Often, the more profound that are the emotions we feel, the more daunting it is to find the words to articulate these experiences. As writers can we conquer the challenge of conveying powerful emotions with words -- no matter how extensive our vocabulary -- falls short of accomplishing this task?
One method is by including metaphors in your story.
A metaphor draws a visual comparison between separate two concepts. Metaphors can add symbolic depth to your story and further deepen the experience of your reader by allowing them to connect to your story through their own personal visual interpretation. Readers are also more able to interpret emotions if they are given a visual connection. In the words of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, “The soul never thinks without a picture.”
One of the most powerful uses of metaphors is by one of my favorite poets Warsan Shire.
The poem “Home” is about the struggles and traumas Warsan Shire faced as a Somalian refugee to Britain. One of the lines from the poem “No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark” has become a rallying cry at protests against Trump’s racist policies towards immigrants and refugees in the United States. Shire compares the ominous danger of being held captive in the mouth of a shark to the dangers refugees face in their home land countries from which they are fleeing.
Two of the most important factors when creating an effective metaphor in your writing are one, it should be original and two, it should fit within the context of the piece and character. Originality will make the metaphor much more captivating than if it is a generic cliché, which might cause your reader to lose interest.
The second most important factor is that the metaphor you are using should be indigenous to the setting of your character. For example, suppose your character is from the 17th century and you use a visual comparison in your metaphor from the 21st century. This would confuse your reader as to what historical period they are reading.
A good example of how a metaphor can better translate to the reader or audience more effectively than the simple use of a verb is the character-titled movie, Juno. When describing her love for her boyfriend, Juno doesn’t simply say, “I love my boyfriend.”
Instead, she helps the audience to visualize her feelings for him with the metaphor, “He is the sauce in my mac and cheese.”
Mac and cheese is also one of my favorite dishes, so perhaps this is one of the reasons this metaphor resonates with me. Which, in conclusion, also brings me to the most crucial point of successfully using metaphors in your prose writing: it must resonate with your reader.
One exercise I recommend for practicing the insertion of metaphors in your storytelling is to think of a person for whom you have a strong feeling. It can be anything ranging from disgust to adoration, or like Shire, it can be an event that has had a profound effect upon your life.
This recipe I have given you for putting metaphors into your prose writing should help make your writing as deliciously tempting to your reader as mac and cheese is to yours truly.
Pamela Chynn
Link to Warsan Shire’s recitation of her poem ‘Home’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI9D92Xiygo&t=13s
Visual Metaphor Artwork “light Ink” by Joey Guidone: https://www.joeyguidone.com/shop/