You'd think you would need to have some scintillating stories to write a metaphor.
Or worse still, you'd believe it's a skill that only some people have and can never be learned. Well, you know what they say, right? The proof of the pudding is in the eating. And the proof of writing metaphors isn't in some fancy story, but rather the mundane activities in our everyday life.
Ready to go on a metaphor trip that's fun? Well, here we go.
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Do you know why we are often bored when friends tell us about their holidays?
It's easy to imagine that we're slightly envious, because they've had a good time, and we haven't. However, that's usually not the case why we get bored. The reason why we're dying to escape is because their stories are all goody-gum-drop stories. They'll tell you in excruciating detail about the restaurants they went to, the palaces they visited, and the experiences they've had.
Your brain is waiting for the “but”.
A story without a “but” isn't much of a story. It's just a pointless blah, blah that no one really interested in. You may politely listen, but that doesn't mean you're engaged. The same applies to any story—and it's why you start off a story, with a “but”.
Let's take a look at the story from the book, The Brain Audit.
- Imagine you're putting seven red bags on a flight.
- You get off at your destination, and the bags start rolling on the conveyor belt.
- You spot the first red bag, you take it off the belt.
- Then there's the second red bag, then the third.
- However, there's a green bag, a polka dot bag, and a big set of boxes.
- And then you see it, the fourth red bag, then the fifth and the sixth.
- So when do you leave the airport?
You didn't quite see the “but” in the story text, did you?
However, you felt it. The story was going one way where you were picking off the bags one by one, when suddenly there was this “but” that showed up in the form of a green bag, polka dot bag and a big set of boxes. The second time you felt that tension, was when you got all the six bags, but the final bag was missing.
Let's go somewhat chronologically through The Brain Audit and get to the second story
- Imagine you're driving down the highway without a care in the world.
- You're listening to the music, watching other cars as they pass you by.
- You're mildly aware of the scenery as you zoom down the road.
- And then from the corner of your eye you notice something.
- You spot the red and blue flashing lights of the police car
- Almost instantly you press down on the brakes
Once again, we have two points of tension. The first was the red and blue flashing lights and then the instinctive reaction of stepping on the brakes.
Almost every fairy tale has “buts” embedded as points of tension.
- In the case of Cinderella, she wants to go to the ball like everyone else—but…
- She does get to the ball, the prince is entranced with her, but…
- The prince is trying to find the girl he met, but…
Goldilocks and the Three Bears is boringly repetitive, yet it still sticks to the but…
- Goldilocks wants to sit down, but…
- Goldilocks wants to eat porridge, but…
- Goldilocks wants to take a nap, but…
You've got the idea, haven't you? But just for fun let's sneak in a Taylor Swift story.
- Taylor Swift is on stage in front of thousands of fans when she introduces another singer.
- The crowd goes wild, even before they see the other person.
- The other singer is Lisa Kudrow, from the hit series “Friends”.
- The song they decide to sing is an all time favourite called “Smelly Cat”.
- The crowd goes crazy as they launch into the song.
Notice there was no turn in that story? No “but” shows up, so the story isn't as interesting as it could be.
- Let's run that story once again, now with a “but”
- Taylor Swift is on stage in front of thousands of fans when she introduces another singer.
- The crowd goes wild, even before they see the other person.
- The other singer is Lisa Kudrow, from the hit series “Friends”.
- The song they decide to sing is an all time favourite called “Smelly Cat”.
- The crowd goes crazy as they launch into the song.
- However, Lisa Kudrow isn't happy and interrupts Taylor Swift.
- They stop playing, as Lisa Kudrow gives Taylor Swift some advice.
- She says: “That's not how you sing it, you have to feel the music”.
The second story is almost identical to the first one, but the “but” instantly ramps up the power of the story. In fact, a story isn't really a story unless there's one or more points of tension in it. It's just a rather boring sequence of events.
It's the “but” that brings the tension.
