Do you want to explain something, make a point or spark that “aha” moment? Reach for what I call expressive writing, which shows rather than tells, often through similes and metaphors.
Similes show how two things are alike, using “like” or “as”:
- “It’s like an eight-lane highway compared to a two-lane dirt road.” – A Verizon ad promoting 5G
- “Something in the change [in hair colour] suggested he’d been hit with an emotional blast, like a flash fire that leaves singed hair where your eyebrows had once been.” – Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted
- “I don’t know how most women arrive in their late 30s, but for me it was unexpectedly, with a pang of disbelief, like your math teacher handing out a test you’d vaguely known was coming but had forgotten to prepare for: wait, that’s now?” – Sophie Kohn in Chatelaine
Metaphors show how two things are alike, WITHOUT using “like” or “as”:
- “Each fall, millions of migrating monarchs return to Mexico to wait out winter. The gathering makes Woodstock look like a business conference.” – Lucas Reilly in Mental Floss
- “The insect feeds on the plant, drawing out its juices and the bacteria, and when it feeds again, it deposits the bacteria into the next plant. ‘That psyllid is really a little flying hypodermic needle,’ said Tim R. Gottwald, a plant epidemiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”
– Duncan Strauss, The Washington Post - “Some call it the Rolls Royce of chalk, the Steinway of writing utensils… And it turned the world’s brightest minds into hoarders, going to great lengths just for a few sticks of the stuff.”
– CNN story on a brand of chalk.
My thanks to Christine Smith, who shared this simile:
I am reading Barbara Gowdy’s book Little Sister and she writes about a Victorian house with “a roof like a Quaker’s hat.”
I love collecting examples to share, so please let me know in the comments if you’ve seen any. I’m especially looking for good analogies related to the pandemic.
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Related reading:
Reach for analogies when you want to inspire action (some great examples related to COVID-19)
Expressive writing is your on-ramp to understanding