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Q&A When is using a simile better than giving a literal description?

Descriptions in writing are two way streets. They describe the describer just as much as the subject. In first person, or third person limited descriptions always describe the point of view chara...

posted 5y ago by Andrey‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T11:27:44Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43892
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Andrey‭ · 2019-12-08T11:27:44Z (over 4 years ago)
Descriptions in writing are two way streets. They describe the describer just as much as the subject.

In first person, or third person limited descriptions always describe the point of view character. In third person omniscient, descriptions are a reflection of the setting. as a whole instead of just one person.

So when you decide to use a simile or metaphor to describe something think about what this says about the speaker. There is often great space here to tell us about the character. Do they like flowery speech or do they like to get to the dry point? What kind of thing does he like to compare others too? What are her normals? What is his job, is that the measuring stick used for everything. Sometimes you can even use descriptions pointed completely back at the character and setting instead of the subject.  
EX: "He was as big as a dire-wolf" So now we learn that the character is big, but much more importantly we learn that dire-wolves exist.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-03-21T21:50:32Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: 2