Writing a Metaphor

"So, for example...."

"Let me put it this way...."

"It's like this...." 

We use similes and metaphors all the time, principally because they are effective tools of communication. An example advances information by associating facts with a story.  

Before there was GPS onboard phones and dashboards, there were people along the way who we asked to provide directions. "Go down this street," the man said, pointing. "After you've gone about a mile, you'll see an auto parts store on your right and a bank with a green sign next to it. You can't miss 'em." The store and the bank and the blue sign are markers--images, mental pictures--to aid you on your way.

A metaphor is similar. It is a marker, an image, an example creating a mental picture for you to follow as you thoughtfully move down the road. 

In the case of Battle for the Round Tower, the story and characters and images are intended to be a metaphor. In this case, a metaphor of life. Hank, and Vassar, and the other characters in the book are fictional, but their adventure is a metaphor of real life. 

I wrote in a previous blog about the book--and its sequel--being a model, and indeed this is the case. But to develop the idea a bit further, the main character, Hank, is intended to be a model with whom you identify and whose adventures prove metaphorical for your life. 

In short, I wrote Battle for the Round Tower to give you--my reader--a model to identify with, a metaphor to associate with your life, so that you will find the momentum to go where your heart desires to travel. 

As you can guess, that desired momentum is my next series of thoughts. More soon. 

By the way, you can purchase a paperback copy of Battle for the Round Tower via my store at Create Space or via Amazon.