Stein On Writing: A Master Editor of Some of the Most Successful Writers of Our Century Shares His Craft Techniques and Strategies

by Sol Stein

Those examples are clichés, tired from overuse. Most good writing is characterized by a careful use of precise and sometimes original similes and metaphors: Simile: He felt as if he were a teenager for whom illness and death were abstractions. Metaphor: The thought hovered over him, waiting for his permission to descend.