In this edition of craft notes, I want to focus on metaphors, but it is essential to note the difference between a metaphor and a simile first. In a nutshell, a metaphor compares two things with certainty, whereas a simile is uncertain. A metaphor uses words such as ‘is’ and ‘was’, whereas similes feature ‘as’ or ‘like’.
He was as red as a tomato (simile) vs. He was a red tomato (metaphor).
Now I understand that some may find it tedious or unnecessary, but knowing the fundamentals of language will benefit you greatly when it comes to writing metaphors and writing in general. Knowing your adverbs, adjectives, nouns, and verbs allows you to use them to your advantage. If you already know these, skip the following paragraph; but if you struggle to remember or have forgotten, read on.
Adjectives are describing words that describe the noun, whether it is shape, age, texture, colour, size, feeling, etc. I remember this by thinking of adjectives as adding to the noun and adverbs as adding to the verb. They both begin with the syllable ‘add,’ which makes this easier to remember. Adverbs tell us how often, where, how, when, or how much something is done. Verbs are the things we do. Ask yourself if you can do the word, and that’ll tell you if it is a verb. For instance, you can’t table or chair, so they can’t be verbs. Finally, you have nouns, which are people, places, things, and animals.
This is important to know because, for this exercise, we will be following a structured recipe to create metaphors. This exercise can make seemingly impossible results, but the important thing here is to try. Let me first give you the recipe, then we will talk a little more about it.
Ingredients
1 x piece of paper
1 x writing apparatus
1 x we can do it attitude
(Optional) Cup of tea
(Optional) Writing playlist
Method
On your piece of paper, draw two reasonably sized circles (roughly the size of your palm)
Title one of the circle ‘nouns’ and title the other ‘adjectives’. These are our word pools.
Let your mind warm up, sit back, and think about some adjectives and nouns. This could be a good place to play some gentle writing music in the background.
Next, grab your writing apparatus and fill these circles with nouns and adjectives, giving yourself a good variety.
Pick two nouns from the noun pool and one adjective from the adjective pool.
Now put them in the relevant place in the following structure:
A (noun) is/was a/an (adjective) (noun)Cook for thirty minutes or until it feels ready.
There is a chance you have ended up with something like:
A week is a haunted theatre.
You could have something nonsensical. All this exercise is asking is that you try to explain it. It doesn’t have to be in any specific structure or even in a piece of writing; make notes.
You can then take those notes and turn them into a piece of writing. Whatever your combination is, try to explain it, no matter how tightly you have to clutch at those straws. When you have completed one at random, build a metaphor from this structure, purposely placing the words into their correct position. This is part one of metaphor, and we will be exploring these in more depth. I will show you how I write metaphors and how they exist without being spoken about. If you are in a writing slump or want to push your writing a little further, then try this. Even when it feels like the two things have nothing in common, find their similarities. If you attempt this, share your metaphors below, and I can give some guidance if you are stuck. I often use online generators to throw random adjectives and nouns at me, and I attempt to make some sense out of it. We aren’t looking for entirely constructed poems, just comparisons. How do they compare? How is a pizza like a winter morning? Well, they are both better cold. They are both arguably served by the slice. As always, have fun and don’t worry how silly it gets. Don’t put pressure on yourself or tell yourself that what you’re writing isn’t good. You are training those creative muscles every time you try exercises like this, and that is the most crucial part.
Keep Kind and Stay True x
This is one of my favourite albums, period, but it is a fantastic writing album. This is probably how s heart sounds.
You're probably not even aware of how great this place is bruv.