The Dreaded Simile

[mstrom]

I’m just wondering if any of you struggle with similes as much as I do. Though I feel somewhat competent in assembling creative metaphors (well at least I hope so), when it comes to similes, I feel like a klutz. It happens all the time while I write. When I get to some description that I know just demands a clever punch, the first few that pop in my head are lame at best. And then it seems like the harder I try, the worse they get until finally I surrender and move on.

So my question is, for those of us who don’t have the simile dexterity of someone like Dennis Miller, how do we even begin to master them?

[Nik Houser]

That's a tough one. My challenge is usually trying to cut down on the similes, so that the page isn't overloaded with them. You've already taken the most important step, which is to identify bad ones and not include them. Always better to have no similes than bad similes. As for creating them, I suspect it's like the rest of writing: a matter of practice. Which isn't to say that the 12th time you try to come up with an apt simile for a certain sentence you'll nail it (though you certainly may), but rather, the more you practice the art, the more naturally the mechanics tend to flow. They say to master something, you must practice it for 10,000 hours. But after those grueling years of solitude and toil, it'll be easy. Like riding a bicycle. To which you've been nailed.

[the_last_gunslinger]

I don't tend to load my writings up with multiple similes, partly for the same reason. I'm not as clever as I would like to be in making connections like that. When I do use them, however, they tend to just come naturally, often times they are kicking around in my head before I even write the line.

[RJHubbard53]

like a creeping calico cap sucking the breath from a sleeping infant, similies suck the fun from writing.

I dont like similes

[the_last_gunslinger]

like a creeping calico cap sucking the breath from a sleeping infant, similies suck the fun from writing.

Completely. Every real writer knows that the only way to spruce up a story is through the implementation of the perfectly placed metaphor.

[Antmusic]

I've read some books that were FULL of (strange) similies, and some with next to none. They usually work to make the reader feel things more, but they can also pull a reader out if they don't feel the same way or if the similie is bad.

[mstrom]

I don't tend to load my writings up with multiple similes, partly for the same reason. I'm not as clever as I would like to be in making connections like that. When I do use them, however, they tend to just come naturally, often times they are kicking around in my head before I even write the line.

Thanks, it's good to know I am not alone.

[mstrom]

I've read some books that were FULL of (strange) similies, and some with next to none. They usually work to make the reader feel things more, but they can also pull a reader out if they don't feel the same way or if the similie is bad.

I agree. A few times, I've even read some that were too clever and ended up pulling me out of the intensity of the scene.

[Craig Wallwork]

I do tend to lean of them quite a lot. But it's important to find a healthy ration that doesn't confuse the reader, or have them frustrated, so i tend to use them to cattle prod the reader if the paragraph is somewhat bland. I use the burnt tongue method too in a similar fashion.

As for inspiration; I keep a small black notepad in my "man-bag" and whenever I see something or the words pop into my head, I write it down to hopefully refer back to when drowning in the prose.

[Draven Ames]

I try not to use them often. Those I do use are often cut from the final draft. It seems to be too telling and not enough showing. If we describe well enough, the reader will draw better visualizations than our poor comparisons ever could.

Rather than say it smelled like a wet dog, describing the smell of a wet dog will leave more revulsion. They may smell something different, but it won't be nice. Even better, the smell they experience will be a discovery, rather than trying to bring our comparison to life by telling them what they should compare it to. To me, it seems like the simile will take a reader out of the story sometimes.

Go for descriptions that are accurate. But that's just my opinion, however wrong it may be.