Imagine that you're walking down the road and someone tosses a red water balloon straight at your face. Pretty powerful: you would not fail to notice the impact of the balloon.
But then imagine that you are walking down the road and suddenly people start throwing all kinds of things all around you: cell phones and sofas, cream pies and basketballs, water balloons, watermelons, wisteria vines, and widgets. Suddenly, that red water balloon blends in with the chaos and becomes invisible.
This, I explain to my students, is why one really vivid metaphor can be more powerful than a dozen colorful images all vying for attention. Go ahead and smack readers in the face with an effective metaphor, but if the projectiles keep coming, don't be surprised when readers run away.
1 comment:
Are you trying to say that an avalanche of awful anvils would be anything but awesome?
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