I recently fell in love with a writing style, and I came up with a metaphor to describe it. I decided that it would be a fun exercise to do this with various stories and authors that I’ve grown to love:

Angela Carter – “The Bloody Chamber”
It’s a small glass bottle filled with liquids of different densities that has been shaken vigorously. With colors bleeding into one another, at first it seems a murky mess, a bottle too full for its own good. However, give it time. The liquids will settle, and you will see that there are layers to it. The process is oddly poignant, strangely beautiful. You shake the bottle to see it again.

Diane Wynne Jones – “Howl’s Moving Castle”
It’s a garden of herbs and vegetables after rain. The dirt is soft, clings beneath the fingernails, but that’s what makes it grounding. Petrichor is soothing, reminds of childish wonders. Dig in the dirt and delight in the worms that churn beneath. The vegetables are heartening. The herbs will add spice to your day. There’s just a touch of magic to the earth. Perhaps you’ll unearth a mandrake.

((I was going to post more than these, but the post uploaded pre-emptively, so I’ll just make this into an ongoing series instead, ahaha.))