Some of my favorite devices in writing are similes and metaphors. They can be so interesting, so relatable. They can make even a dry subject more colorful. They can be a true showcase of a writer's wild creativity.
So here's one that I read recently. This is from a science-fiction novel, Deepdrive, written by my former co-worker, Alexander Jablokov. In the book, Tiber is a human character who's kind of a weirdo. During the course of the novel, we learn more about him and why he's such an odd duck. To put it mildly, he had a rough childhood.
Tiber knew that his family had been killed along with the rest during Sukh's reduction of the Arana clanship. Aside from the flickering memories he had pulled out during his long-ago conversation with Elward, everything was blank. Too many savage disasters had slid across his mind like sharp-stoned rock slides, annihilating some memories and burying others so deeply that they could not be recovered without endangering the stability of the personality that had finally arisen from the ruins.
Now THAT is a great simile. Don't you think? Horrible events in one's past being compared to a catastrophic rock slide that destroys some memories and buries others. Haven't we all known somebody like that, or felt a version of it ourselves? Well done, my friend.
No comments:
Post a Comment