I know I risk sounding like an English teacher when I use the words “figurative language.” The phrase may sound frightening but figurative language will make your writing more interesting evocative and memorable. And who doesn’t want that –even in non-fiction? Here are some examples of figurative language:
• allusion
• hyperbole
• metaphor
• oxymoron
• personification
• paradox
• simile
I read widely and follow many forms of media, keeping my eyes and ears attuned to figurative language so I can share a piece of it with you each week.
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors from author Susan Orlean…. I have visited Southern California many times, on perhaps as many as a dozen different trips. But I have …
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes and metaphors from Lisa Halliday…. Lisa Halliday (pictured above),was the “it” author of 2018. Her first novel, Asymmetry, appeared on many top 10 book lists …
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of images from American novelist Andrew Sean Greer…. One of the top five books I read in 2018 was the Pulitzer-Prize-winning comic novel Less, …
Reading time: Just over 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors and similes from Patricia Lockwood… Did you know that if a male minister from another religion converts to Catholicism, being married is …
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors and similes from John LeCarré… I don’t typically read mysteries or thrillers but my friend Brian urged me to make an exception for …
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors and similes from Ariel Levy… As a lifelong fan of memoir, I was intrigued when I heard the backstory to a new …
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes and metaphors from Stephen McCauley… American novelist Stephen McCauley (pictured above), started his working life by teaching yoga, working at a hotel, a …
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors from Wesley Morris…. I am willing to go against Aretha Franklin’s wishes… In a Nov. 15/18 New York Times piece headlined: Aretha …
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes from Lisa Brennan-Jobs…. When I read the rave reviews of Lisa Brennan-Jobs’ memoir, about her life with her father Steve Jobs, I …
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about several similes from Candian writer Wayne Grady…. A translater, writer and writing teacher, Wayne Grady (pictured above), is also the son of an African-Canadian father who …
