How Much Is Too Much? A Balanced Guide to Hyperbole & Personification

The Fundamentals of Figurative Language Collection — with Kelly Grace Thomas

Art by Mariam Chagelishvili

This lesson is part of the Fundamentals of Figurative Language collection — check out all the lessons HERE to learn how to create crackling tension, deepen emotional resonance, and bring impact to every word.

✨ b/c of her opening paragraph the summary feels a teensy bit redundant, maybe we do a simple one liner?

This lesson is part of the Fundamentals of Figurative Language collection

Hey, Forever Workshoppers!

In today’s Crafting Fierce & Flawless Figurative Language lesson, we will be amping up the drama using figurative language to take exaggeration to the extreme.

To achieve this, we will examine two distinct types of figurative language: personification and hyperbole.

First up, everyone’s favorite drama queen: hyperbole.

What is Hyperbole?

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Hyperbole is a figure of speech that employs extreme and deliberate exaggeration to emphasize a point, evoke a strong emotion, or create a vivid impression. It is not something that should be taken literally, but rather a significant and well-known lie that reveals important information to the reader.

Why is Hyperbole Important?

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If it’s all a lie, and hyperbole is packed with everything untrue, it means the speaker or narrator can’t be trusted, right? So why use it? Like most figurative language, it can be used as a portal into emotion, vivid description, and character voice.

We humans love drama. We love to exaggerate and make a show of our own experience — and when we do, it makes others (especially our readers) lean in.

Hyperbole is used to make others feel the levels of emotional intensity that the speaker or narrator is feeling. But of course, like any other device, it has to be done right.

Before we look at some ways to craft sharp and effective hyperbolic language, let’s look at some common mistakes people make while using it.

Common Flaws with Hyperbole

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FLAW #1: It’s Overused

If everything is exaggerated, then nothing is exaggerated. One of the most common flaws of hyperbole is that it is overused and loses its impact. It makes the writing feel gimmicky or overly dramatic for no reason.

Example: If dinner doesn’t come out in the next ten seconds, I swear I’m gonna starve to death. By the time the food arrives, I will be nothing but a pile of bones and dust. You’ll have to put vigil candles and flowers outside this crappy restaurant in my memory.

SOLUTION: When describing something, limit the hyperbole to only one area or description. Often, when we recount or express an experience, we heighten one element for dramatic effect, and the more you can juxtapose hyperbole with factual information, the more the hyperbole will pop.

Rewrite: It's been almost an hour since the waiter took our order. We asked for bread, but this is LA; the server said they “don’t do bread.” By the time the food arrives, I will be nothing but a pile of bones and dust.

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FLAW #2: It’s Unclear and Uncommitted

Hyperbole loses its impact when something is too close to the truth. For something to be hyperbolic, it needs to be extreme. Slightly exaggerating will feel like an additional detail rather than a nod to emotion, voice, stakes, or truth.

Example: Those days, even the mention of your name undid me. I would turn red, my hand trembling, thinking of all the ways I could see summer in your eyes.

SOLUTION: Make it clear that whatever is being stated is not factual, or even possible. Commit to a clear, specific, and exaggerated response or description that could not happen.

Rewrite: Those days, even the mention of your name made me forget my own. Facts didn’t matter, nor did time. I gorged myself on the thought of you. You were summer, and I was so hungry for sun.

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FLAW #3: It’s a Cliché (Language or Emotion)

As with any figurative language, hyperbole loses its impact when it borrows a cliché or an idiom. Using worn-out phrases like “I cried a river” or “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse” doesn’t feel new or exciting because the reader has heard them a thousand times before.

Example: I’ve told you a million times.

SOLUTION: Take an existing cliché and twist the language or concept to create new, innovative exaggerations through imagery.

Rewrite: I told him over the phone, in line at the grocery store, by the midnight of Morse code, in poems and peonies: no matter what happens, we will never be together again.

How to Craft Fierce and Flawless Hyperbole

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Now that we know what not to do, let's look at a few ways that you can make the most of each exaggeration.

#1. Enhance Emotional Honesty