Lesson 11

[Paul Penley]

Paul P's Living Metaphors

What I learned from this assignment: By luck ,I had already tapped into this writing technique, I just didn't know what I was doing. : ) With this giude and your examples I think I am better equipped at making it work. Thank you.

Metaphor challenges:

1. Old Way – Being first to the gun is the best way to handle a situation.

Challenges:
Example: #1 Billy shoots the Apache when he hears they have killed his men.He never hears why. – They might have heard that they should not go to the Mission.
Example #2 Adam shoots a rattlesnake and spooks Goldie's horse. Goldie gets throown off. Goldie punishes Adam.
Example #3 Billy shoots Hernandez twice with Hernandez's own pistol. – Billy suffers the consequences of his actions with Balin and is savesd by Johnny.
Example #4 Grace's father didn't fire his weapon and ended up dead. – New way doesn't always work.
Example #5 Billy tries to kill Lord Turin Almost gets himself and his outlaws killed.

New Way Challenge –
Adam uses iron chain to Kill Lady Lilith – His plan works.
Billy uses a chair to kill the demon Hernandez – It works.
Johnny uses his gun to kill a demon with no effect. He switches to a tomahawk and kills Lilith's Asian Monk.
Red and Johnny kill Lord Turin with an iron chain.
Billy shoots oil lamps instead of people and starts to burn down the town.
Grace uses oil to burn/kill Lady Lilith.
Billy kills Lord Balin with a iron spike and a slip knot.

2. Old Way – We're trapped in Hell. "Once you're in Hell, you're there until you're soul is destroyed. (No One leaves Hell)
Example #1 The Mexico City robbery becomes a hell for the Outlaws as they try to escape.
Example #2 They crossed over the river ( Styxx ) on their way to the Mission
Example #3 The Mission is a place where men go to sell thier souls for gold, glory and immortality.
Example #4 They cross over the circle of salt and Apache magic.
Example #5 The Apache keep all who enter inside. ( gate keepers )
Example #6 The Devil's Canyon is a place where Angels and Gods go to Die.

New Way Challenge:
#1 Dante wrote about 9 levels.
#2 What if the world in which they came from was Hell?
#3 If we can go on to deeper level of Hell why can't we go back to where we were or choose another level?
#4 They cross over the Salt wall without Apache's stopping them.
#5 The Demons of the Angel Azizel are in a Hell of their own ( below the Mission in a cage ) and released to fight the Outlaws.
#6 The Mission becomes a burning inferno killing all the evil that resides there.
#7 The townspeople fight against the evil of the Demons and Fallen Angels.

3. Old Way – Killing for Gold, Glory and Immortality is a worthy cause. Killing is evil.

Example #1 Johnny is rewarded for killing Sun
Example #2 Victors are rewarded with power
Example #3 Victors are rewarded with Immortality
Example #4 Killers are rewarded with being able to kill until killed.
Example #5 Survival of the fittest.

New Way Challenge:
#1 Wild Jim fights to save the world from Evil. He isn't interested in Glory or Gold. His evil tendencies help him defeat evil.
#2 Lupo is an Immortal/ Skinwalker but fights to save his people from the evil of the Angels. He gave up his life to save his people. His evil powers will be used to fight evil.
#3 Johnny becomes immortal to revenge his father and destroy the Evil Angel that killed his father. Gold means nothing to him. He wants the power so he can destroy evil.
#4 Billy finds that no amount of gold, glory can bring his family and loved ones back the dead. He realizes his best way forward is to help his brother and fight trying to kill the Angels.
#5 Killing to end suffering is humane.

4. Old Way – The inequities of the father are felt by their sons.

Example #1 John Sr. failed to plan and his sons will suffer.
Example #2 Grace followed her father's trail to the Mission and is now a slave to Lady Liltih.
Example #3 Johnny has suffered at the Mission for 18 years trying to find a way to revenge his father.
Example #4 Billy became an outlaw because his father wasn't there to guide him.
Example #5 The Angels failed their father and were banished forever.

New way Challenge:
#1. Billy is stronger because of his fathers lessons and what he learned by his father's failure.
#2. Johnny gets his revenge.
#3. Billy has used his father's ideas to keep him alive.
#4. Grace uses her father's faith to beat lady Lilith.

