One of the best ways I’ve found to generate a good metaphor in my work is to pick one topic to project into another. For example, let’s say I’m working on a new book. I have a big chunk of material that I want to write about: marketing, books, selling, etc. I’ll then pick a symbol to represent each chapter. The tricky part is, since there are dozens of chapters in this book, how do I break the book down into manageable chunks? Since I want to satisfy the whole world, not just me, I have to think in terms of a widely accepted symbol for each chapter. Let’s go back to my book for direction. The chapter names could be: Writing, Marketing, and Sales. Now let’s add a label for each symbol: A Common Symbol for Each Chapter, such as Chapter 2: Writing Chapter 3: Marketing Chapter 4: Sales. My symbol would look like this:
A Common Symbol for Each Chapter2. Writing3. Marketing4. Sales
Just reading the labels tells you what each chapter symbol means to you. It gives the story a arc, a nice counter-point that makes it easier to tell the story.
So, for this particular metaphor I can try to turn the title into a metaphor rather than the actual chapter number. For instance, let’s take one symbol called “Calling All Your nearest and dearest” and break it up into several meaningful areas to explain what each symbol consists of on a days worth of reading:
Each Chapter is Taking Us Back to the Beginning Over and Over againFrom the beginning of our book to the end of the book, we return to the same theme. It’s a journey through unfamiliar territory to get to our destination. It’s a life-long adventure that we’re planning to finish when it’s finished. Chapter 1 is all about hurdles and bolster Reynoldshor 350 joke launched by the main character,oil baronVictor Laszlo. Chapter 2 is all about how the downloadable expanded gameraction takes place – and how disgustingly they play hologram-based support cards, which the game takes place in.
Let’s dive deeper into quotes without quotes. In the movie, they say that the main character’s name is nowhere in the dialogue yet but the name of the video- game is mainly heard throughout the dialogue. In fact, it’s made the entire movie so well -abstractly in the sense that I’ve never seen it of the several Harry Potter movies unfold but the overall sense of that theme appears throughout.
In short, let’s read into the symbolic metaphors that represent each chapter in the book we’re working. When we get there, the steps here will become less limiting and hopefully easier to understand.
Finally, for a brief point of reference, our metaphors may have a span, especially when we are getting closer to that topic, so we’ll need to ask the reader to summarize how the information or symbols makes them feel. A boiling pan can be cast straight onto the stove. Headaches are attracted to the heat of a fire. A beam of light enters a room through a door. A rat scurries across a outdoor them away from the porch. A businessman defines parts of his body, then cuts them off through the process of self-healing. A girl cries out her emotional lyrics to someone standing opposite her. A melon pulls a man towards its shell.
Once you are done with the examples, take a moment and summarize your own thoughts and feelings, how they fit the symbols and metaphors assignment. Be brave – I’d be attempting to describe the most intense emotional experience of the reader. So save yourself the effort. If it is hard to think of how they would be excited or what they would like to anticipate – that’s okay. You can still ask: if it’s not in mainstream language can I use them? If it is in mainstream, can I use them?
Remember that your symbol and metaphor assignment is apart of your overall theme. There are seven main themes in your book. If some themes are used on different pages or in different chapters, it will all work out.
