I’m halfway through Andrew Peterson’s memoir, Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making. In this book, Andrew visits a period of his life and explores the places and points that fed into his creative process as a songwriter and author. I take it slow because each chapter is crafted to its maximum effect on the reader. Whole chapters lead up to one simile or metaphor. All that went before it informs the reading of the simile, makes for a crescendo and a knife in the side of all that might stop him from writing.
A great part of his writing is simile on both a grand scale and in sentence form. The purchase of a humble house, the establishment of the family garden–each description acts as a simile on the mind, telling of the deeper work of God in our lives.
While we can’t copy whole chapters into this post, we can highlight a few sentence-style similes that transported a lot of meaning to our hearts.
Regarding the self-doubt that writers are plagued with:pg 12 –The first thought that sprouts like a thorny weed: Who do I think I am, anyway?”
pg 14 –Another thought screams overhead like an F-18: You have nothing to say.”
Regarding the times when God brings you the words to write:
pg 30 –“It was like my first love bringing me flowers.”
pg 27 –“I felt God’s presence as a pleasant fire that called for obedience and energy and expression.”
Regarding the wonder of a good book:
pg 65 –“I was drawn to those book covers like a deer to a salt lick, and like a salt lick they only made me thirstier. I couldn’t get enough.”Andrew Peterson, “Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making” B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, TN 2019.
Because the metaphor is a complex world of imagery to evoke emotion and understanding, let’s add Part II in a separate post. Let’s display Peterson’s metaphors in their own showcase.
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Back to Writing Tips
Continue with Module 7, Crafting: the metaphor
Continue with Module 7, Crafting: Examples of Metaphors from Adorning the Dark Part II