5 Old Way – Men are more dangerous than woman.

Example 1. Men rule the world.
Example 2. No women in our gang.
Example 3. Women make baskets and fetch water
Example 4. Men take care of women.
Example 5. A woman gets married so she can be taken care of.

New Way Challenge:
#1 Grace has survived for 3 years in the Mission
#2 Lady Lilith controls her own army of demons.
#3 Elizabeth The Butcher challenges Carlo
#4 The battle of Troy was caused by a woman.
#5 Queen Elizabeth ruled England for 40 years
#6 Viking Shield Maidens fought along side their men
#7 Mary Tudor " Bloody Mary"

• This reply was modified 5 months ago by  Paul Penley.

[Lonnie Nichols]

Lonnie’s Living Metaphors

What I learned doing this assignment: How to re-visit many scenes and situations in my script, and challenge the old ways of writing, continually coming up with new perspectives. Attempt to always think “out of the box”.

Brainstorm at least five of each of today’s challenges that you can put in your screenplay.

1. Go through your story outline or script and brainstorm the following: – 5 Should Work, But Doesn't challenges – 5 Living Metaphor challenges
2. With each, tell us the Old Way and the Challenge, and how you think it might play out in your story.
1. Challenge: Ruby is on drugs, strung out, and gets abducted/kidnapped
a. New Way: She is actually enjoying a sunset with friends, then abducted. She might know her abductors.
b. New Way: Perhaps her abductors are in costume/dressed as humans but are aliens
c. New Way: Instead of being abducted by a flying UFO, she is ushered into the side of a mountain. She doesn’t even resist until she realizes what happens.
2. Challenge: Once “clean” , Ruby sets out to “clean up” her town of drugs, including exposing the town mayor who is the drug “lord”. She meets great resistance.
a. New Way: She must expose the druggies indirectly. Can’t be her doing it!
b. New Way: She must make a public scene, to reveal the mayor kingpin. Kind of like: “the Pentagon Papers” being released to the NY Times metaphor.
3. Challenge: Instead of aliens looking weird and the town would not believe her:
a. New Way: Aliens are very “human like”, similar to “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. He was alien but looked and spoke just like an intelligent human
b. New Way: Aliens can shape shift into anything they want to look like
c. New Way: Aliens live here, not on another planet

• This reply was modified 4 months, 4 weeks ago by  Lonnie Nichols.

[Jennifer Quintenz-Berry]

Jenn’s Living Metaphors

What I learned doing this assignment is: Finding the right living metaphor is hard but worth it. (I only really like one of my metaphors, the teacup, but the painting could work in a pinch). It will take some time to mull over other options, but having this framework in my brain should help me spot them when the opportunity arises. It’s also helping me see how Carrie and Riaz each push Taylor in different ways.

1) Old Way: "Vulnerability is weakness."

Taylor believes that by deflecting with humor or sarcasm, she can protect herself from emotional discomfort and avoid opening up about her fears or pain.

“Should Work, But Doesn’t” Challenge: Taylor deflects with humor to avoid exposing her fears.
Taylor feels cornered by Riaz when he starts probing about the content of her lapses. She tries to regain control of the conversation with humor and sharp wit, her usual defense mechanisms that typically work. Riaz smiles at her jokes, but says: “That doesn’t answer my question. I’m asking because I care. I believe these lapses might be your body’s way of processing unresolved trauma. Perhaps it would help if you let someone in." Taylor tries to deflect again, making a joke about him getting a psychiatry degree when she wasn’t looking. Riaz responds saying, "I’m not your therapist, Taylor. I’m someone who’s trying to help you heal.” For the first time, Taylor’s usual tactics fail. Riaz’s calm persistence leaves her without an easy way out. She doesn’t respond immediately, visibly conflicted. Taylor doesn’t open up fully yet, but this interaction plants a seed. She’s forced to acknowledge that her humor and sarcasm aren’t enough to shield her anymore—not with someone like Riaz, who truly sees her and refuses to let her hide. Riaz’s patience and persistence render her usual defenses ineffective, leaving her emotionally vulnerable despite herself.

