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Symbolism and Motif Entry: Instability and Turmoil

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Every day we interact with objects, places and sensations that affect the way we think and feel. This can be used to the writer’s advantage by planting symbols in the reader’s path to reinforce a specific message, feeling or idea.

Look at the setting and the character’s state of mind, and then think about what you want the reader to see. Is there a descriptive symbol or two that works naturally within the scene to help foreshadow an event or theme, or create insight into the character’s emotional plight?

In Nature:

Rolling dark clouds
Thunder and lightning
Muddy ground
Churned up, silty rivers
Whitecaps
Crashing waves…

In Society:

Rioting
Riot gear
Sink holes
Explosions
Barred windows/doors
Car alarms going off…

These are just a few examples of things one might associate with instability and turmoil. Some are more powerful than others. An earthquake is a strong symbol, and likely will not require reinforcement. However, a broken window may not foreshadow instability and turmoil on its own. Let the story’s tone decide if one strong symbol or several smaller ones work the best.

Symbolism is a universal language that can add great depth and meaning to your story.

So you can reap the full benefit of this powerful tool, we’ve expanded the entire collection by 70% and integrated it into our online library at One Stop For Writers. Each entry comes with a long list of ideas for symbols and motifs, and we’ve included popular symbolism examples from literature and movies, as well. These entries have also been cross-referenced for easy searchability across all our other thesauri. To see a free sample of the updated Symbolism and Motif Thesaurus along with our other collections, pop on over and register at One Stop.

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Comments

  2. Jackee says

    “Let the story’s tone decide if one strong symbol or several smaller ones work the best.”

    So very true! And I loved your list, so many and so ominious, all. It even opened up some ideas of my own.

    Have a wonderful weekend, Angela!

  5. Tara McClendon says

    This is another amazing entry. The tumbleweeds reminded me of the old Westerns–they always blew across a deserted street before the showdown.

  10. Angela says

    Thanks everyone. I’m glad this helps!

    I think symbolism often comes naturally to some extent duing the drafting process, but then afterwards when we finish and see the theme emerge, it’s always good to take another look through and see if we can change out some of our symbols with ones that enhance better, or to build slightly on what we have.

    Symbolism should never be forced, but it’s handy as well when looking at building a mood or emotion into the scene as well, as we often have emotional responses to certain objects. 🙂

  12. Lisa and Laura says

    I love your posts about symbolism! It’s something we rarely (consciously) incorporate into our won writing, so these posts always get me thinking.

  17. Lisa Amowitz says

    Wonderful advice, Roni! Thanks! I do notice this in books I love and I’m sure I’ve done this myself, but I think I’ve been sort of semi-conscious on how much this device can move a narrative along.