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Creativity and metaphor

 

Techniques > Use of languageMetaphor > Creativity and metaphor

Making the strange familiar | Making the familiar strange | See also

 

Metaphor is a very useful tool in creativity, not only in creative writing but also in dreaming up new ideas. The way that metaphors work in taking a different view allows you to make both the strange familiar and the familiar strange.

Making the strange familiar

Sometimes you are faced with a difficult situation that is hard to understand. A useful creative act is then to make the strange familiar, bringing the thing that is difficult to conceptualize into a domain where understanding improves, inferences may be made and creative leaps are easier.

A scientist is investigating the way a virus behaves in attaching itself to a healthy cell. She takes the metaphor of rape and uses this to explore notions of trauma, repulsion and revenge by the attacked organism.

An engineer is looking for a way to hold together a multi-part machine in a high-vibration environment. He takes the metaphor of shivering with cold and comes up with ideas for encasing the system in a flexible jacket.

Einstein did 'thought experiments' and played with the idea of riding on a beam of light when developing his theory of relativity.

There is a famous story of explorers, lost in unfamiliar mountains, who found their way out using a map -- only to find later that they were using a map of a completely different area.

Making the familiar strange

When a familiar situation anchors you into familiar thoughts, sometimes you can break free from this mental straightjacket by forcing a the familiar situation into an unfamiliar and badly-fitting metaphor. The confusion and consequent tension caused by this situation may well then lead to the subconscious leaping to an resolving idea.

A philosopher, musing about the mind but trapped by traditional cognitive psychological views of the brain's operation, uses a metaphor of a game of darts as a mind. She then explores intent, near misses, 'bullseyes', ricochets, matchplay and so on.

A soldier, drilled in battlefield technique but perplexed by a hidden enemy, closes his eyes and navigates by sound only, working with an internal sonic landscape to pinpoint the source of weapons fire.

A product designer for desktop printers takes on the viewpoint of a tiny Napoleon Boneparte, marching around inside the printer, issuing orders, capturing territory and forcing the paper to go in any direction.

See also

How metaphors work

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Site Menu

| Home | Top | Quick Links | Settings |

Main sections: | Disciplines | Techniques | Principles | Explanations | Theories |

Other sections: | Blog! | Quotes | Guest articles | Analysis | Books | Help |

More pages: | Contact | Caveat | About | Students | Webmasters | Awards | Guestbook | Feedback | Sitemap | Changes |

Settings: | Computer layout | Mobile layout | Small font | Medium font | Large font | Translate |

 

 

Please help and share:

 

Quick links

Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

+ Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

About
Guest Articles
Blog!
Books
Changes
Contact
Guestbook
Quotes
Students
Webmasters

 

| Home | Top | Menu | Quick Links |

© Changing Works 2002-
Massive Content — Maximum Speed