Craft Notes 03

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I think about how language sometimes asks us to believe in little miracles. Take hyperbole as an example; this small device allows us to stretch a truth until it is big enough to hold whatever we are feeling. We can apply this device to everyday things. Take lunch and think about a sandwich. This ordinary sandwich can be extended to the most fabulous sandwich in the galaxy. Everything leading up to this sandwich, behind the scenes, can explain why you might be saying this. The day could have worn you down, and it isn’t about the hunger but the moment of peace, and in the writing, the exaggeration might not be an exaggeration to the character because it needs to be the best sandwich in the world; it really needs to be.

If you’ve reached the edges of your patience, then the smallest task can feel like too much, and small actions can feel as though they are going to consume our time. This is where hyperbole can step in and detail this. It isn’t going to take a long time; instead, it will take six million years. If you’ve ever wanted to be louder than your quiet life allows, hyperbole is your friend. It swells an emotion, takes a humming and turns it into a song. It can take a dim light and make a sun of it. It can bring humour into grief for a moment, or detail a love bigger than your body can contain.

Based on its spelling, you’d imagine it was pronounced ‘hyper-bowl’, however, it is actually ‘hi-per-bol-lee.’ Why? Because English is a language that sometimes makes no sense. The actual reason, if you were wondering, is that the word hyperbole comes from the Greek hyperbolē, meaning ‘to throw beyond’, which is the exact definition of hyperbole as you are taking an idea and launching it into space. You are giving every emotion a rocket launch.

As with every device, it is possible to overuse hyperbole and come off melodramatic. If you read a book in all caps, it wouldn’t take long because you longed for something gentle, something true without having to be enormous. A single exaggeration, placed carefully, will have a great impact. If you are trying to detail emotion, we have all experienced a feeling that feels too large for the small rooms of our lives, and this is where hyperbole can really thrive.

In the comments below, give me some really exaggerated sentences. How far can you stretch your emotions? Here are a few more examples:

I am so hungry I could eat a farm.

This is the worst day of my entire existence.

If I don’t go home soon, I am going to die.

Work made a ghost of me today.

There are a couple above that you could see the poetic potential in. If you are feeling up for a challenge, write some exaggerated sentences, then use them in a piece of writing. Please share what you make, as I love seeing your writing.

Keep Kind and Stay True x