Politically Incorrect
Reading this fantasy story in the 21st-century zeitgeist of cultural sensitivity—or political correctness as some prefer—can be a little uncomfortable. In fact, depending upon whether one prefers the term cultural sensitivity or not, the discomfort can reach the heights of excruciation:
“Fight? Little Bear fight like mountain lion! Take many scalps!”
Anxiety
Familiar metaphors come in handy to convey a sense of anxiety. This works because everybody is familiar with both. Anxiety is the dominant emotional disorder of the modern age and imagery used to describe it have become among the utilized in fiction:
“Now he felt a strange jerk in his chest, as if his heart had hiccupped.”
“Omri’s heart was in his mouth.”
Literary Allusion
An excellent source for effective metaphor is literature. The biggest the best-seller, the better and nothing is a bigger seller than the Bible. Some allusions are so well-known that one need even have actually read the story to get the point:
Patrick fairly danced with excitement. “Isn’t he fantastically brave, though! Much more than David with Goliath.”
Physical Description
Another popular use for the metaphorical image is to create a visceral portrait of human body in action. Faces, especially, are effectively given vivid emotional aspects through simile-based comparisons to non-human elements:
“He was gazing into his cupped hands with eyes like huge marbles.”
Creating Mood
The precise metaphor paired with just the right literal description around it can be tremendously valuable for creating mood and atmosphere. The key here is to know when to avoid overdoing it with the figurative imagery so that it doesn’t dominate the reality of the situation and when to pump up the figurative energy, such as in this example:
“The homemade candle was burning away in the gloom, like a little torch in a disused mine, throwing its eerie light down the tunnel.”
