True. I think metaphors and analogies or similies are to paint vivid images or understanding for the reader. Sometimes there is just no other way to really say what you want to say. The castle was obsidian, its structure a mix between Arabian Knights and King Arthur. It was the castle at Disney Land, if Disney Land were created by Clive Barker and Stephen King. I think that paints a vivid image that would take me many more words to paint if I couldn't use metaphor or similie.
This brings up another question: Do you simply write it, disregarding the many people who have no idea who Clive Barker is, or what Arabian Knights and King Aurthur might look like? Perhaps this gives a great image to-- I dunno, most people -- but it gives me nothing. Not that I'm complaining, just throwing it out there.
Some metaphors are a slight whisper, while others are a thundering hammer, and still others, the all-encompassing sea. Charlie
As a monster that lives in the depths of the world in underground lake of hatred, I don’t think metaphors should be used unless their used metaphorically.
As a comic strip character for whom the football of life is often pulled away, and whose kite is regularly eaten by the trees, I agree.
For me, metaphors never come out right when I am trying hard to use them in order to spice up my writing. They come when I frolic and play through the fey, feirie infested, fungal forests of my imagination.