According to Dictionary.com, a metaphor is: "A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in 'A mighty fortress is our God.'" It's a comparison between two things without using "like" or "as." If the quote had said, "Our God is like a mighty fortress," it would have been a simile, but not really as powerful is it?
We all have metaphors for our lives. They offer ways of understanding us. In the most recent campaign, John McCain was the fighter pilot, flying around dropping bombs on people. Obama was the organizer, defining his community (the country) then working to bring them all together for the common good.
Your characters have metaphors too. When developing a character, try to figure out what metaphor best characterizes that person and work with that. Is he a badger? Is he Mother Teresa? Is she an explorer? What? It also helps us think about our lives.
What do you think about this? Post a comment. And download a copy of my book.
Writing to me is an entrepreneurial activity. For my entrepreneurship blog go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for entrepreneurial real estate to www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog.
Showing posts with label Metaphor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Metaphor. Show all posts
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Similes and Metaphors
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Traffic as a Metaphor
I heard a radio psychiatrist say that frustrations from traffic are really manifestations with one's frustrations with not getting ahead fast enough in life. I decided to used this to help flesh out Will's character.
On p. 149, Henry is riding with Will:
I must have been sighing loudly because Henry leaned forward.
"What's the matter," he asked me.
"This traffic. I just want to go faster than it's letting me."
He nodded and leaned back. "Just bear with it, and you'll get there," he said.
Ever feel frustrated stuck in traffic? Maybe it's just your overall frustration with how your life is going.
What do you think? Post a comment.
Writing is an entrepreneurial activity. For my entrepreneurship blog, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for entrepreneurial real estate, to www.yourstopforrealestate.com.blog
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Metaphor
A metaphor is of course a comparison between two things. An extended allows you to write about one thing as if it were something else. In Watership Down the writer outlined the effects of ecological catastrophe on human society while talking about impending the destruction of a warren of rabbits. A writer can get readers to empathize with the rabbits. The same story based on human characters may come off as polemical or trite. Laying out a problem or issue in an unexpected venue, the writer can seduce readers into thinking about the issue differently than before. For me, the Kearney Music School is the arena in which the obsessive drive for perfection occurs. This pursuit of perfection can lead, if not to insanity, to at least varying forms of mental trauma and anguish. Watching this pursuit both thrills me and scares me.
If something in this blog strikes you, post a comment. And check out my real estate blog at www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog; and read my entrepreneurship blog at hatman2.blogspot.com.
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Synopsis:
Ian Kearney, the director of the Kearney Music School, an elite musical training school in Philadelphia, dies after a fall from a balcony during a recital. World-famous cellist, Henry Harrier, recently forced from the faculty, returns to investigate Ian's death when his prized former student is arrested. Henry shows through his brilliant and single-minded pursuit of the truth that, as usual, they have it all wrong. This Sherlock Holmes-type mystery leads the reader through the world of classical music and lays bare the conflicts which dominate the lives of talented adolescents when placed under the pressure of studying for a demanding, stressful, and often elusive career as a classical music performer. Henry Harrier is part John Le Carre's George Smiley, part Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes, and part Orlando Cole the beloved teacher, renowned chamber musician, and until his own retirement, the premier cellist of the Curtis Institute.Author Profile:
Tim was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on January 30, 1946. In 1951 he moved with his family to Schenectady, New York, where he lived through high school. He attended Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, from 1964 to 1968. He graduated in 1968 with a B.A. in history and philosophy. He received his Ph. D. in history in U.S. history in 1980 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison after spending 2.5 years in the U. S. Army. Most of his army service was completed in Wuerzburg, Germany, from 1969-1971. In 1972 he returned to Madison to complete his doctoral study. His dissertation, Those Who Moved; Internal Migrants in American 1607-1840, combined the statistical analysis of genealogical and biographical data with the study of traditional literary diaries, letters, and journals.Tim was a market and survey research consultant from 1983 to 2000 and a smoking cessation researcher from 2000 to 2003. His consulting practice focused primarily on conducting community health needs assessment. He authored hundreds of market research reports and published a number of his assessments in Community Health Needs Assessment published by McGraw Hill in 1996 and in a revised volume published in 1999. In 2000 he joined the staff of the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention of the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he conducted smoking cessation research. He published several articles in peer-reviewed journals and spoke at national smoking cessation conferences.
In 2003 he moved to Philadelphia and earned his real estate license. He now practices real estate, works on publishing his novels, and studies and teaches entrepreneurship.Tim has written a dozen novel-length stories, a volume of short stories, and about a 3-foot stack of pages poetry. He is currently working on earning his 4th million in real estate sales, publishing his novels, and working on an entrepreneurish handbook as a support for his students.
Tim is a trained violist and an experienced string quartet player. He is an avid listener to classical music and regularly attends classical music concerts. He has two grown children by his first wife and a stepdaughter with his second wife. He likes to cook, read, write, entertain, develop relationships, and help other people. Formerly Tim used to travel frequently. He doesn't so much anymore. Now he regards the combination of real estate practice, writing and publishing, and the teaching and studying of entrepreneurship as enough of a trip.
