Hey, we know. Thanksgiving was so November 2015. But we couldn’t resist sharing these delicious holiday messages from two of our brilliant clients.

Go specific, not general.

So what if you don’t have a Cousin Bobby, your Grandma doesn’t knit and nobody in your family would touch a Werther’s with a North Pole? The writing pros at Toyota know that specifics, not generalities, engage readers.

So how did Toyotans respond?

“We have been FLOODED with positive feedback,” writes Nan Banks, senior manager of Strategic Planning for Toyota Motor North America, Inc. “I swear, about half the folks who have opened it have responded with good comments and thank-yous! I think it is our best effort to date to engage team members in sharing social content and in giving our readers content they can really use.”

Which came first, the turkey or the egg?

My brilliant clients at Whole Foods not only write concrete, creative copy about raw turkey and unmashed potatoes — they do it year after year and make it fit on a sticker. Here are some of their messages from a recent Thanksgiving:

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Read the words coffee, camphor or eucalyptus, and the part of your brain most closely related to the sense of smell responds. Read the words bingo, button or bayonette, and they don’t.

The words you choose not only have the power to change your readers’ minds. They can also change their brains, according to new neurological research.

“Brain scans are revealing what happens in our heads when we read a detailed description, an evocative metaphor or an emotional exchange between characters,” reports Annie Murphy Paul in “Your Brain on Fiction” for The New York Times. “Stories, this research is showing, stimulate the brain and even change how we act in life.”

Paul reports on new studies that show how words make us smell scents, feel textures, experience action — even understand others better.

1. The nose knows.

In 2006, researchers in Spain used a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine to scan participants’ brains. Then they asked participants to read words describing odors — rancid, resin and oregano, for instance — as well as scent-neutral words, like circle, short and sketch.

When participants read the words describing odors, their primary olfactory cortex — the part of the brain most closely associated with the sense of smell — lit up. When they read the neutral words, this region remained dark.

Bottom line: Readers have a physical response to sensual description. Want to make your readers’ brains light up? Use descriptive language.

Smell what I say

2. Feel the burn.

Three researchers at Emory University used fMRI scans on subjects who read phrases involving texture.

When the subjects read textural metaphors — Life is a bumpy road, for instance, or He is a smooth talker — the sensory cortex, which is responsible for perceiving texture through touch, became active. When they read neutral phrases with the same meaning — Life is a challenging road or He is persuasive — the sensory cortex remained dark.

3. And … action!

Cognitive scientist Véronique Boulenger of the Laboratory of Language Dynamics in France studied how people’s brains reacted to phrases conveying motion.

When subjects read action verbs like write and throw, their motor cortexes — the part of the brain that coordinates the body’s movements — lit up. When they read nouns like mill and cliff, their motor cortexes stayed dark.

Even more interesting, one part of the motor cortex lit up when subjects read about arm movement, while a different part did when they read about leg action.

4. In character

Just as the brain treats descriptions of physical sensations and action as if they were real, it also treats written interactions among people as if they were real social encounters.

Raymond Mar, a psychologist at York University in Canada, analyzed 86 fMRI studies published last year in the Annual Review of Psychology. His conclusion: As we practice understanding people when we read, we become better at understanding them in reality.

Narratives, Paul writes, help us “identify with subjects’ longings and frustrations, guess at their hidden motives and track their encounters with friends and enemies, neighbors and lovers.”

Virtual reality

Bottom line?

“The brain, it seems, does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life,” Paul writes. “In each case, the same neurological regions are stimulated.”

Keith Oatley, an emeritus professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto and a published novelist, agrees.

Reading, he told Paul, is a reality simulator that “runs on minds of readers just as computer simulations run on computers.”

For writers, that means that the words you choose aren’t just words. They can also be things, experiences — even emotions. Choose them well.

