Tuesday 23 August 2011

Old Kitty sighs at her lack of metaphor prowess

“The pages rustled like a lot of pigeons taking flight”
(From Terry Pratchett’s “I Shall Wear Midnight”, pp. 301)


The above is why I know I’ve got so much to learn with this writing stories malarkey!

I would never have created such a metaphor. Never in a million years!

Can you see and hear it bloggie friends?

I can hear the rustling of what must be the pages of a very big, very thick book. I can see the pages go whoosh and slap and feel the air disturbed as I would when caught in the middle of a flock of pigeons taking sudden flight!

The whole metaphor is so deceptively simple yet effective.

Sigh.

Charlie says: I too am deceptively simple yet effective. Ask Mr Klingon birdie!


Such fun with yesterday’s Star Trek blogfesting – thank you everyone and lovely Ellie! Yay!

29 comments:

Susan Kane said...

Metaphors--gotta love 'em!

Claudia Zurc said...

What a lovely metaphor! I concur: Simple, yet effective. You can also write like this, Jennifer. I've read your stories and they're very descriptive and poignant. Keep up the good work! ;)

Jemi Fraser said...

I'm working on my metaphors too. I don't use them often, but I like to sprinkle a few in!

Anonymous said...

Your analysis, friend, is as eloquent as the metaphor!! Yes, it is definitely a powerful one. Such metaphors are the soul of poetry and of poetic prose, this is true; and I've only been capable of a few such gems--mostly a long time ago when I saw through the eyes of a child.

By simple things are great things brought to pass. Tell THIS to Charlie.

Hi to you both from me and Jen!!!
Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror, A Memoir of Shattered Secrets

m.q said...

happy day always pawsome Charlie & fantastic Jen

Tracy said...

Charlie looks as if he is waiting for the school bus to arrive :) made me smile!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You have Klingon birds???

Unknown said...

Oh, I'm terrible at metaphors too. I avoid them unless I must. What genre do you write?

Summer Ross said...

Metaphors are something I struggle with too.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I've come up with a few I thought rather clever, but you're right, some experienced authors have a knack for visualization.

mshatch said...

I love Terry Pratchett. Death is such a great character, and Sam Vimes. And Granny.

klahanie said...

Aha, you certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons with this posting..:)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

That metaphor is impressive.

LynNerdKelley said...

Metaphors are challenging, more for some of us than others. I'm always so jazzed when I finally come up with one that works, but I come up with some pretty dumb ones, too. Every aspect of writing is challenging, but it's so much fun, too!

Fuzzy Tales said...

A lot of pigeons taking flight probably leave a lot of pigeon poop, too. Just sayin'. :-P

The Monkeys said...

That is definitely a very effective metaphor! We can just hear the pages rustling!

Hannah and Lucy said...

Mum hadn't thought much about pigeons - but she sat a while and decided they do make a rustle like noise when a "flock" of them take off (she has no idea if there is a collective name for pigeons!). Charlie run for cover if your see pigeons ready for a pooping patrol.
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx

Eliza said...

I wouldn't be able to dream up those metaphors either :-)

Brian's Home Blog said...

Hmmmmm, I've never actually seen a pigeon...yet!

Talli Roland said...

Of course you can come up with such a metaphor, Old Kitty! I know you can!

Love that photo of Charlie.

Marg said...

Sure you can, create a metaphor like that one. Just start looking around for comparisons. Bet you can do it.
Hi there Charlie. So what is going on at the neighbors. Take care.

Hart Johnson said...

Metaphors and similes are tough. They are often cliche--this one is not, but it is definitely one that needs to fit a context (like pigeons in the book for other reasons) for it to work for me, though I know Pratchet's style is intentionally campy, so on that level this would work anyway. A good metaphor, well used though, can be really sublime.

Luna said...

Love that picture of Charlie! And yes, that is a great metaphor. But I also enjoyed your description of it. I'm not good with coming up with metaphors like that. But, I know we'll get there.

Hope you're having a fabulous day! :)

Golden Eagle said...

I have trouble with metaphors. They're so hard to nail down and make them sound right . . .

Love the example. Terry Pratchett is excellent at them, and I'm reading one of his books right now! :)

The Creek Cats said...

Thanks so much for the well wishes, furiends!
XOXO

Sylar said...

nice post :P
+follow

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

We heard it too Charlie!
purrs
>^,,^<
♥Abby♥Boo♥Ping♥Jinx♥Grace♥

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Terry Pratchett is a talented writer.

I'd be afraid that if i wrote a metaphor like that, however, that people would think I was pretentious! That is the trouble with metaphors ;)

Theresa Milstein said...

That is a beautiful sentence. I wish I could write metaphors so beautifully.

Look at Charlie's spot like a 2nd flower.