Walking On Eggshells

Lift Your Language

Many writers add colour to their texts with figurative language, such as metaphor, simile and interesting descriptive imagery. Some don’t. They mix metaphors, use strained similes and often create images that are bizarre, confusing or unintentionally hilarious.

This sentence is an attempt to describe ‘a nail-biting moment’, which was mentioned in the writer’s previous sentence:

It was like walking on eggshells, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The first problem is the image of ‘nail-biting’ followed by ‘walking on eggshells’; it’s all too much but we could let that pass.

Worse is the sentence I’ve quoted.

Believe it or not, it’s been copied, multiple times, by other writers. It definitely needs to be saved.

Both figurative expressions suggest apprehension and anxiety. Either expression would work on its own but using both in the same sentence results in mixed imagery.

What do you ‘see’ as you read the sentence?

The mental image I had was humorous – not at all what the author intended.

The way to avoid problems of this type is to ask the question I just asked: ‘What do you ‘see’ as you read the sentence?’

Think about what the images would convey if taken literally. If the combination doesn’t work literally, it probably won’t be a success figuratively either.

Successful writing aims for what we call ‘unity of imagery’; it’s one of the things editors check.

Ask me about Saving Sentences, my new problem-solution-based book. Available soon.