Like bumpers at a bowling alley, rhetorical devices are the structures we use to guide our audience toward the idea we want to strike when writing or speaking. They empower us to persuade, inform, and express our ideas more powerfully.

These devices have been used for thousands of years. Egyptologists have decoded rhetorical glyphs from middle-eastern walls, and it was Aristotle who first codified the study of rhetoric as an academic discipline in ancient Greece. Mastering some rhetorical devices makes our writing more vibrant and persuasive. For instance, there’s:

Foreshadowing
Advanced sign or warning of what’s to come

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
– Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (Opening sentence)

Imagery
Figurative depictions or illustrations

I remember the bite of jagged-toothed pebbles slicing through my worn leather soles.  The rising heat stripped the fragrance from the pine brush on the verge beside me.
Bugle Creatives, What Should Your Next Conference Smell Like?

Metaphor
Figure of speech containing an implied comparison

Did you think I’d forgotten you? Perhaps you hoped I had. Don’t waste a breath mourning Miss Barnes. Every kitten grows up to be a cat. They seem so harmless at first—small, quiet, lapping up their saucer of milk. But once their claws get long enough, they draw blood. Sometimes from the hand that feeds them. For those of us climbing to the top of the food chain, there can be no mercy. There is but one rule: hunt or be hunted. Welcome back.
Frank Underwood, House of Cards 

Alliteration
Words that have the same sound at the beginning

…The only verdict is vengeanceA vendetta held as a votive not in vainfor the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuousVerily this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verboseso let me simply add that it’s my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.
V, V for Vendetta

Anaphora
Repetitious words or phrase at the beginning of sentences

There are those who say, “Oh that’s too far. You’ll never make it. Give in.” There are those who laugh, “No way in hell. Shut it down. Turn around. You can’t win.” There are those who smile, “It’s too hard. Surely, it can’t be done.” There are those who wince at hints of change, “That’s just how it’s always been run.”
– Bugle Creatives, There Are Those Who Say

Polysyndeton (pronounced: pä-lē-ˈsin-də-ˌtän)
Several conjunctions in close succession that draw focus to each listed item

They’re the women whose manes we’ll never know. They are domestic workers and farm workers. They are working in factories, and they work in restaurants, and they’re in academia and engineering and medicine and science. They’re part of the world of tech and politics and business. They are athletes in the Olympics, and they are soldiers in the military.
Oprah, Golden Globes 2018

Image credit: www.wmagazine.com

Simile
Comparison between two fundamentally different things

I drop lyrics on and off like a light switch.
– The Notorious B.I.G., Ready to Die

Repetition
Repeated words, phrases, or sentences

He waits. That what he does. And I’ll tell you what: Tick followed tock, followed tick, followed tock, followed tick.
Guinness, Surfer Ad

The Always-Fresh Simile Machine

Yet, for all the devices at our disposal, we all still run the risk of cliché: the tired metaphor that fails to stir the imagination. The simile that rings too familiar. We’ve all heard them and God knows I’ve used them.

One way to avoid the pitfalls of these overused phrases is to create your own. Below are assembly instructions for an Always-Fresh Simile Machine. It’s a process I’ve found helpful when building my own comparisons. If you try it out, leave me a comment and let me know how it worked.

STEP 1: Choose Your Apple and Orange

Astute, non-obvious comparisons are both fun to write and to read. That’s the output the Always-Fresh Simile Machine will produce. But to start, you need your Apple and Orange. Chances are you already know your Apple: the thing you’re going to cleverly compare to something else for your reader. Write your Apple down on the top left of a piece of paper. Next, pick your Orange: The thing to which you’ll compare your Apple. Write that word at the top right of the same piece of paper. For freshest results, pick an Orange people wouldn’t typically associate with your Apple.

For example:
Apple = Love
Orange = Etch-a-sketch

STEP 2: List Your Orange Characteristics

Here’s the heavy lifting part. Write down every feature, characteristic, and association you can think of about your Orange. Stretch yourself here. Write down every description you can muster. The more you put to paper, the better your Always-Fresh Simile Machine will work.

(Apple) Love

(Orange) Etch-a-Sketch

They’re Red
You can draw anything
Shake it and image disappears
Takes practice to master
Toy for kids
Makes grown-ups nostalgic
Dullest part becomes magical
You remember playing with it
Drawings aren’t permanent
Has simple dial inputs
Made in the 60’s

STEP 3: Sort Applicable Phrases

Now, comb back through your long list of zesty Orange descriptions. Each time you spot a description that could also apply to your Apple write that description in the left-hand column. You’ll have a smaller list, but a bunch of fresh similes.

(Apple) Love

(Orange) Etch-a-Sketch

Shake it and image disappears
Takes practice to master
Makes grown-ups nostalgic
Dullest part becomes magical
You remember playing with it

They’re Red
You can draw anything
Shake it and image disappears
Takes practice to master
Toy for kids
Makes grown-ups nostalgic
Dullest part becomes magical
You remember playing with it
Drawings aren’t permanent
Has simple dial inputs
Made in the 60’s

STEP 4: Deploy Newly Created Simile

Pick the simile that fits the comparison you’re trying to make. And voila. You’ve both assembled and used your Always-Fresh Simile Machine.

Simile 1:

Her old flames faded from memory like a shaken etch-a-sketch.

Simile 2:

Love tunes dull days to magic like the dial of an etch-a-sketch.

STEP 5: Share Results With @buglecreatives

Run a test on your Always-Fresh Simile Machine by playing the game below. We’ll repost the best results to our Instagram page and tag you with props. Good luck.

  1. Build an Always-Fresh Simile Machine on a piece of paper using an Apple and Orange from the list below
  2. Write your fresh similes below the machine on the same piece of paper
  3. Post a picture of your results to Instagram, tagging @buglecreatives

Apples

Oranges

Friends
Work

Creativity

Lightbulb
Bank
Telephone

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