I'm not talking about making metaphorical mistakes. Nope, I'm talking about making mistakes with metaphors. Like using mixed metaphors. Or, more egregiously, using too many metaphors.
I've had the first chapter of my main WIP critiqued by a ton of people. It's been on the web, which makes it easy, so I'd say 50-150 people (I can't remember at the moment( have read the first chapter all the way through. So recently, I entered the first 250 words into a blog contest.
I felt weird about the first 250 though, and even rearranged some stuff. I still felt funny about it around the time I entered. I should have listened to my gut and changed it.
See, the reason I felt funny was the same information I was getting in the Comments on the post. A lot of people said the first lines were interesting but as soon as it got to the wordy descriptive paragraph with at least four legitimate metaphors strung back to back, they lost interest.
I knew that was a weak spot going into it, so why did I let it go? Now it surely won't make it far in the contest because I didn't stop and correct that.
So, trust your gut, and live & learn!
Tome
a-to-zchallenge.com
I have a real problem with metaphors. If I do use them, it's usually in a joking way.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the challenge!
Dianna Fielding
Sociologyfornerds.com