Living Metaphor: A Teacup With a Crack
On the surface, the cup looks fine, but the crack signifies the stress it’s under—just like Taylor, who is holding herself together but is emotionally fractured beneath her humor. During one session with Riaz, Taylor casually picks up one of his teacups with a visible crack running through it. She makes light of the imperfection, much like she deflects her own vulnerabilities. As Riaz probes a painful memory, Taylor fiddles with the cup, avoiding his gaze. Her grip tightens as the conversation gets more uncomfortable, symbolizing the emotional pressure she’s under. Riaz says something like: "You can’t keep pretending everything’s fine, Taylor. Sooner or later, something’s going to–" She squeezes the cup too hard, and it breaks in her hand, spilling tea and cutting her palm. This action reinforces the metaphor: Taylor needs to address her emotional cracks before they lead to greater harm. The cracked cup represents Taylor’s vulnerability—her surface is intact, but the pressure she’s under is making her fragile. She doesn’t fully open up yet, but the living metaphor lingers in her mind, mirroring her own emotional state. Then, later in Act 2: As he’s leaving, Riaz gives her the teacup mended with gold (Kintsugi) – symbolizing the beauty of healing and the strength found in embracing one’s imperfections.

2) Old Way: “I’ll finish this painting (move on with my life) once I’m cured.”

"Should Work, But Doesn’t" Challenge: Taylor plays the victim card.
Carrie finds a box of sketchbooks and paintings under Taylor’s bed. It turns out Taylor was an art major in school, but dropped out when she decided that she could never make a living as an artist. Secretly she’s afraid that she’s not good enough, or no one will want what she has to offer, so she’s using this as her most recent excuse to avoid trying. Taylor uses her medical condition as the ultimate barrier to pursuing her goals. She explains she’ll move on with her life once she’s got the medical condition solved, expecting Carrie to agree that it’s too difficult to focus on anything else. Carrie sees through this and challenges her directly: We none of us know how long we’re going to be here. You’re alive now. Don’t waste the time you’ve got. Taylor doesn’t pick up the brush yet, but the interaction plants doubt about her Old Way. For the first time, she begins to question whether her condition is really the thing holding her back—or if it’s her fear of failure.

Living Metaphor: The Unfinished Painting
The unfinished painting becomes a physical representation of Taylor’s life “on hold.” It was the painting she was working on when she dropped out, and we find out her teacher criticized it for being too prosaic and not edgy enough. It’s a beautiful figure bathed in warm light, but the features haven’t been defined yet. Taylor avoids finishing it because she’s afraid anything she does to it will only make it worse. She pretends she can’t focus on painting until her medical condition is resolved, but that’s an excuse. The painting is physically present, taking up space in their shared room but untouched—just like Taylor’s potential. As Taylor starts to grow emotionally, she begins to rework the painting, using Carrie as her model, seated in front of the window in the game room. This act becomes symbolic of her decision to stop waiting for life to align perfectly and instead embrace the messy, imperfect process. Carrie sits for Taylor as she works on the painting, offering encouragement. This could represent their growing bond and Carrie’s role in Taylor’s healing. While she’s working on the painting, Carrie has her coughing-fit and Taylor experiences a serious lapse. She recovers, but learns Carrie is dying. In a climactic moment, Taylor finishes the painting. Riaz later sees the finished painting and comments on how it feels “alive.” Taylor sees it through his eyes and starts to believe she could have a future as an artist after all.

3) Old Way: "Telling Sydney the truth will damage our relationship."

"Should Work, But Doesn’t" Challenge:
After Taylor tells Riaz about Christopher’s cheating on Sydney, he asks why she didn’t tell Sydney when she had the chance. Taylor says she feared it would break Sydney’s heart and she was so happy about the baby, Taylor didn’t want to take that away from her. Riaz asks if it was really about Sydney, or if it was because Taylor was afraid of how Sydney would react to her if she said something. Taylor says, Of course it’s about her! You think I like watching her with that jerk? I just… I don’t want her to hate me. Riaz doesn’t respond, but Taylor can tell he wants to say something. She pushes him until he explains: Taylor didn’t tell Sydney because she was afraid Sydney would hate her, but what ended up happening was Sydney hating herself for not seeing the truth sooner. Staying silent ended up hurting Sydney more than telling her the truth up front would have done. Riaz’s words leave a lingering impact. Taylor begins to see that her fear of damaging their relationship is rooted in her own discomfort, not Sydney’s well-being.

