Metaphor This!

"Those words are most pleasant which give us new knowledge. Strange words have no meaning for us; common terms we know already. It is metaphor which gives us most of this pleasure." Aristotle

I know, I know. It's not the day for Got Inspiration. It's Got Writing Monday. So I do have a prompt for you but I've got a challenge too, of another sort - at the end - before the prompt. But I had to start with Aristotle. He's a dude.

Metaphors are cool. According to About.com there are 13 different types of them from mixed metaphors to submerged metaphors to visual metaphors. For any metaphor though the idea is to make a comparison between two unlike things that actually have something in common. A metaphor expresses the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar (About.com; metaphor; Nordquist, Richard).

Metaphor's make your writing sing. Overused they can stick out like a sore thumb (overused metaphor). But used just right they can activate powerful imagistic areas of the brain. I just made that word up. Here are four short quotes with metaphors. Can you match the quote to the book/author?

Quotes:
1. Considering the fact that they were inside a thousand-foot-long airship made from the life threads of a whale and a hundred other species, it hardly smelled at all. The scent was like a mix of animal sweat and clart, like a stable in summer. 


2. Far down the maze of ducts, Sloth was cranking away at a winding drum, sweat bright on her skin, blond hair pasted slick to her face as she sucked the wire out like a rice noodle from a bowl of Chen's soup ration. 


3. Dead leaves crunched beneath his feet like sharp teeth on bones, and the moon cast blue-black shadows all around that looked like monstrous figures eating unspeakable living buffets. 


4. I have what looks like the outline of a normal boy's ear, but it's pressed down into the flesh, squashed like potter's clay. 

Match to Book, Author:
a. Stick, Andrew Smith
b. Goliath, Scott Westerfield
c. Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi
d. Return to Exile, E.J. Patten

So here's your writing challenge for this week. Come up with a metaphor using 1-2 sentences, no more, that create an image for us that will light up our occipital lobes. We'll take entries through Wednesday April 11and post the winner on Friday, April 13.
- Joe