What do you do next?
Step 1: What's your story? Or metaphor?
Step 2: What's the “but” in the story? Does it have more than one “but?”
Sounds pretty simple, eh? But how do you get the story in the first place?
In pirate stories, there's always a map. Somewhere on that map you're bound to find treasure if you can only figure out where the X spot is located on the map. Finding treasure seems to need a lot of locating and even. more digging when it comes to stories.
However, that's not the case at all .The problem with storytelling is just a matter of doing some prep work. If you sit down to think up a story, you're almost always likely to believe that you're not a natural storyteller.
The reality is that all of us have told stories, but these stories have happened to us.
Hence, it's easier to tell the story because there's nothing to invent. Yet, if you're going to tell stories on a regular basis, you will need a story bank. Without the bank you're as hopeless as a pirate without a map. Or worse, a pirate without the X on the map.
To get stared with a story bank, you simply need to come up with almost boring every day situations. Here are some examples, below.
- Buying a pizza
- Transferring data to a new computer.
- Going for a walk
- Going through security check
- Meeting a friend from college.
- Buying a totally useless app
- Setting off the smoke alarm
- Heading to the cafe before everyone else
- Sharpening pencils.
- Shoe shopping.
- Driving a clunker of a car.
- Feeding the tyrannosaurus before going to bed.
As next step, you choose three of those everyday situations create straightforward analogies + add to story bank.
Buying a pizza
- You decide you want to have pizza on Friday night.
- You get to the pizzeria's website.
- You put in your details: name, telephone, type of pizza and credit card details.
- The order goes through quite easily.
- You get ready for a fun dinner.
Transferring data to a new computer
- You've bought a brand new computer.
- However, all the information and apps are on the old one (as you'd expect).
- Now you have to back up everything onto a back up drive.
- Then restore it all bit by bit.
- Add all the software codes.
Meeting an old friend from college
- You're buying groceries at the local store.
- Someone taps you on the shoulder.
- You turn around and you can't recognise her at first.
- However, you realise she's a friend from college.
Choose three of those everyday situations create personal analogies + add to story bank.
Buying a pizza
- Imagine you decide to have pizza on Friday night.
- You get to the pizzeria's website.
- You put in your details: name, telephone, type of pizza and credit card details.
- You hit the button to submit the order.
- However, all your data is erased and you have to start putting in all the details again.
- You're keen on the pizza so you go through the entire process again.
- Once again your details are wiped out.
- You decide to use the phone instead.
Transferring data to a new computer
- You've bought a brand new computer.
- However, all the information and apps are on the old one (as you'd expect).
- Now you have to back up everything onto a back up drive.
- Then restore it all bit by bit.
- However, to your surprise, you don't need to go through this laborious process.
- All you have to do is place your old computer next to the new one and it will transfer it all across.
Meeting an old friend from college
- You're buying groceries at the local store.
- Someone taps you on the shoulder.
- You turn around and you can't recognise her at first.
- However, you realise she's a friend from college.
- You'd like to spend some more time, but your 5 year old niece is throwing a tantrum.
Notice that all you've done is add something that makes the story your own. But because of the YOU, the readers put themselves in your shoes.
With this mundane list you can create a starting point to the story, and then add a bit of stuff that makes the story quite uniquely your own. In doing so, you've managed to take two important steps with storytelling.
You've realised that you need the BUT to create tension. Secondly, it's dawned on you that you don't need to have a dramatic Cinderella sort of story. You can take the most everyday events and turn them into your own.
The only point that really remains—and yes, we're going backwards—is to know where this story is going to end. And we say we're going backwards, because it's something that we need to know from the very start. Before you think up the story, before you have the “but” in place, you need to know what's the “one idea” that you're trying to communicate with the story.
What's this “one idea” concept about anyway? Let's find out in the next part.
Part 2: How To Write Non-Boring Metaphors In Your Articles
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