Alternate "Should Work, But Doesn’t" Challenge: Carrie Turns the Tables
Taylor learns Carrie is dying from cancer. At first, Taylor is pissed off that Carrie hid this from her. Riaz reminds her it’s not unlike how she kept Christopher’s infidelity from Sydney. Taylor rejects this – they’re nothing alike. I didn’t tell Sydney because I wanted to protect her! Riaz can point out that Carrie wanted to protect her from the painful truth, too. Taylor can say something like, “I’m not a child! I can handle the truth…” Taylor hears herself and stops, realizing now what hiding the truth cost Sydney. The reversal forces Taylor to empathize with Sydney, helping her see the selfishness of her silence.

Living Metaphor: The Broken Compass
A kid visiting his grandmother leaves behind a broken compass. Taylor finds it, meaning to return it—but then notices it’s broken: the needle is stuck. Carrie tells her to toss it, a compass is useless if it doesn’t point true north. It’ll send you in the wrong direction every time. Later, as Taylor reflects on her silence about Christopher, she picks up the compass again, and realizes that her silence is like the broken compass—Sydney relied on her, but her silence led Sydney further away from the truth.

4) Old Way: “I need someone else to fix or save me.”

"Should Work, But Doesn’t" Challenge: Asking someone else to decide.
When Taylor learns that her condition is getting dire, Strove presents a solution: take a medication that would zero out her emotions, with the hope that this would prevent her brain from triggering another lapse. Taylor is truly struggling to figure out what to do, take the medication and live as a zombie, or don’t take the medication and possibly die. She asks Riaz what she should do. He says, “I can’t tell you what to do, Taylor. This is your life. What do you think you should do?" Taylor feels lost without clear direction but begins to understand that no one else can make her decisions for her. This forces her to engage with her own agency, even if it’s uncomfortable.

Alternate "Should Work, But Doesn’t" Challenge: Pressuring someone else to bite the bullet for you.
Taylor is out with Aaron, Sydney, and Christopher – she’s told Aaron to watch for when Christopher does something awful and call him out, thinking Sydney will hear it differently than if Taylor does it. But when Christopher grabs Sydney’s face and turns it toward him, Aaron is trying to flag down the waiter and doesn’t see. Taylor doesn’t say anything, and the moment passes. Taylor realizes she lost the chance because she didn’t take action herself. This failure stings, driving home the idea that relying on others to lead leaves her powerless. Taylor begins to understand that she has to take initiative if she wants change.

Living Metaphor: Unattended nest
Walking in the garden, Taylor notices a pair of mourning doves building a nest in a stupid place. She tells Riaz and he says he’ll make sure the landscapers know. He moves off to tell the landscapers but gets caught by another doctor who engages him in conversation. The gardener is hedging the bushes, moving closer to the nest. He startles the birds away and Taylor sees three little eggs in the nest. Taylor glances back at Riaz, who’s still stuck dealing with the conversation. As the gardener gets close to the nest, Taylor jumps to stop him and saves the nest.

5) Old Way: “People like me are inherently unlucky or doomed.”

"Should Work, But Doesn’t" Challenge:
Something unexpectedly good happens, but instead of embracing the moment, Taylor dismisses it as a fluke: "That’s just one lucky break. It doesn’t mean anything." Carrie pushes back, saying: "Why is it so hard for you to believe something good can happen to you?" Taylor starts to see how deeply entrenched her belief in bad luck is—and how it blinds her to positive experiences.

Living Metaphors: “Dead” Plant
Taylor has kept the plant Aaron brought her in the hospital, but she’s failed to water it regularly and now it’s brown and wilted, she thinks it’s dead. When Carrie moves in, she finds it in a corner and Taylor tells her the story behind the plant, then tells her to go ahead and throw it out—Taylor’s never been good at keeping things alive, that was Sydney’s talent. Carrie waters it anyway, and over time the plant begins to recover. She points it out, “see? It wasn’t doomed, just needed a little love and attention.” Then, once Carrie is moved to ICU for her end-stage cancer treatment, Taylor takes over watering the plant and one day she discovers tiny blooms on the plant.

