I have a confession: I love metaphors and similes. Adore them. A little too much, to be honest. They are my darlings. And my weakness. I'm in the process of killing them in a manuscript I'm editing. Not all of them, mind you, because some are just too pretty to kill, but some of them must go. No doubt about it.
Here are a few darlings from this manuscript (And no, they don't all appear on one page.):
but like braces on teeth, the forcing of crooked into straight held a price
like a ghost presence in an old battlefield
like a ballerina with lead feet attempting a pirouette
like a monstrous figure in the center of a snowglobe shaken over and over by an unseen hand
The tassels on the edge of the rug curled up in twisted ropes like fat slugs
the greens and pinks and golds glittering like gemstones trapped in plastic coffins
Some of these will die, I'm sorry to say. Or perhaps be reworded to help disguise their true nature. How...sneaky of me. That last one, though? It refers to an eyeshadow palette. I'm ridiculously attached to it. I think I'm incapable of killing it.
In spite of knowing my weakness, I still persist. My first drafts are often so filled with metaphors and similes, it's a wonder there's any room left for the story. And then I must edit them out. And then cull again. You'd think I would know better by now, but nope.
So tell me, what's your weakness?
Saturday, March 3, 2012
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8 comments:
Great metaphors! My weakness: too much dialogue. My characters are too chatty. Witty banter is fun, but come on guys, let's get on with the action!
Ah, yes. I feel your pain.
I love to overuse as if and as though. They're great at setting up really good but totally unnecessary lines.
Sucks, huh?
Christine, thank you! I guess your characters have a lot to say. :)
Ken, but at least we know our what our weaknesses are. That's something, and it makes edits almost amusing.
They all can go if they must, but that last one about the eyeshadow...it's good. You might consider it a keeper. :]
Wicked metaphors!
My weakness? I'm a descriptive heathen. Seriously, I clump so many details together, whereas a few ingenious words would make do. I can't get the visual out of my head without going into description mile long hell. (Hugs)Indigo
Thank you, Anonymous! :)
Indigo, thank you. Description can be tough. It's that delicate balance between enough so the reader can see what you're trying to show them and so much that their eyes glaze over. :)
I adore similes and metaphors, too. Congrats on selling your book! It's great to see Horror selling. When I wrote a UF, there were plenty of agents to query, but now that I'm finishing a Horror novel, there are so few...it's worrying.
Thank you very much, Anonymous! I'm sorry for my delayed response. Blogger had marked your comment as spam for some strange reason.
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