Pop Culture Allusion
The type of imagery wrought by the pop culture allusion is perfect for the short term but takes a gamble on the reference quickly becoming obsolete. As for the following example, so far so good, but who knows where there Stephen King will be in the pop culture pantheon a century from now:
“Cal awoke to silence. His mind circled for a moment, like a bird looking for a place to perch. Something in the tea, he thought. God, the woman had drugged him. He felt a quick panic as the theme from Stephen King’s Misery played in his head.”
Personification
Descriptions of castles have been done to death. Let’s face it, there are only so many different ways to describe the building materials of your typical castle. The author introduces elements of personification into her imagery to lend the stone cold heart of the architecture a metaphorical sense of still possessing beating heart:
“The ruined castle came into view as he rounded the curve. The keep, he supposed it was, was nearly intact, but walls had been shared off, making him think of an ancient warrior with scars from many battles. Perched on a stony crag, it shouted with power and defiance despite its tumbled rocks. Out of the boiling sky, one lance of lightning speared, exploded with light, and stung the air with the smell of ozone.”
Passion
The story centers around a passionate love affair between a man and a woman. As these things go, the characters are fairly standard, but as these things go, there is a certain inevitability that the imagery to describe the passion will mix and mingle oppositional tempers of emotional intensity. Desire and brutality are not exactly unknown to commingle in such stories:
“The fury returned as he pushed her back against the wall. `Is this what you want?’ Now his kiss tasted of violence, of desperation, nearly of punishment.”
The Story within the Story
The modern day romance of the story of the novel is bound up with a story-within-the-story. That story is related by one character to another in an imagery-laden sort of monologue punctuated by emotional reactions of the teller of the tale to the tale being told:
“This man, Alasdair, lusted for her—for her body, her heart, her soul. For her power as well—for she was strong, was Bryna the Wise. He came into her dreams, creeping like a thief, trying to steal from her what belonged to another. Trying to take what she refused to give. He came into her home, but she would not have him. He was fair of face, his hair gold and his eyes black as the path he’d chosen.”