~ end

[Mark Roeder]

Mark Roeder’s Living Metaphors

What I learned doing this assignment is though it was challenging at first, it became fun to create metaphors and they have potential to be strong. Living metaphor challenges could be part of my new way of thinking now.

Should Work, But Doesn’t Challenges:

1. Old way: Scientific in cold hearted way:

Challenge: Rosemary uses scientific methods, like DNA tests, to prove Kyo’s not her son, but it doesn’t work. It shows her he is her son.

2. Old way: scientific in a cold hearted way. Euthanizes pandas to put them to sleep when they can no longer eat and stay healthy.

Challenge: Her boss tells her to put one to sleep and she euthanizes it and kills it, but it turns out she was just supposed to put it to sleep for the night and not euthanize it.

3. Old ways: loner, scientific in cold hearted way

Challenge: When she tries to fight alien pandas on her own by injecting them, euthanizing them, putting them to sleep, it fails when they smash her syringe and almost kill her.

4. Old ways: scientific in a cold hearted way.

Challenge: Rosemary makes a euthanized gun beam to kill invading pandas, but it makes the other pandas more vicious and violent, and a member of Blaze’s team gets killed.

How it might play out: Kyo shows her a way to put them to sleep without killing them.

5. Old way: loner, controlling

Challenge: Trying to control Blaze’s team backfires and the pandas beat them in a training exercise.

LIVING METAPHOR CHALLENGES:

1. Old way: scientific in a cold hearted way. A syringe, which she uses to artificially inseminate pandas, as well as euthanize pandas that can no longer eat enough to maintain their health, is a metaphor for her scientific, cold hearted ways.

Challenge: A panda stomps on her syringe, which symbolizes that the old ways aren’t working anymore.

2. Old ways: loner, scientific in cold hearted ways, reluctant, prejudice against pandas. Rosemary’s a lone wolf.

Challenge: Blaze shows her a documentary he made about a wolf attacking a bear cub, and the mother bear attacking and killing the wolf. He says she can’t be a lone wolf. She needs to be a bear, a mother bear, protective of her cub.

3. Old ways: scientific in cold hearted way, loner. She works alone with pandas in a snow-covered bamboo forest, a metaphor for her cold hearted ways. Always freezing. Always on own.

Challenge: Her boss finds she’s using questionable methods, and when she ignores others who have been brought in to help, she’s told to thaw out and go back to the zoo and not be isolated, challenging her old cold, isolated ways.

4. Old way: scientific in cold hearted way. She never touches a panda with bare hands, always wears gloves, which becomes a metaphor for being scientific in a cold hearted way.

Challenge: others use bare hands. Her gloves make it harder to do some tasks. She gets holes in them. They get scratched by pandas.

How it might play out: She handles Kyo with gloves until she decides to open the cage and let him go. He hugs her and claws her glove. She takes it off and even wipes a tear away from his eye with her bare finger.

5. Old ways: controlling, scientific in cold hearted way. Locks pandas in cage, a metaphor for her control, and does her artificial insemination.

Challenge: Incisor breaks out of the panda cage when she tries to kill Kyo, a challenge to her control of them. The other pandas follow and pounce on her.

[margo meck]

Margo’s Living Metaphors

“What I learned doing this assignment is…? That I get “Should Work but Don’t” challenges, but this metaphor thing is a little vague in my mind. I need more work on this. Maybe an AI session on this would help me.

5 Should Work, But Doesn't challenges

1 One of Brandi’s Old Ways is her dependency on others to take care of her. She is still living at home with her mother on the threshold of her wedding. Her mother asks Brandi to go get something from the store for the wedding. Brandi reminds her mother that she doesn’t drive and her mother should go get it. Her mother tells Brandi that she scoots around well enough on her bicycle and to go get it on her bike.

2 Brandi doesn’t work and is dependent on her mother for an allowance. Brandi asks her mother for a little extra money. Her mother is neck deep in wedding expenses and refuses.

