So, I've been writing for a while and wonder.... Is it confusing using metaphors in stories?
Here is a quick line from one of my stories.
"Every wall screams his voice every hour of the day, I can’t sleep, and I rarely ever eat. Bone chilling howls flood all of my dreams and persist in the cellar all the way out the chimney."
This is a metaphor about a woman haunted by the memories of her husband's spirit.
The question is this, are metaphors such as the one above actually needed in stories or do they just weigh the reader down? Or is it a grey area that really isn't touched. I know all the classics used a lot of metaphors. "as each dying ember wrote its ghost upon the floor" - Poe.