Dubliners: Simile

I apologize for going AWOL. For the past few days, I've been in Montana, miles away from basic civilization, and I apologize for the blog's silence. Let us continue with another rhetorical tool: similes.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about similes. Although they can add aesthetic and descriptive power to a story, they can also be cliche, unclear, distracting, and unprofessional. Further, in their submission guidelines, national publishers like Baen Books have said of writing style, "Simple is generally better; in our opinion good style, like good breeding, never calls attention to itself."

So what makes a good simile? In my opinion, a good simile not only describes appearance, relationships, or behavior, but also establishes tone or reveals something that cannot be succinctly illustrated in cold prose. Every simile should develop a certain theme, motif, or image while establishing a clear connection between two unlike people or objects.

In short, a good simile is an effective simile. I think these examples from James Joyce's Dubliners are especially effective:

"She stood still for an instant like an angry stone image..."

"It was a serene summer night; the harbour lay like a darkened mirror at their feet."

"Simultaneously Mr. Alleyne, a little man wearing gold-rimmed glasses on a cleanshaven face, shot his head up over a pile of documents. The head itself was so pink and hairless it seemed like a large egg reposing on the papers."

Occasionally, a simile, to be effective, will need some explanation or elaboration:

"But now it sounded to me like the name of some maleficent and sinful being. It filled me with fear, and yet I longed to be nearer to it and to look upon its deadly work."

"Polly was a slim girl of nineteen; she had light soft hair and a small full mouth. Her eyes, which were grey with a shade of green through them, had a habit of glancing upwards when she spoke with anyone, which made her look like a little perverse madonna."

A good simile, however, need not be overly artful. They can also be simple:

"He's hard up, like the rest of us."

"I admire the man personally. He's just an ordinary knockabout like you and me. He's fond of his glass of grog and he's a bit of a rake, perhaps, and he's a good sportsman."

Admittedly, this is only a small sample of what could be said of similes. Like salt, they enhance the flavor of a story if used sparingly. As the author, you ultimate decide, in the context of your own writing, what makes a simile effective.

How can you use similes more effectively in your own writing?