___

Sources: Annie Murphy Paul, “Your Brain on Fiction,” The New York Times, March 17, 2012

Julio González, Alfonso Barros-Loscertales, Friedemann Pulvermuller, Vanessa Meseguer,  Ana Sanjuán, Vicente Belloch,  and Cesar Avila, “Reading ‘cinnamon’ activates olfactory brain regions,” NeuroImage, May 2006

Simon Lacey, Randall Stilla and K. Sathian, “Metaphorically feeling: Comprehending textural metaphors activates somatosensory cortex,” Brain & Language, Vol. 120, Issue 3, March 2012, pp. 416–421

Véronique Boulenger, Beata Y. Silber, Alice C. Roy, Yves Paulignan, Marc Jeannerod and Tatjana A. Nazir, “Subliminal display of action words interferes with motor planning: A combined EEG and kinematic study,” Journal of Physiology-Paris, Vol. 102, Issues 1–3, January-May 2008, pp. 130-136

Raymond A. Mar, “The Neural Bases of Social Cognition and Story Comprehension,” Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 3, 2011, pp. 103-134

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Metaphor is more persuasive than literal language: It’s been proven in the lab.

Make that 41 labs over more than 50 years.

Or so say Pradeep Sopory and James Price Dillard. The two researchers reviewed 41 data-based studies on the persuasiveness of metaphor published between 1952 and 2006. Then they analyzed the studies to determine what made metaphors more or less persuasive.

Bottom line: Metaphors are more persuasive than literal messages, Sopory and Dillard found.

But why?

Six theories of metaphor’s persuasive power

For more than 30 years, scientists have been trying to figure out what makes metaphor more persuasive. Sopory and Dillard outline six perspectives on metaphor and persuasion in roughly chronological order:

1. Pleasure or relief

Metaphors compare two things that seem at first to be totally dissimilar. In The Emperor of All Maladies, for instance, Siddhartha Mukherjee writes:

That makes metaphors a linguistic puzzle. When readers encounter the metaphor “Some cancer cell mutations are passengers; others are drivers,” they go through three stages:

• Perception of error. Readers realize the literal meaning doesn’t make sense.
• Conflict or tension. Readers seek the metaphorical meaning.
• Resolution. Readers find the metaphorical meaning.

Depending on which linguist you’re talking to, that resolution causes readers either pleasure or relief. And that pleasure or relief reinforces not only the metaphorical meaning, but also the position your metaphor illustrates.

2. Communicator credibility

Communicators who use metaphor, this theory goes, are more credible than those who use literal language.

Why?

• Metaphor makes you look smart. “The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor,” Aristotle wrote in the Poetics. “It is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others; and it is also a sign of genius.”
• Metaphor makes them feel good. Metaphor points out previously unknown similarities between things. That’s a source of interest or pleasure to the reader. Impressed by the source of this newfound information, the reader sees the communicator as more credible.

3. Reduced counterarguments

In this view, figuring out the metaphor takes up so many cognitive resources, the reader doesn’t have enough brainpower left to figure out a counterargument.

4. Resource matching

A more sophisticated view of the cognitive resources theory, this theory states that all the thinking we do to figure out a metaphor makes us understand the argument better and remember it longer.

BUT — and as PeeWee Herman says, there’s always a big but — that only works if our cognitive resources match the metaphor.

Can’t understand the message? Less likely to be persuaded.

Understand the message all too well, because the metaphor is a cliché, maybe? Less likely to be persuaded again.

Think of resource matching as the Goldilocks of these theories: For it to work, it must be just right.

5. Stimulated elaboration

The math of metaphor works like this:

A (target) is B (base).

Thee (target) is a summer day (base).

Figuring out metaphors stimulates more thinking about the relationship between the target and base. And that evokes a richer set of ideas than literal language. When those ideas are in agreement with the argument, readers are more persuaded.

6. Superior organization

This view claims that metaphor helps us structure and organize our arguments better than literal language. Plus, the metaphor helps readers link and process our arguments.

The result: Our arguments are more coherent, so people understand them better, and that leads to increased persuasion.

And the winner is …

Superior organization, the researchers say. Metaphor helps us highlight and organize our thoughts. And that makes it easier for people to understand and agree with our positions.

But whatever the reason, the bottom line remains the same: Metaphor is more persuasive.

Why not make a metaphor today?

___

Source: Pradeep Sopory and James Price Dillard, “The Persuasive Effects of Metaphor: A Meta‐Analysis,” Human Communication Research, January 2006

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People who read metaphors are more likely to understand what someone else is thinking.

Or so say Andrea Bowes and Albert Katz, two researchers at the University of Western Ontario (London).