3 Brandi has a fight with her mother (after the wedding was canceled) and moves out. She goes to the church thinking she can get a room with one of the parishioners. Because the parishioners know she is an incest baby she has become an untouchable, and no one will take her in.

4 Brandi goes to the church’s minister thinking he can get someone to take her in, but he doesn’t want the church to be tainted by her taboo and asks her to stop coming to church.

5 Brandi goes to the high school career counselor to get help finding a job, but because she has no skills; she can’t even get an interview.

5 Living Metaphor challenges

1 Brandi has to deal with the fallout of the cancelled wedding. She is “challenged” by what to do with her wedding gown.

2 Brandi is at a total loss. She feels her life is over. She has a death wish. Even though, trying parachuting is something new, she hopes it will kill her so she gives it a try. Her Old Way of doing nothing new is challenged by trying a parachute jump. But, when she finds the jump exhilarating and exciting, her Old Way dissipates.

3 Brandi is dependent on her bicycle for transportation as she never learned to drive. Her employer offers her an old Vespa if she will get her license. This challenges her Old Way of being dependent and not trying anything new.

4 Because the whole small town now knows Brandi is the product of incest, she has become a pariah. She is full of shame and considers herself a pariah, too. Learning to parachute surf is a living metaphor of “rising above” and the beginning of seeing herself differently.

5 Winning the competition at the end of the story is a Living Metaphor that she has overcome the taboo and has “won” in running her life her way.

• This reply was modified 4 months, 4 weeks ago by  margo meck.

[Margaret]

Margaret’s Living Metaphors

What I learned: Again, this was a new concept for me. In looking at my outline, I realized I naturally used this technique.

5 “Should work, but doesn’t” Scenarios:

1. Margot’s Traditional Passive Resistance: Margot believes her lifetime of discretion and careful behavior will protect her from the Nazi abuse. She tries to use her old method of staying quiet and blending in, but this approach fails when more active resistance is needed to save children’s lives.
2. Lise’s Chatty Nature: Lise has always used her gift of gab to charm and distract people, which worked in her toy shop. However, when dealing with Nazi officers, her usual talkative strategy nearly exposes the resistance network, showing her old communication style is now dangerous.
3. Marie-Claude’s Academic Brilliance: Marie-Claude’s mathematical genius has always served her well in academic settings. But when trying to teach the resistance code to Margot, her scholarly approach fails because she cannot break down complex ideas into simple, actionable instructions.
4. Helene’s Maternal Protection: Helene has always protected her son Klaus by being a dutiful mother. Her traditional maternal strategies of subtle guidance and love no longer work as Klaus becomes increasingly suspicious and loyal to the Nazi regime.
5. The Resistance’s Initial Communication Methods: The resistance’s previous communication network worked smoothly before the university raid. Now, with increased surveillance and suspicion, their old methods of passing messages become critically vulnerable, forcing them to innovate.

5 Living Metaphors:

1. The Loose Button: The intentionally loose button on the rag dolls becomes a living metaphor for adaptability and resistance. It represents how small, seemingly insignificant actions can disrupt larger systems of oppression. When a button is deliberately left loose, it symbolizes the ability to change plans and survive under extreme pressure.
2. Rag Dolls as Carriers of Hope: The rag dolls themselves are a living metaphor for resilience. Just as these dolls are made from discarded, fragmented pieces of fabric sewn together with care, the resistance women are piecing together a network of survival, transforming seemingly powerless individuals into agents of change.
3. The Sewing Circle: The weekly “sewing circle” is a living metaphor for subversive community building. What appears to be a traditional, harmless gathering of older women is actually a strategic resistance meeting. It challenges the perception of elderly women as passive and represents how marginalized groups can create powerful networks of resistance.
4. Marie-Claude’s Dementia Performance: Her act of feigning dementia when Nazis are present is a living metaphor for survival through performance and disguise. It represents how oppressed people must sometimes hide their true capabilities to protect themselves and others, turning perceived weakness into a form of strength.
5. The Toy Shop as a Resistance Hub: Lise’s toy shop becomes a living metaphor for transformation of space and purpose. A place traditionally associated with childhood innocence and play becomes a critical infrastructure for saving lives, symbolizing how ordinary spaces can be repurposed for extraordinary resistance.