An analogy is a kind of comparison that explains the unknown in terms of the known, the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar.
A good analogy can help your readers understand a complicated subject or view a common experience in a new way. Analogies can be used with other methods of development to explain a process , define a concept, narrate an event, or describe a person or place.
Analogy isn't a single form of writing. Rather, it's a tool for thinking about a subject, as these brief examples demonstrate:
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"Do you ever feel that getting up in the morning is like pulling yourself out of quicksand? . . ."
(Jean Betschart, In Control , 2001)
"Sailing a ship through a storm is . . . a good analogy for the conditions inside an organization during turbulent times, since not only will there be the external turbulence to deal with, but internal turbulence as well . . .." (Peter Lorange, Leading in Turbulent Times , 2010)
"[T]he world of particle physics is more like a crossword than a clockwork mechanism. Each new discovery is a clue, which finds its solution in some new mathematical linkage. . . ."
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(P. C. W. Davies, The Mind of God: The Scientific Basis for a Rational World , 1992)
"For some people, reading a good book is like a Calgon bubble bath--it takes you away. . . ."
(Kris Carr, Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor , 2008)
"Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into wars, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves. .
." (Lewis Thomas, "On Societies as Organisms," 1971)
 "To me, patching up a heart that'd had an attack was like changing out bald tires. They were worn and tired, just like an attack made the heart, but you couldn't just switch out one heart for another. . . ."
(C. E. Murphy, Coyote Dreams , 2007)
 "Falling in love is like waking up with a cold--or more fittingly, like waking up with a fever. . . ."
(William B. Irvine, On Desire , 2006)
"My favorite analogy to success in free markets is looking through a telescope at Saturn. It is a fascinating planet with those bright rings around it. But if you walk away from the telescope for a few minutes and then come back to look again, you'll find that Saturn is not there. It has moved on . . .."
(Warren D. Miller, Value Maps , 2010)
"Quitting a job is like leaving a woman. It's like abandoning part of yourself. . . ."
(Benjamin Cheever, Selling Ben Cheever , 2002)
"Yes, a tree is an underground creature, with its tail in the air. All its intelligence is in its roots. . . ."
(Oliver Wendell Holmes, Over the Teacups , 1891)
British author Dorothy Sayers observed that analogous thinking is a key aspect of the writing process . A composition professor explains:
Analogy illustrates easily and to almost everyone how an "event" can become an "experience" through the adoption of what Miss [Dorothy] Sayers called an "as if" attitude. That is, by arbitrarily looking at an event in several different ways, "as if" if it were this sort of thing, a student can actually experience transformation from the inside. . . . The analogy functions both as a focus and a catalyst for "conversion" of event into experience. It also provides, in some instances not merely the heuristic for discovery but the actual pattern for the entire essay that follows.
(D. Gordon Rohman, "Pre-Writing: The Stage of Discovery in the Writing Process." College Composition and Communication , May 1965)

Analogy Practice
In much the same way we started focusing on the writing process by writing on a topic we know well – ourselves – let’s start practicing analogies the same way. Pick at least three prompts from the following list to describe yourself through an analogy. Complete the analogy with some kind of explanation.
What color are you?
What musical instrument are you?
What punctuation mark are you?
What kind of handshake are you?
What facial expression are you?
What role in the school play are you?
Which celestial body, planet, or constellation are you?
Which musical group or singer are you?
Which TV show are you?
What article of clothing are you?
What kind of song are you?
What font or typeface are you?
What kind of cellphone are you?
Which chemical or element are you?
Are you fire, water, ice, smoke?
Which movie star are you?
Which brand or what kind of shoe are you?
Which body part are you?
What weapon are you?
In your group of friends, are you the teacher or the student?
Are you a bicycle or a car?
Which kind of tree are you?
Which vegetable? Fruit? Soup? Meat?
What season are you?
What beverage or drink are you?
What kind of a magazine are you?