The Power of Imagery
We know that using similes is a powerful tool in writing, but it's not just the act of thinking one up. A truly powerful simile or metaphor acts as an immediate image. A mood enhancer.
Here's the prologue opening of Higher Hope by Robert Whitlow.
"The afternoon thunderstorm thrashed Savannah with wet whips, the raindrops falling in waves that raced across the ground."
When I opened this book, the first half of that sentence leapt out at me. The verb matches the noun. It sets an immediate tone, I think.
Writers use imagery all the time, but does your simile match the mood of the scene? Does it evoke an image in a fresh way? I've heard of rain whipping through. But I've never read it described as a thrashing whip.
Off the top of your head, can you think of any images or similes authors have used that stuck with you long after you'd finished the book? When writing, do you use certain images/similes to convey a specific tone?
Here's the prologue opening of Higher Hope by Robert Whitlow.
"The afternoon thunderstorm thrashed Savannah with wet whips, the raindrops falling in waves that raced across the ground."
When I opened this book, the first half of that sentence leapt out at me. The verb matches the noun. It sets an immediate tone, I think.
Writers use imagery all the time, but does your simile match the mood of the scene? Does it evoke an image in a fresh way? I've heard of rain whipping through. But I've never read it described as a thrashing whip.
Off the top of your head, can you think of any images or similes authors have used that stuck with you long after you'd finished the book? When writing, do you use certain images/similes to convey a specific tone?
Comments
At times a contest judge may point out something and say it's nice but 'you should never write something that pulls your reader out of the story (in regards to a simile or metaphor). I know what they mean.
BUT, I enjoy reading those kind of phrases even if they do stop me short! I'm capable of getting back into the author's story.
I guess we have to weigh carefully any use of phrases that jump off the page in our writing. They must add to it, not cause confusion.
I worry about overusing mine. So true though, that when one is used well, it's very, very powerful.
What a cool way to put it! I guess that's why she's famous (or part of it, lol).
I enjoy beautiful writing too, especially if it's coupled with a fast paced story. You're right. It's all about the usage. And I like what you said about not causing confusion, because sometimes we get a little too creative and lol, people don't know what we mean. Snort.
Good thoughts, Jessica!
Great post
This is from Jane Eyre, and it's after Jane has left her beloved Mr. Rochester and is sleeping out in the wilderness on her way to a new town and a new life. The author uses the sentences like a descending stairway, leading the reader deeper into the angst until finally, at the end, the metaphor comes to light and portrays the emotion so beautifully:
"My rest might have been blissful enough, only a sad heart broke it. It plained of its gaping wounds, its inward bleeding, its riven chords. It trembled for Mr. Rochester and his doom; it bemoaned him with bitter pity; it demanded him with ceaseless longing: and impotent as a bird with both wings broken, it still quivered its shattered pinions in vain attempts to seek him."
WOW. Is it any wonder I can read this book time and time again and never grow tired of it?
Great post today, Jessie!
Two authors who use this type of imagery are Mary DeMuth and Patricia Hickman. I can't think of specific examples at the moment, but their books make you wish you'd written those lines.
Blessings,
Susan :)
Using scenery as imagery/mood setting is an excellent technique. :-) We don't always need similes to make something strong.
Sometimes they stick with me too. For awhile, at least. LOL Ever seen those spoofs on writing metaphors? They're hilarious, but it's true that sometimes we might go too crazy with it. LOL
I love that example. And look at the repetition of emotional words. Really beautiful.
Before I ever started writing I read Hickman's books and I was completely blown away by her writing. I LOVED it.
Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.”
Simile: a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared, as in “she is like a rose.”
I think the difference is, with a metaphor, you don't use "like" or "as", but you do with simile. I THINK. Who knows? I'm still confused. Heh.
Okay, so I was wrong. All similes are metaphors, but not all metaphors are similes. Does that help you?
I just sent a humongo e-mail your way. Let me know if you don't get it.
No problem. Beautiful writing is beautiful writing. That was a sad movie, but I've never read the story.
I also like how you talk about them matching the tone, I've never really thought about that before, but it is something I will keep in mind from now on!
It was so fun meeting you! I had a blast. Maybe we can do it again.
:-)
Thanks for driving all that way.
Thanks for stopping by. Yeah, that first sentence intrigued me. It set such a fierce mood that I wondered why he was describing the weather and what it had to do with what would happen next.
Of course I think that! LOL
I love the flexibility of poetry. You're right, it's such a good teacher of how to write well. When I started my first finished manuscript, I was in a creative writing class and the teacher mostly taught and had us write about poetry. I learned SO much and tried to incorporate that into my writing.
In one of my advanced reviews for Surrender the Wind, author Bonnie Toews wrote:
Her imagery is breathtaking: “The quill scratched over the parchment. Mingled with the resonance of rapping vines outside his window and the crackling fire, the sound dominated.”
Think of how those three things do sound. The scratching quill. Rapping vines on a glass pane. A fire crackling in the hearth. Those sentences are at the end of a chapter where the hero's grandfather is on his deathbed on a cold and gloomy night as he signs his last will and testimony.
Another trick is to use phrases that match the scene.
It shows how well Ernest Hemingway is able to prepare the reader for events to come. Catherine Barkley, the English nurse who falls in love with Fredric Henry, an American in the Italian army, states, "I'm afraid of the rain" (125), as they stay in Milan. She goes on to explain "I'm afraid of the rain because sometimes I see me dead in it. ... And sometimes I see you dead in it" (126). The foreshadowing this provides is very ominous and frighteningly accurate. Hemingway even continues to strengthen this foreboding by saying, "She was crying. I comforted her and she stopped crying. But outside it kept on raining" (126). He uses imagery from nature to contrast the clarity of the mountains, the danger of the plains, and the unknown of the rain
Do I come up with many similies? I try to, because even in speaking a simile helps drive a point home. Remember, it was the use of similes and metaphors that final pushed Jesus' opponents over the edge and they began to conspire to kill him. Similies and metaphors are powerful vehicles of communication. Thanks, wb
What an awesome review. And you're right, it definitely puts more than an image in the reader's mind, it puts the reader into the scene.
I can't wait to get your book! I'm not sure when they ship, but I'm awaiting! LOL
Totally true. That's how I defend myself when more "spiritual" people say that fiction is not a powerful enough vehicle for the truth. Thanks for making that point.
It makes me want to read the book.
That a good metaphor for metaphors. LOL! Yes, you're right. An excellent metaphor is just like that, like it hits the right chord, you want to hear it again, savor it...All that good stuff. :-)