Here are some of my favorite similes in the new novel. I’m not a fancy, literary writer, but I do love a good simile.
Simile: figure of speech comparing one thing with another of a different kind:
‘x’ like ‘y.’
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two apparently un-like things to illustrate a shared quality. Used well, a simile creates ‘vivid imagery, clarify complex ideas, and make descriptions more engaging by relating an unfamiliar concept to a familiar one’ [Grammarly definition].
Similes add color and texture, and a little creative spark that lifts boring prose to another level.
In the new novel, I’m using similes to define my point-of-view character’s narrative voice. Put another way, similes are part of how Yari thinks and interprets the world.
He bobbed up and down on emotions like a boatman’s buoy.
His line of thought broke like barrels falling from a wagon.
She wore her bravado like a layer of armor.
Hope began to fade like morning mist on the river.
Similes aren’t just fanciful descriptions in prose. I also use them in dialog:
“Risto attracts trouble like wasps to honey.”
That one treads dangerously close to cliche; but it’s common and everyone understands what we mean.
Some of my similes get a little bolder:
He breathed heavily, like a draft horse pulling the brewers’ dray wagons up the hill.
Like a bouncy puppy-dog, a follower, all bravado and fine intentions.
They stood with a kind of stillness, like cats about to tear into prey.
Words like serpents slithered around in Yari’s mind, heavy with suggestion.
Terror froze hard like ice in her heart and in her veins.
When overused, similes become tedious and a sign of over-wrought prose. Used sparingly, they give a lively pick-me-up to otherwise dull text.