Q&A: MFAs and metaphors
By Jael McHenry | December 6, 2010 |
Megan asked: I’ve long considered getting an MFA in creative writing. But will an MFA really make me a better writer? Or should I stay on my current path of writing and reading a ton? What are the pros/cons of getting an MFA? Thanks!
Nancy asked: I don’t get writer’s block, but the thing that stalls my writing engine for hours is stopping to find the right metaphor when I need it. Do you have any exercises that will help me get rolling more quickly?
First things first: would an MFA program make you a better writer? Yes. But will “writing and reading a ton” make you a better writer too? Also yes. I’ve said before that you don’t need an MFA to get published (click here to read) and it certainly isn’t the only path to being a better writer.
But here’s my caveat. The act of writing itself helps you get better, but there’s one more ingredient you need: a good critical reader or readers to tell you what’s working and what’s not in that writing. This is probably the best thing about an MFA program, frankly. It delivers a captive audience of a dozen or more great readers who will workshop everything you write as fast as you can write it. You learn not just from what they find in your work, but the strengths and weakness you find in theirs. But if you can find a critique group or critique partner online, through shorter workshops (the Iowa summer program is incredible), or in some other way, you’ll continue to grow and improve as a writer – without the MFA price tag. It’s a very personal choice, but the good news is that there are lots of possible ways forward.
Now for the metaphor question.
I had a HUGE lightbulb moment about metaphors a few years ago, thanks to Sands Hall, whose workshop I took at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival (that same program I mentioned above.) Before that I just considered a metaphor a metaphor: they were either lovely and apt or dead and clumsy. But when Sands described how she made each character’s point of view distinct in her book Catching Heaven, she mentioned how important it was that each character’s metaphors were true to that character. And that was the lightbulb. A rancher will use different metaphors than a schoolteacher. Even if the book is in third person and not first, if the point of view is close-in to the character, you want to apply that character’s “filter” to everything – including the metaphors.
I took this to an extreme in my book The Kitchen Daughter, where the narrator Ginny is so obsessed with food and cooking — and so uncomfortable dealing with the wider world — that she filters absolutely everything through the lens of food. She bumps into a shoulder and it feels “like the shank end of a ham”; the voices of the people in her family she compares to orange juice, tomato juice, spearmint, espresso. In most cases your characters will draw from a larger pool, but still, the idea that there is a pool, and that it comes from that character’s particular bias and experience, that’s clutch.
So to answer the question: if you have trouble generating metaphors while you’re writing, I would suggest working with each point-of-view character and generating metaphors that fit the character. A fisherman who digs his own bait might compare the leftover crumbs of a chocolate cake to the dirt in which he stores his earthworms. An overworked Starbucks barista could look at those same crumbs and see coffee grounds. A compulsive overeater may not analyze the crumbs at all, but see only the absence of the cake, which she has guiltily scarfed. After you rehearse this technique enough, it may come more naturally, and you’ll be able to generate them in the moment as you’re writing, so the need for a metaphor won’t bring you to a halt.
Any other suggestions, WU’ers?
(image via Flickr Creative Commons; source: Aku)
Jael McHenry is the debut author of The Kitchen Daughter (Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books, April 12, 2011). Her work has appeared in publications such as the North American Review, Indiana Review, and the Graduate Review at American University, where she earned her MFA in Creative Writing. You can read more about Jael and her book at jaelmchenry.com or follow her on Twitter at @jaelmchenry.
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Jael, what an excellent reminder to keep the metaphors more specific for each character. You gave me a new idea for my WIP. Seriously!! So, thank you!
As for the MFA question above. . . at a certain point in life, it’s just not possible (like for me with three young kids). But, there are wonderful programs in certain cities where adults can take writing classes with wonderful teachers and get that captive audience you discussed. (Like The Loft Literary Center here in the Twin Cities). Anyway, through programs like that and intense reading and writing practice, it’s a good second. That said, I wish I’d tried the MFA route way back when.
I have never had any trouble coming up with metaphors, but this seems to be very good advice for creating fictional characters that pop off the page. Not following this simple advice may be the distinct reason some characters appear flat or unbelievable. The metaphor is really the basis of all thought processes. Our dreaming mind purges in metaphor and we compare things to memories we have all day long in our heads. This is great advice from Sands Hall.