The researchers performed several experiments in which participants read either metaphors or literal language. Those who read the metaphors were more likely to:

• Read people’s feelings just by looking at photos of their eyes
• Come up with more, richer ideas
• Perceive characters who used metaphor as closer and more emotionally intense

“There is a unique way in which the maker and appreciator of a metaphor are drawn closer to one another,” said philosopher Ted Cohen.

When you share a metaphor, Cohen said, you issue “a kind of concealed invitation,” which your reader “expends a special effort to accept,” resulting in a shared understanding and new common ground.

Want to build common ground? Make it a metaphor.

___

Source: Andrea Bowes and Albert Katz, “Metaphor creates intimacy and temporarily enhances theory of mind,” Memory & Cognition, March 2015

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If you were … say … a brilliant oncologist and a spectacular writer, and you wanted to tell the story of cancer in a way that people who weren’t brilliant oncologists could understand and enjoy it, what literary tools might you use?

Siddhartha Mukherjee pulls out the stops in The Emperor of All Maladies. He uses storytelling, human interest, wordplay — and some killer etymological insights — to make his biography of cancer fascinating and accessible.

I promise to keep writing about Mukherjee’s book until you beg me to stop. But in the meantime, let’s look at how he uses analogy to make the science of cancer clear and compelling:

‘Like tiny clenched and unclenched fists’

Much of cancer research boils down to observing and reporting. Mukherjee uses analogy to give readers a peek into the microscope:

Analogy is key to good description. Mukherjee uses it to help us see key figures in cancer’s history:

And this analogy helps me envision the dexterity of an early anatomist:

‘A shiver down the hospital’s spine’

In addition to letting us see people, places and things, analogy can also let readers know what something feels like. In this passage, Mukherjee makes emotion tactile through metaphor:

Note how Mukherjee syncs to the subject, elegantly plucking this analogy from the world of medicine and placing it in an emotional landscape:

‘One-eighth the cost of a half gallon of milk’

Comparison is also a great tool for taking the “numb” out of numbers, or making statistics more relevant and interesting. In this passage, Mukherjee’s comparisons dwarf the funds raised for cancer research:

And in this one, he demonstrates how affordable a once-precious medicine became:

‘More perfect versions of ourselves’

Because they compel attention, metaphors add power to your points. In this passage, analogy drives home the point that Mukherjee’s impressive training left him ill equipped for his cancer fellowship:

I know that cancer cells spread quickly. But this analogy makes me think about cell division in a new light:

Mukherjee’s analogy here makes a point beyond familiar hospital gown jokes:

This metaphor makes leukemia vivid …

… as this one makes its destruction clear:

“A monster more insatiable than the guillotine …”

‘Convenience stores for the medieval anatomist’

Sometimes Mukherjee’s analogies are just good for a laugh:

‘The king of terrors’

Several of Emperor’s analogies come from medicine itself. Doctors and researchers developed them as they saw or experienced things they’d never seen or experienced before.

Mukherjee passes them on so the reader, too, can see or experience them in passages like this:

And this:

Finally, of course, the title of the book itself is an analogy. For it, Mukherjee quotes a note a 19th-century surgeon once scribbled about cancer in a book’s frontispiece: “the emperor of all maladies, the king of terrors.”

How can you use metaphor to clarify complex concepts?

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Analogy makes your benefits more tantalizing by making them more tangible. So use metaphor and simile to make your concepts concrete.

ING Direct, for instance, makes its mortgage process more alluring with this analogy for its competitors’ approach:

“A mortgage application that can take just 25 minutes. It’s a mortgage application, not a thesis on quantum physics.”

And Confused.com makes its discounts more tempting by making them more concrete with this promise:

“Save a guitar on your car insurance.”

To make your benefits more compelling, make them concrete.

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All these years later, I’m still grateful for the Kindle app on my iPad.

I thought the thing I’d love most about reading on my devices would be the extra mini-fridge-sized space it leaves in my luggage for necessities like thick Marimekko sweaters and airport-sized Fazer chocolate bars that I collect on my trips. But the truth is, my favorite feature is “My clippings,” a tool that transforms my highlights and notes into text that I can transfer to my laptop.

After a couple of months of reading on a reader, I decided to review my clippings. What I found will help me — and, I hope, you — model the masters, or steal techniques from some of the year’s best writers to make your own writing more creative and compelling.

Use metaphor, not modifiers.

