8.25.2020

The Magic of Metaphor

I am a flower. Not a fragile flower. A strong, wild, sometimes beautiful, often brave bloom. I need water. I need sunlight. I need to be connected to a vine that runs deep, a vine that’s connected to a root that bad weather won’t tear down, a vine that connects me to other living things and to life itself. I won’t last very long if you take me away from that vine, if you separate me from the other flowers I’ve been planted with. My connection to them is what keeps me alive. I am a mortal thing. I was born from a seed and I grew and I am growing still but i am also already dying. I am vulnerable to disease that could end my life sooner than I’d like. I am susceptible to violence. I bruise easily. I can be cut down. I bloom when the day is warm and bright, and I’m prettier when you’re smiling at me. I am capable of bringing joy to others. In fact, that might be what I’m here for.

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Metaphor. My favorite part of the writing process, hands down, is finding the central metaphor and letting it seep in to every other aspect of my story. Metaphors orient me. They make my work feel bigger and richer. There is a central metaphor in every great story, I think. Every story is, at its core, a metaphor itself.