Excellent advice. I took a workshop once where we had to write dialogue from the POV of different characters describing a given setup. When I’m stuck for a metaphor (and I do NOT like writing them), I’ll mark the ms with ^^ and deal with it later.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Thank you! I feel like I’ve been hit on the head (in the good way)… never thought that way about using metaphors to help cement POV. God, that’s brilliant.
Great advice about metaphors. That layer of detail can add so much with a very light hand.
I have struggles like this with my own writing and for each one (metaphors, names, beats) I have a document that I keep in Google Docs where I jot down any good ones that come to mind throughout the day. This works well for me since I sit at a desk all day with easy access to my lists. But just getting into the practice of writing down the fleeting thoughts relevant to my dilemma has helped me build a good pool of “snippets” ready to be used when needed.
One list I love: “Things that Make Me Swoon.” If I’m in a conversation or read an article in which someone has something romantic to say, I jot it down immediately. Swoon-worthy material is difficult to pull out of thin air!
Thanks for the great post.
Smart, smart metaphor advice. Thanks, Jael!
Agree 100% about metaphor needing to be consistent with the character’s POV.
In addition, I’ve discovered anecdotally that certain things feed my metaphor-brain: images (and sites like iStockphoto, where you can insert key words about an ethos or feeling are goldmines, especially if they happen to involve images that overlap your character’s world), poetry, and going about my daily life being simile-hungry.
Really great metaphor advice. I’ve always approached it as experiential imagery, pulling from individual experiences. It just helps make the voice stronger and pull the reader into POV :)
Another point I’d add about MFAs is to look at what a person wants to write, and whether the MFA will encourage or discourage that. Things vary wildly between courses, some encouraging all genres, but others can really push writers toward literary fiction and devalue other types of fiction as inferior in the process. The same, of course, can happen in writing groups too.
A critique group, writing partner, or program, should never push a writer away from what he or she loves to write, or tell them that it’s ‘wrong.’
These days, with online writing groups and writing courses, the MFA programs aren’t as necessary as they once were. The major advantage to an MFA is it allows you to teach fiction or poetry at college level.
If you intend to write genre, an MFA program that looks down on genre or doesn’t have instructors who write in that genre is often worse than no program at all because you will be taught methods that are antithetical to genre writing. Also, you’ll have to put up with various snobs who will belittle you and your choice of writing.
If your life is such that you’d like an MFA but can’t attend in person, I’m sure some MFA programs offer online learning.
On metaphors, I found a neat site a few days ago when I was researching a blog article on archetypes, symbols, and images. It not only lists the metaphors, it has a section that ties the metaphors to specific emotions and ideas. It’s here:
https://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/
What great suggestions you all have! Almost too much to respond to already, but I’ll try —
Nina, great to hear the creative juices are flowing for the WIP! Keep it going!
Nicole, you’re right that the use of metaphor is part of what creates a rounded character, though I never thought of it that way — but of course it’s part of going beyond how our characters look to incorporate how they think instead.
Terry, Sara, Jan, these are all helpful tips! The ^^, the snippet collection, the image search — thanks so much for sharing them!
And Hayley, very good point about many MFA programs traditionally having an anti-genre bias. Something to watch out for in any critique/workshop environment, for sure.
(And thanks to Therese for setting up Q&A month in the first place — such great questions our readers have!)
I meant to get my MFA, but life took me on a different path. I hope to go back for it one of these days, but for now I’m okay with my life and am learning how to write better by reading better books and working on my craft. If you can’t be part of your dream MFA program, don’t give up on the idea of learning to be a better writer anyway.
I love the metaphor commentary! It’s important to remember that not every single one will work for every single character. When they’re tailored to personality traits, it makes everything so much more effective. Thanks for the reminder!
Ooh, Jael, the metaphor advice gave me goosebumps. That really clicked for me. Thank you for sharing that.
Great advice about metaphors!
Thanks Jael. I love your ideas on metaphors. It is really helpful to think of them in terms of character and voice.
As far as critique groups go, do you have any suggestions for how to find critique partners on-line? I live in a town where the main street is one block long, so there aren’t a lot of writing groups or classes out here.
Thanks :)
Nice work! I loved your advice on metaphors!
Terrific advice on metaphor usage. Thanks!
Very helpful. Thanks!
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