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Research III: Chapter I Part II: Proposal

I have done a proposal presentation to show for Kathryn so that I can get into Third Year, in it I present the idea I have for what I would like to explore throughout the year:


Hi, my name is Bo Myburgh and today I will be presenting to you fine folk my idea of what to do for Research III.


My question will be: "How can I use Metaphor to translate Personal Life Experiences into Entertaining Horror Fiction?". Now obviously this is quite a specific question, carefully phrased to explore exactly what I have grown an interest in.

It is based on what I have found to be some of the most valuable explorations during my time at SIT - that being the writing I have done independently, a large portion of this has been documented on my blogs.

My writing has evolved a lot, my stories taking on a much clearer form, each of which followed a similar process - this process is what I want to focus on. I will hopefully sharpen and to some degree finalize it by the end of my Bachelor's.


The first part of the question is: Using Metaphor.

One thing I have noticed again and again in the evolution of my storytelling is the increase in prominence of metaphors which are directly related to my personal life. I have observed how I, knowingly and unknowingly, insert myself and my own experiences into the stories that I choose to tell. This not only helps a lot to generate ideas and advance a story, but also in making the stories feel more meaningful.

There is a very long history related to using metaphors or allegory in storytelling, particularly prominent in the horror genre. One period that I would be looking at is sci-fi horror movies from the 1950s, movies that mirrored real-life fears of Communism and the 'Red Menace'. Movies like The Thing from Another World and Invasion of The Body Snatchers are two great examples of American media representing sleeper agents and Russian spies as literal aliens from outer space.

Of course, allegory goes back to the oldest stories, like children's fables or even the stories Jesus would tell in The Bible. Nowadays it's still very much alive and kicking, there are plenty of examples to look at like these listed above.


I want to explore how writers and directors infuse their work with their own life experiences, and whether or not that is intentional. I have found sometimes it happened unintentionally, being the only way to write.

A lot of the origin of my question comes from my own past writing projects and I will analyze these as well as I research my topic. I've even found that when I am writing with someone else I end up trying to work them into the story somehow, feeling it is more impactful with that added element.












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