: Are metaphors superior to similes in the following cases? Here are the examples. The first version is the simile and the second the metaphor (I'm not sure, though, what kind it is). We

We faced away from each other awkwardly, as if we were on the first date we never had.

A hypothetical or conditional, not a metaphor.

We faced away from each other awkwardly, portraying the first date we never had.

Description.

What you want is:

We faced away from each other awkwardly, two shy teenagers on the first date we never had.

Next one:

My past rejection, his present sweetheart, my future surgery, all that swelled up inside me until I burst like a water balloon.

That's a simile. Great!

My past rejection, his present sweetheart, my future surgery, all that swelled up inside me until I burst into tears.

Figurative language leading to a description. You can physically "burst into tears." The people and events are not physically inside you.

He held my hand and examined it, as though wanting to read our future in it.
He held my palm and examined it, perhaps wanting to read our future in it.

Both of these are the narrator projecting or wondering what the other person is thinking. Not figurative or metaphorical.

A simile always uses "like" or "as": "The rustling of the branches was like trees whispering to each other."

A metaphor uses symbolism. It's something which can't be literal: "Their hissing gossip was the rustle of tree branches: indistinct, indecipherable, far above my head."

As far as which is "superior," that's mostly a matter of word choice and flow. I think your similes are better here, but a metaphor might be better elsewhere.

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Your examples of metaphors aren't actually metaphors. They are straight descriptions of what's happening.

Let's take a slightly modified form of the second example:

My past rejection, his present sweetheart, my future surgery, all that made me burst like a water balloon.

If you would like to write this as a metaphor:

My past rejection, his present sweetheart, my future surgery, all that made my hull burst and my water flow all over the place."

Metaphors read as if they describe something which is actually happening. But what the metaphor describes doesn't happen. It's just a symbol for what is really happening. But this example doesn't make sense at all, does it? That's because you are reading it out of context. But if you provide enough context, for example by establishing a "feeling like a balloon" metaphor earlier (for example by repeatedly using it in form of a simile), this sentence would make sense to the reader.

What we learn from this is that similes are "metaphors lite". By adding "like a" or "as if" in front of a metaphor, we prepare the reader that what comes next is not to be taken literal. This remove the necessity to provide the context which is necessary to recognize the metaphor as what it is.

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