Sue, I thought I sent you a PM asking for your address yet again so I can send a check for Neon. Please understand that I had 104 emails to answer this week in regards to my nephew's death. So your initial response to me got lost. Please PM me the address and amount AGAIN! so sorry to be a pain! L

Hi, Smile, I love how you say that: "intangibles are best described through tangibles." Yes! That IS the creation of a metaphor, isn't it? I love a William Carlos Williams' quote, too: “No ideas but in things.” It IS that simple, in a way, in that it's a matter of describing an intangible feeling (loss, alienation, love, hate, death) by using tangible "things." And these tangible things can be absolutely anything.

Here's an exercise that some of you might like to try. Below, is a list of abstract ideas that, in one way or another, are the ideas that most of us are writing about, in one form another. For each of these abstract ideas, try to come up with concrete, tangible words ("things") that embody the idea. For example, you could use the words "formaldehyde," "moth balls," or "lilacs" to describe the abstract concept of "death." List all the tangible words you can think of to describe the following:

Love:
Death:
Self:
Soul:
Rage:
Evil:
Pain:
Hunger:
Peace:
War:

So, Smile and Sue: Hot and steamy like freshly dropped horse manure...is this what you mean?

Sorry, I'm in a weird mood today. Couldn't resist.

Hi, Dianne, funny! Well, but WHAT is like "hot and steamy freshly dropped horse manure"? Love? Just kidding.... Sue

"hot and steamy freshly dropped horse manure"? Love?

I would say the emotion evoked by that metaphor is dependent on "who" you have been in love with.

smile

Yes, I believe I WAS thinking of the beginning stages of my relationship with ex husband.

I really am going to work on the exercises. Just as soon as I get settled into our new digs.

Hi, everything has a metaphor: even ex-husbands! Good luck with the exercises.

Speaking of metaphors: I've just spent an hour in a geometry nightmare. I've been "researching" geometry on the web, as geometry is (I think) the overriding metaphor for an essay I'm working on. It's kind of about a love triangle from high school. If I remember right, I think I got a "D" in geometry. But I always got an "A" in love triangles, alas. Yes, a real nightmare! Sue

Okay, you lost me on the geometry thing. I'm easily lost.

Sue, if you were to give advice to someone who wanted to be published, what would it be? What do you consider the most important element?

Hi, Dianne, oh, so sorry about the geometry thing! All I meant was that I’m writing an essay about a romantic triangle I was involved in in high school (the boy I “loved” kept going back and forth between me and another girl), and I’m using a geometric triangle as a metaphor to show the love triangle. (Since we'd been talking about metaphors....) But enough said! Sorry about that.

Okay, advice to someone who wants to be published. Well, I have to admit it’s difficult to choose just one element, which would be the most important, since so many parts go into this. But how about if I say what I think are the TWO most important elements! One would be the writing itself, that each sentence is clear, dynamic, engaging. I also think you need a very powerful beginning (first sentence, first paragraph, first page) that immediately gets to the heart of the story, that immediately draws the reader in. Since agents and editors get so many manuscripts to read, I think it's crucial to get their attention immediately!

Is this the kind of thing you mean? Sue

Yes, exactly and thank you.

Another question. Query letters seem to stop most writers in their tracks. What advice can you give on them and maybe, even an example?

Most writers I've met seem terrified of them for some reason.