One problem with modifiers — thin, lean, straight — is that they don’t paint pictures in your readers’ heads. Instead of simply describing your subject with adjectives and adverbs, engage your readers’ senses with analogy.

That’s what Lorrie Moore did in this passage from A Gate at the Stairs:

Meg Gardiner used the same technique to describe a charismatic religious leader in her Edgar Award-winning mystery, China Lake:

But Colum McCann may be the master of this approach. His National Book Award-winning novel, Let the Great World Spin, includes passage after passage of description through analogy:

(And how do you like that for a 121-word sentence that works?)

Find yourself writing an adjective or adverb?

Model the masters

Regardless of your reading technology, modeling the masters is one of the best ways to improve your writing every day. When you find a passage or phrase or word you wish you’d written, clip it, study and master the technique yourself.

The better your reading, the better your writing.

What’s in your clippings?

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“The thing about food writing is that there are only about fifteen adjectives you can use — ‘delicious,’ ‘delectable,’ ‘unctuous’ …”

— Tom Parker Bowles, the food writer at Tatler, the British society magazine and author of The Year of Eating Dangerously

The problem with modifiers — delicious, delectable, unctuous — is that they don’t paint pictures in your readers’ minds. Instead of simply describing your subject, engage your readers’ senses with analogy.

That’s what Jonathan Gold does in his Pulitzer Prize-winning restaurant reviews for the LA Weekly. Here’s how he describes:

A well-priced restaurant

The craft of making the perfect gelato

Décor at a Japanese restaurant

An over-the-top dessert

Two other desserts

The Kobe strip steak at Cut

Sure beats “unctuous,” doesn’t it?

Need to describe something? Use analogies, not adjectives, to bring your subject to life.

____

Sources: Rebecca Mead, “Royals Posh Spices,” The New Yorker, Aug. 27, 2007

Jonathan Gold, “Hare Today … Ant Eggs Tomorrow,” LA WEEKLY, Jan. 14, 2006

Jonathan Gold, “Cool Hunting,” LA WEEKLY, July 26, 2006

Jonathan Gold, “L.A. Simonized,” LA WEEKLY, Aug. 30, 2006

Jonathan Gold, “Claws and Effect,” LA WEEKLY, Sept. 6, 2006

Jonathan Gold, “Bring the Funk,” LA WEEKLY, Sept. 27, 2006

Jonathan Gold, “Flesh and Bone,” LA WEEKLY, Dec. 6, 2006

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In A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor described a character as “a young woman in slacks…

“… whose face was as broad and innocent as a cabbage.”

You can describe all the details about a person, place or thing. But nothing helps your readers see your subject like analogy.

Or hear it.

In Double Image, David Morrell wrote:

“The voice chuckled, its crustiness reminding Coltrane
of a boot stomping dried mud.”

Or feel it.

Kurt Vonnegut wrote:

“He shuddered gently,
as though a small motor were idling inside.”

Or taste it.

How could anyone ever choose a bottle of wine without analogy? Yesterday, I had a glass of Spanish Grenache that was described as tasting like “smoked cherries.” (Mmmmmmm … smoked cherries.) I love the wine descriptions on Vinesugar.

But the best analogy for taste is Raymond Chandler’s line:

“I lit a cigarette [that] tasted like a plumber’s handkerchief.”

Yuck!

Describing something? Engage your readers’ senses with analogy.

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When Gerald Ford assumed the presidency in the wake of Watergate, he wanted Americans to know they were getting a simple, plain-spoken leader. He said:

“I’m a Ford, not a Lincoln.”

By contrasting himself with a fancy car and an eloquent speaker, he made his point sharper. An analogy like Ford’s can make your message clearer, more interesting and more memorable.

Make your message more memorable.

When legendary film critic Pauline Kael reviewed a critically acclaimed movie that she couldn’t stand, she started her review like this:

“Rain Man is Dustin Hoffman humping one note on a piano for two hours and eleven minutes.”

Any questions?

Distinguish your department.

When Joe Gensheimer, then Sprint PCS’s chief legal counsel, wanted to make sure employees knew that his was a different kind of legal department, he said:

“Lawyers are like beavers. They get in the stream of commerce and dam it up.”

Then he went on to explain that his department’s mission was to “remove all roadblocks to an on-time market launch.”

Need to position yourself, your department or your product? Make your point more pointed with analogy.

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