. How is each of these similar or different in the meaning they suggest?
3. Pair a word you want to expand with a word that is pertinent to the action, character or setting. For instance, you might want to pair the idea of your mother to an arbor sheltering delicate flowers, or to a shepherd protecting sheep against a predator. The first would be especially appropriate if your mother is also portrayed as a gardener and the second if she has and animal farm. But, either can be used even if the garden and the farm situations are not part of her life because these images are not foreign to us.

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Making your story better!

For more on similes and metaphors for the memoir writer, listen to Similes and Metaphors, an MP3, which is part of our collection of MP3s, Making the Story Bigger, Second Draft Work.