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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

Storytelling as Personal Metaphor?

16/1/2016

12 Comments

 
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Writers of fiction and creative non-fiction know the value of metaphor. So you might be interested in recent research by Adam Fetterman and colleagues suggesting that life is different for people who think in metaphors. Having developed a means of measuring metaphoric thinking style among students, they found that people rate neutral words as more pleasant when they’re printed in a white font than in a black one (evidently, none of their subjects had ageing eyes which renders light print virtually impossible to read); that among those prone to metaphorical thinking, the more sweet food they’d eaten, the more sweet their interactions with others (presumably within limits, I’m not terribly sociable if I’m feeling sick); and that those with a stronger metaphoric thinking style showed greater insight into the emotions of others. As you can see, aside from the fact that many metaphors are actually clichės, I’m a little sceptical about this research but, not having read the full report in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, I’m not in a position to argue.

I’m sharing this research today because I enjoy linking psychology to writing, and because I’ve been thinking about metaphor since my brief residency on Sherri Matthews’s Summerhouse with a post on putting the personal into fiction. The way in which I keep on chewing at the subject of memoir suggests there’s something seductive for me in that area. I do relate to the desire to set the record straight, to tell all and to be completely understood. But I also think it’s an impossible dream. I’ve come to a (perhaps) crude demarcation between memoir and personal fiction (which might work for no-one else but me) in memoir for social history and fiction for personal metaphor for the stories we need to tell ourselves.

We’re familiar with construing the short story or novel
as a metaphor or allegory for, in any age, our troublesome times. Science fiction, in particular, is often viewed as a fantasy of what could be, and disguised social commentary on what is. But I haven’t come across a reference to fiction as a metaphor for the author’s personal story that, for various reasons, can’t be told. Yet I think that comes pretty close to what we’re doing when we write in a way that’s personal but not autobiographical.

I hope to have more to say about fiction as metaphor in a later post, but if the notion seems strange, consider the fairy-tale: horror stories told to very young children that they seem to adore. But, as many have observed,
fairy-tales function as a metaphor for the young child’s most basic fears: harsh parenting; abandonment; sibling rivalry, as well as their wish for magical solutions. Somehow, through these stories, they can distance themselves from, and gain mastery over, the anxieties that arise from such a powerless position.

Carrot Rancher Charli Mills
has blogged about fairy-tales recently, inviting us to compose 99-word stories beginning Once upon a time … I decided to be totally childish with this one, though I leave it to you to decide if there’s a deeper meaning:

Once upon a time there was a lonely little earthworm. He wasn’t born lonely; he’d been happy tunnelling through the humus until a spade sliced through his mother. As she twitched at both ends he thought it must be true that worms don’t die. Until she stopped moving completely.

He searched for friends among the children digging in the dirt. But when he wrapped himself around their stubby fingers, they squealed and shook him off.

A blackbird almost caught him as he wriggled into compost, ready to expire. Until a galaxy of red brandlings welcomed him to their world.

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
12 Comments
Carol Campbell link
16/1/2016 07:28:22 pm

I love that you chose a worm.

Reply
Annecdotist
18/1/2016 12:19:43 pm

Thanks, Carol, as a gardener I love them, there would never have thought of writing a story about one! It's amazing where Charli's prompts can take us.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
17/1/2016 06:44:37 am

Hi Anne, I enjoyed this personal expose about the possibilities of personal expose through the metaphor of fiction.
I was interested in your opening paragraph about people who think in metaphors, and I wonder who they be, how they were identified. Are they people who commonly use metaphors in speech? I guess I, too, need to read the study to see how metaphorical thinking was measured.
It's interesting about white font, too. I often read my ebooks in white text on a black page. I think they call it the night-time font. I find it less harsh on my eyes. The white background can be a bit too bright. Maybe that says something about me! :)
I love the posts in which you discuss psychology and writing too. They always give me a little more to think about. Like you, I have many stories of the past which I am unwilling to share. Perhaps I will never share them. They may be best buried with me. Their telling would serve no purpose. But I do wonder about the intersection of personal history and fiction and am often concerned that I may be revealing more about myself than I realise in my fiction. How much those stories would be metaphors for my own personal journey, I'm not sure.
I love your childish flash. Death of a parent by spade in front of the protagonist - perfect! Cast out by those from whom he sought shelter. Wonderful complication, with which we can empathize and it encourages us to read on, hopeful of a happy conclusion. Another almost disaster, as he is spotted by the blackbird. How many times must each of us escape their sharp beaks as we journey through life? But at last, he finds a place where he belongs. He's come home! Brilliant! Fairy tales and life in a nutshell!

