Writing is not about noun and verb agreement even though that really does help. Writing is about speaking to an audience you never will see, meet, or converse with verbally. So the challenge of writing is to be understood in the two dimensional aspect of communication.
Black on white. White on black. People can choose their own colors, fonts, and pica to beautify their dialogue. Technology has made the 2D communication experience better, especially the advent of emoticons!
Now, I know when you are joking.
In formal writing, like poetry and story writing, writers are not given the emoticon out. Writers have to be able to express with language what the meaning of a phrase is. How to convey emotion without explaining the punchline. Encapsulate a moment in order to set a mood. Writers have to learn to be psychologists and sociologists.
So writers learn to speak in metaphors. A metaphor is an object or idea that replaces another to better clarify the meaning of the original object.
Sounds complicated, but it really is not: She is as beautiful as the day I met her. A character could be discussing her aunt, grandmother. So the day I met her is the metaphor of not aging as beauty in this instance is being epitomized by a bygone youth.
Yet a metaphor takes on a plethora of meanings. Youth does not have to mean physical beauty. The beauty could be her giving nature. Beauty could mean her vulnerabilities. Beauty could mean her kindness.
So let's read the line again: She is as beautiful as the day I met her. Did the explanations for beauty change your idea of how beautiful the "she" really is?
Metaphors are beautiful additions to the writing craft.
What will you use a metaphor for in your writing?
Have a great and wonderful day!
