Date:         Fri, 2 Jun 1995 13:59:13 EDT
From: this old man <mbarker@MIT.EDU>
Subject:      EXERCISE:  Ha!  Altars?
Comments: To: cybernaughties? <writers@Mitvma.mit.edu>

(in search of the higher metaphor, the enlightenment of the ages, I
stumbled across this little exercise...)

Dice in hand, we bravely take our changes:

1. a pebble  2.  a tree  3.  a frog
4.  a river  5. a rainbow  6.  a cricket

rolled?  again?

1. a chirp  2.  a squeal  3.  a hiccup
4.  a burp  5.  a snore  6.  a giggle

and yet again:

1.  yourself  2.  your parent  3.  your sibling (sis, bro)
4.  your friend  5.  your lover  6.  your child

so, on your altar to the muses, perhaps you have a pebble, a burp, and
yourself...

Now!  Papyrus and bullrushes in hand...

1.  Take one phrase and list at least 10 things you think about it, know
about it, etc.  For example, you might look at the smooth pebble and
think it was ground down in a river, all the sharp edges have been
knocked off, you couldn't crack it with a hammer, it's banded with
colors, reminds you of an Easter egg, and so on.  Simple, prosaic - what
does it remind you of?  where did it come from?  What characteristics
does it have?  How is it special?  How is it the same?  What is it
missing?

2.  Do the same thing for each phrase.  Try to ignore the other lists
for a moment.

3.  Now look at the three lists of things.  Think about how these
thoughts relate across the lists.  Maybe you suddenly realize that you
feel as if the sharp edges have been knocked off yourself, just like the
stone.  Whatever - whether it is the same, opposites, variations, or
whatever.  Don't be upset if you don't see any relationship between one
of the items on the list and the other stuff - you've got 33 bits and
pieces (10 each plus the original phrases), there will be plenty of
places that these lists grind together in your thinking.

4.  Write down those relationships, those thoughts across the lists.
These don't have to be forever truths that everyone will see, these are
your own personal notions today.  I may not understand why the pebble
revealing its true color and flash when wet seems to match your own
hobby of bungee-jumping in waterfalls, but that's ok.  We're not
interested right now in whatever notions I have or a professor might
have, we're exploring your ideas.

What you have done (I believe!) is to construct a set of personal
metaphors.  You've taken three things and related them in terms of
associations of associations.  That isn't so hard, is it?

To be real honest, I think it is the very simplicity of the process that
confuses us.  We expect lightning flashes, mysterious voices whispering
in our ears, or magic - and when you look close, it's just the hum-drum
business of patterns that we work with every day.

I mean, almost everyone notices that Prof. Grump always takes his notes
out, sets them on the lectern, then never looks at them during class.
Exaggerate this to talk about a character taking out the same ratty set
of notes that he first started teaching with over 20 years ago - edges
weatherbeaten, ink fading, and unread since he first penned them.  Work
in the way that this "security blanket" represents his fear of change,
and maybe show what happens when he loses the notes, and you're well on
the way to a story.  But the "metaphor" or "symbolism" building that led
to it is just an extension of the hum-drum pattern handling we all do.

[extra credit--you may select a personal metaphor or set of metaphors
from your lists, generalize and introduce them to the world in a story
or poem, and make us all very, very proud...]

words, metaphors and other smoking guns...
write!!!
tink