02. Metaphors: Limit to 3 Teaspoons

If someone were to shout, "Calling all metaphor lovers!", I am confident I would be the first to run toward them. I have such strong confidence that if there were stairs on the way, I would dash up them skipping a step at a time.

I love metaphors. I love using them and I love reading them. Actually, I suspect there are very few writers who dislike metaphors. Of course, I think there are people who like them but find them difficult to handle. However, I don't think there is any writer who says, "Metaphors!! I hate them!! I never want to use them!! Just hearing the word gives me hives!!!" Well, actually, people who get hives from them don't exist even if they aren't writers.
Anyway, people who love writing words want to try using wonderful metaphors. I believe that's just how it is.

I have an AI read my essays. I never have it write them for me. I use it to check for typos and to get feedback.

I don't have any particular dreams of becoming a great writer or becoming a noter who gets dozens of comments every time I post something.
If anything, I'm the type who wants to keep writing silly things quietly and have someone who happens to find them enjoy them, thinking, "This person is actually pretty funny."
That said, getting no feedback at all is a little lonely. The answer I arrived at while holding those contradictory feelings was a solo game of having an AI provide feedback.

AI is a well-made thing, and it conveniently offers the kind of feedback I want. If I instruct it, "I don't need advice, just give me your impressions," it will act as the perfectly convenient reader for me, just as instructed.

However, lately, I've been getting annoyed by the AI's feedback.

When I have it read an essay that I thought was pretty good, it says things like, "A new genre called 'Hajime Asaka' has been born!" or something strangely noisy. Moreover, in the line before that, it gave me the words, "I felt this work was unique to your perspective."
No, the meaning is the same. You're just rephrasing it and saying the same thing twice.

Yes. It turns out even AI uses metaphors. But if you look closely, there is a trick where I am being made to read the same meaning twice.
This phenomenon should not be underestimated. Because I have too much personal experience with it myself.

Metaphors, just by existing, add color and sound to the world of words. Thanks to metaphorical expressions, the world of a work gains depth. The resolution increases. You can immerse yourself in a strange illusion as if you are actually feeling the scent, taste, humidity, and even temperature. And what you compare things to, and how you do it, reveals the writer's sensibility and individuality. I think that is what a metaphor is.
That is precisely why we writers want to use metaphorical expressions. We seek beauty, humor, and our own uniqueness in metaphors.

But what happens if you rely on them too much? Surprisingly, it becomes incredibly difficult to read.
The phenomenon of "It feels like it's going to be something grand, but what are you actually trying to say?" is usually caused by having too many metaphors.
Once that happens, the entire text starts to feel unnecessarily convoluted. I have no idea what is happening in the scene I'm reading, and there is too much information, leaving no room to savor it. If I'm unlucky, it might not even have any flavor at all. I mean, that's the same thing you said earlier. Don't stack sponge on top of sponge, I think.
A text full of metaphors is like having a hamburger, a shortcake, and a simmered dish all shoved into your mouth at once.

Even though I know that in my head, I still can't help but want to "metaphorize." That is the sad nature of a writer. Therefore, one needs to be careful about how one deals with metaphors.

In terms of quantity, for 1,500 characters, about 3 teaspoons is just right.

Furthermore, I want to avoid difficult subjects or using special nouns as much as possible. Comparisons that only a limited number of people can understand are no longer expanding the image, but are just obstacles trying to make the reader trip on the path of reading.
No matter how skillful the phrasing or how beautiful the words lined up, if it results in discouraging the reader, I have to say the work is poorly done.

That is why I have a personal rule: limit metaphors to 3 teaspoons.
It's the same amount, but not 1 tablespoon. It's just right to divide it into small amounts, about a teaspoon each, and scatter them.
And I want to take pride as a writer in how much of my own personality and words that stir the reader's imagination I can gently bundle into that single spoonful.

By the way, I've heard that the more you use AI, the more it changes its personality and tone to match the user's preferences and way of interacting.
Then the reason the AI is writing texts with too many metaphors that annoy me is because I've been having it read my essays.

I thought I was measuring by eye with a teaspoon, but before I knew it, it might have become 3 tablespoons. Habit is a scary thing.