Metaphorically Thinking
I think in metaphors. I’m learning this is perhaps not what everyone does.
Robb used to say to me, in moments of my melodrama about this or that, “Tricia, I need you to speak in concrete language, please. Tell me what is really the problem, not what it could be, what color it is, what it looks like, or what you would ‘liken it’ to.”
I also think and speak in bullet points (not alliterated, though, since that’s annoying), paragraphs (“Just let me finish this paragraph, before you interrupt me.”), and parentheses (“Parenthetically, let me add this one thing.).
The perils of relationship with a writer.
Enter with care. You may need your own glossary of terms.
(But it can be pretty magical, too. If I do say so.)
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Tricia Lott Williford
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jjhil says:
Count me in! Others used to refer to the virtual dictionary used to understand my sayings…
Susie says:
Whenever I need to explain anything to anyone, it is in the form of a metaphor. You are not alone
Jessica says:
Ah yes, you had a husband like mine–at the opposite end of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator from me. He wanted language to be precise and hemmed in by qualifiers, like a lease. Here was my summary of his view and my response to it:
CAN A POEM BE A PORSCHE?
If you want to say it,
say it–
don’t rhyme it or sing it
or play it
straightforward, clean
say what you mean.
No waste, no excess,
no gingerbread or mess.
Just power and speed,
form fitting need.
But if the need is not
brain to brain but heart to heart?
Does beauty have to be
leather upholstery,
steel, aluminum and chro-em?
Can’t the form be a poem?
Jeremy says:
You just summed up my Creative Writing 129 course in a fairly small blog post… What a waste of money :/