I am a writer: I am a magician, conjuring something into being where nothing was before. Studying my art, learning the secret words to bring forth a world from the hat of my imagination. The hand is quicker than the eye. Did you see the trick behind my words? Or did I do it well enough that it all seems like magic? May I become better and better so that my craft does not show and my stories amaze and entertain.
~K.L. Oberst
In a study of metaphor, Karen Oberst played with metaphors to define who we are and what we do. She has a whole page of them HERE describing writers as:
spiders
name-givers
magicians
singers
cooks
ringmasters
carpenters
cowboys
librarians
and
conductors.
They are all wonderful, unique, and absolutely perfect. Go choose your favorite. Find the one that best describes you or most tickles your fancy. I love the idea of writers making magic.
What's your favorite metaphor for writers?
40 comments:
dreamweavers
I am not good at metaphors but love some of hers:) Have a great day!
Nice post. Gardners. Because we are planting worlds and ideas and watching them grow as we write our books.
I had fun thinking about this. *hugs* :)
Love the new pic. :)
Spiders! I love how stories weave.
OOhhh great list! And I agree - writer's do spin a little mgic from time to time
Masters of the Imagination. :)
Hmm...I like the carpenter metaphor. We steadily craft something strong and beautiful. Some of our best work, if done supberbly, is unseen. And the most well crafted books we create furnish the lives of our readers for a lifetime.
That is too cool, Shannon! I admire thoughtful metaphors because I am horrible at creating my own. Thanks for sharing.
That's great. It emphasizes my belief that we are not one kind of artist. I've used the cooking metaphor in describing the writing life. The singer metaphor speaks loudest to me this morning. The voice, the phrasing, moments of quiet, loud crashing sounds, and a dramatic pause for effect. Plus, it's a performance. You need an audience, and oh, how sweet the applause!
Gah! I hate spiders ewwww! But I love this metaphor for writers. I saw the word dreamweavers above me and now I have that song stuck in my brain.
I love the ringmaster one!!
I am a writer: I am a ringmaster, presenting the acts of my story to an eager audience. I make sure all the acts are ready, that they follow each other properly, that they entertain. And I am the tightrope walker, preforming feats of derring do without a net. I am the lion tamer, hoping to make my story perform without getting bitten by it. I am the clown, making people laugh, being someone else, hoping they won't see me beneath the paint.
Cooks and weavers come to mind.
Spiders is a great one! There's a big spider that lives outside my bathroom window. I love watching her spin her magnificent web! it's a magical process, how the spider creates a perfect web the first time and every time. If only writing was like that, LOL!
Unexpected heroes . . . like hobbits. Walking the long road of unplanned adventures, battling spiders whose sticky webs of doubt threaten to ensnare us, parrying the goblins of rejection, and winning the day with daily writing habits and occassional acceptance letters.
Writers do more the make magic they create whole worlds.
Spiders creep me out...but conjuror works. The best feeling is when someone reads your stuff and they have an experience with your charcter that makes them feel something...and talk about them as if they were real. That's magical.
hi miss shannon! for me im sorta like a raccoon. first cause there sooo cute. ha ha. theyre real clever and nosey and investigate everything (like researching stuff)they use all their sensors (like making a for real character. theyre smart and could survive in the woods or the city. (like finding a good story setting) they wash off their food (like doing edit stuff). theyre could see in the dark and arent afraid in the dark (like not bein afraid to write any story) im not so good at writing stuff yet but some day im gonna be good as that ol raccoon.
...smiles from lenny
Oooh, spiders! Awesome.
Magicians :)
Writers do make magic :) and they bring magic to people's lives :)
Ah, yes. Magicmakers is a good one. And I'm so glad, because I've always wanted to be able to do magic!
Magicmakers for sure! I love that.
I like being a cook, because you want to leave everyone satisfied after the meal.
I am a creator of word pictures. I can also be a painter, who uses words to make images come alive for the reader.
Love this! Thanks for the link! :)
Composer (of words)?
I also love Lenny's raccoon comparison. :)
Love,
Lola
Timetraveler...
I like that link! In fact, I love all of the comparisons except spiders, because I can't stand bugs. But magicians, singers, and name-givers are my favorites. :)
Elana said magic makers. I love that one, that and spiders. Awesome!
Pulse takers.
Our duty is to keep our pulse on the morals, the thoughts, the spirit of humanity.
I like Yarnspinners and I also like the craftsman type names-carpenters, blacksmiths etc.
Magicmakers - because I always dreamed I could use magic. :)
Okay, I've been reading The Spider and the Fly to my daughter. It's kind of macabre, but she loves it and so do I. So I'm going to go with spider- I'd like to trap some readers in my web. ;)
Oh I'll have to check this out. I love the conductors and magicians ones.
Thanks for this.
Composers -- I love the idea of making a world sing and hum with music and emotion.
I love ringmasters and magicians!
Me again- I have a blog award for you!!! It's in my blog post today (Friday)!
I like the "cook" one. Writers need to make sure they have all the right ingredients and the right amounts so that what they create comes out satisfying.
I loved a lot of them listed!!! Of course my sparkle machine is broken which helps me produce creative words so for now I'll have to live through others.
I like a lot of them though, hehe even cowboys that one makes me giggle!!!
Happy Friday!
Great metaphors. Don't like spiders. I liked the cooks metaphor.
Ooh... Name-Giver. I love it. This list was so much fun! :)
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