Writing Prompt: Working with Metaphor

​Submitted by Mile-High MFA candidate Chris Moore

This is for working with metaphor in a sort of light and humorous way—and a way that has the potential to stretch your thinking a great deal.

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Directions:

1. On small strips of paper, write about twenty nouns. (This works even better with a writing buddy—you write half, they write half—then you don’t know what to expect.)
2. Put all of your nouns in a cup or hat or whatever you prefer, mix them up, and pull two out.
3. Write as many similarities as you can between the two things.
4. Incorporate your funky metaphors into poems, fiction, nonfiction, or any other genre.

I have been amazed doing this with my class of fifth graders over the past couple years. It’s remarkable how they have been able to find endless things in common—like between a dragon and a dishwasher, for example. 😆

​If you do not have a writing buddy, you can use these sites to generate nouns:
Random Word Generator
Random Noun Generator

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