Reply
Annecdotist
18/1/2016 12:41:17 pm

Hi, Norah, really interested what you said about reading white on black – I’ve seen some blogs that are organised in that way and struggle to read them, but useful to know that they work for some. And of course I didn’t know that you could switch the font, if that’s what you’re saying.
As to the research, they measured proclivity for metaphor by a questionnaire asking them to choose between preferences such as “She uses her head” versus “She makes rational decisions”. I do think it’s fascinating that academics are investigating this area and maybe I’m just sceptical because I’d be the person at the extreme end of the bell curve who didn’t fit with the group norm.
I seem to be on a theme of personal exposes about personal expose and wonder how far it will take me. I actually think my fiction is extremely transparent, especially if you put it all together and see the common themes; however, I don’t think we read fiction to understand the person behind it, but more to understand ourselves and our world, so I don’t think others will see what I see. And I do think this is something that has changed for me over time – certainly at the beginning I was very worried about what I might inadvertently reveal – now I mind much less, if at all. I think fiction stemming from the personal is simultaneously revealing and concealing, and I quite like that idea. Your comment has helped me think about this a bit more, especially my reasons for not sharing, which might be surprising to you in that it’s about being cheerful! (Or less miserable.)
And thanks for your feedback on my poor little earthworm. I was thinking of you with your expertise in stories for young children as I wrote it, so was probably partly inspired by what I’ve read in your posts.

Reply
Charli Mills
17/1/2016 10:59:15 pm

Admitting to a fondness for sweets and analogies, I find this study you refer to fascinating. Thank you for delving into the psychological side of fairy tales, consider deeper needs to tell the stories we seem hard-wired for. Norah gives an apt summary of how well your worm fairy tale works for the prompt and life. I'd add that telling empathetic stories allows us to relate to even the lowliest among us. I was cheering for the worm in the end.

Reply
Annecdotist
18/1/2016 12:44:56 pm

Thanks, Charli. Like Norah’s, your response is making me rethink my scepticism about this research. Indeed, I do remember you posting about chocolate etc (or maybe on twitter) and I think of you as a sweet character but most of all with such a talent for writing and the lovely analogies that you explore in your posts, especially when setting these prompts. And I so agree how in stories, looking at the world from a different point of view teaches us empathy. Long may that continue!

Reply
Lisa Reiter link
19/1/2016 02:32:59 pm

I read this study too and would love to take a test to see where I come on the scale. Sometimes I think I think so much in metaphor that I don't think concretely enough to understand what I think. Writing stuff down seems to help me make sense of it.
I had hoped to back my own flash up with an exploration of how this blurs the lines between fiction and memoir but that will have to wait if I am to ever fulfil my need to get the blogging balance right!
Lxx

Reply
Annecdotist
21/1/2016 04:31:02 pm

That's an interesting point about single-issue personality scales, because of course we need balance. Though of course, I'm sure it you are sufficiently practical.
Mm, so I'm not alone in toying with the fiction/memoir divide and look forward to your post on the theme when it comes.

Reply
Kirtida Gautam link
20/1/2016 08:43:18 am

It's a brilliant article. I love the way you are trying to figure out the connection between psychology and writing.

Reply
Annecdotist
21/1/2016 04:32:35 pm

Thanks, Kirtida, there's so much potential in this theme, I can only dabble in the margins, but it's definitely food for thought.

Reply
Jeanne Lombardo link
20/1/2016 04:43:46 pm

I'll chime in here with my appreciation for this post. You raise an important question about the "crude demarcation between memoir and personal fiction [turning to] memoir for social history and fiction for personal metaphor for the stories we need to tell ourselves." There's been a lot written with the emergence of positive psychology about the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and the usefulness of writing down our interpretations of what happens to us. But that can be a daunting task. I know an author who tried to write a memoir for years, but ended up turning to fiction to tell that particular story. As for the flash, imagine making a worm so endearing! Loved it.

Reply
Annecdotist
21/1/2016 04:36:22 pm

Thanks, Jeanne. Glad you liked my worm. You're right, in writing about our styles we can make useful discoveries, but has the potential to be overly painful in some situations if embarked on alone. I wonder, for the author you mention, whether the years spent trying to write the memoir actually helped with the fiction. I think fiction based on our personal experience needs the experience to be pretty well processed before we can write about it in a way anyone would want to read.

Reply



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