The greatest thing by far, is to have a command of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblance. – Aristotle, from Poetics
When I was in college a poet came to visit our poetry writing class and the first question she asked us was “What’s the other art form you practice?” She explained that we didn’t have to be good at it and we definitely didn’t need to be a professional; it was just for our creative expression. Painting was her side art form while writing poetry was her main art of course. Interestingly both of my friends in my writing group have other art forms they practice as well. One is a photographer and the other is a musician and a painter. For myself I suppose music would be my secondary art form, but I’m not doing much of it lately at all. I am a musician more in spirit than I am in any real form or ability. I have a keyboard, with weighted keys no less tucked away in the house gathering dust. I should probably bring it out and go for it again. I really do enjoy playing around on the keys but man I am definitely not a professional or even anything close to a good player. I lack some of the most basic skills so thank goodness that’s not a requirement! But I suppose tinkering around with another art form that is not your main professional drive is a very good idea, even if it’s not very good. Tinkering with expression helps to keep creativity flowing. I find it helps to reset pathways in the brain, the habits of mind we can sometimes fall into, and open ourselves to things anew. Since it’s not something you’re doing professionally then you can really explore the medium and experiment with it and go all over however you please. You’re not bound by customs or trends or forms or anything. You can just express however you wish and not worry about doing something really well or for public approval or anything like that. This then can translate over to your more professional art form in interesting ways. It’s kind of like stretching before working out I suppose. It helps to get you limber.
Many writers will tell you to read a lot and to read widely. I like that advice even if I don’t always follow it so well. Don’t get me wrong, I am always reading something but more often than not it’s a more canonical piece of literature or highly academic. I need to read more pulp fiction, more horror, and true crime, thrillers, and romance. I really need to read more books written AFTER 1950 and especially AFTER 1980!!! Many of the greatest writers wrote within a genre or worked with common stories and formulas. They knew what they were doing and the larger tendencies and expectations of the stories they were telling. But at the same time they also didn’t just tell the same story that was always told – no! Somehow, someway, they seemed to find a new take on an old, familiar theme. Either that or they just did an outright, extraordinarily better job at writing what everyone else was writing. Either way they did something to set them apart from the crowd, to stand out above the others.
Great works seem to balance between holding the customary modes and tropes readers come to expect from a certain type of story while also deviating in interesting ways from those same modes. I am reminded of a lovely little poem by the mercurial and fascinating Emily Dickinson. It’s a short little poem so I’ll post the whole of it here.
Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —
“Tell the truth but tell it slant” I think really says it all for us as writers. And I might add that it can be quite challenging at times to really decipher how best to exactly do that with our works! Nevertheless it is a worthy creed that I can proudly live by and labor over. “Tell the truth but tell it slant.” Humans are interesting creatures in that we actually don’t like being told the truth. It seems to fall flat when it’s just thrown out there. Either that or perhaps it’s just me! But really I think it is true that we are all more inclined to prefer discovering what works best for ourselves on our own terms rather than upon someone else’s. Not only this I think it also makes the stories more timeless, substantial, and intimate when they allow us to derive our own meaning from them. Stories perhaps work best when we read them, rather than if they read us. The parables of Christ are a perfect example of this. Often when asked about the nature of heaven or how to live a more holy life, Jesus would answer with a story, and that story would be constructed in such a way that we the readers, or listeners as the case may be, could frequently return to it and gather fresh, new meaning from it. The story could speak to us not just through time, but through our own ever evolving consciousness. What does it really mean to say “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field”? Or why tell the parable of the prodigal son? Why would it be more valuable, more suggestive and illustrative to say these lines, this metaphor, this story rather than to say it outright? Wisdom seems to live best when partially shrouded. It allows each of us to uncover the veils that suit our own eyes best. Christ told us the truth of God, but he too told us slant.
I think these are deep questions to ponder both for us as writers and as readers. Is it more holy to live through metaphor? Is the metaphor a greater mechanism not just for truth but also for peace and love? And if so why is that? As writers we are always hunting for metaphors. They are a staple of our diet. We consume them regularly, and are always seeking to construct and discover new ones. Really a metaphor is the process of connection and association. We take one object and connect it to another object so that we may more deftly describe and reveal the original object. Metaphors then exist and function on the premise that all things are related. We are one with everything, we just need to see it. Through metaphor writers seek to reveal the threads which delicately interlace all things together. In this way we discover more color and depth all around.
Having other art forms to express ourselves freely and by reading widely both help to link together creation and the world around us. Impulses can pass across seemingly disparate fields of study or realms of experience and blend together into a story, a metaphor, an image, word, or idea. These practices take us beyond ourselves and into new worlds where we can link together with more of what we know to all that we do not know. We cannot write in a vacuum, but we also cannot live unceasingly. We must also stop, recede back from life for a while, and write. Writing synthesizes experience. It manifests a vessel to carry whatever we know, whatever we have seen or felt, thought or heard, and deliver it unto the world. As I write I am desperate to express what lives within me. That initial purge and force of nature is vital to the work, but it is not all. I must apply lacquer and paint to it. Stencil it and coat it with finish. I need to make it beautiful somehow so that whatever I am trying to say I hold back a bit, couch it in metaphor, and tell it slant.