Is The Theme Running Throughout The Story?
?>
Download eBooks and Software
 Real Writing Jobs
New & Improved Pricing Structure With Multiple Price Points, Downsells, And Upsells. Doing Better Than Ever! Plus, We Keep Emailing All Interested Users With Your Affiliate Link In The Emails To Make Sure You Get Credit! Realwritingjobs.com/affiliates.php
Insider Secrets To Cheap Flights - Downsized Agent Reveals All
Air Travel Will Always Be Expensive And People Will Always Want To Save Big Money On Flights. Super Conversions, Almost Unlimited Article Writing Potential. Great Product For New Internet Marketers. 75% Commission = Over $20 US Per Sale.
Brighter Side Of Darkness By Best New Christian Author Sylvia Lucas
Sylvia Got "saved" While Writing This Book! Through Its Main Character Donna Highlights The Impact Of Women Growing Up In A Fatherless Home. Donna Is On A Quest To Find True Love. A Must Read For Every Woman In America!
Articles > WritingIs The Theme Running Throughout The Story?
by: Nick Vernon
Creative Writing Tips –
It’s no use coming up with a theme and not using it. Short stories are about a character or characters and about one situation or happening in those characters’ lives.
By concentrating on that one thing, our stories are focused. You will need to focus to maintain a level of intensity and sticking to the theme enables us to do that.
Let me give you an example…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scenario One
Let’s say your story is about a young man (main character) who is being harassed (one situation) by the school bully (secondary character.) Let’s place the setting in grade school.
Now if we focus on that single happening and in our story say….
- What started the bullying
- What the main character felt, confronted with this problem
- What the main character did to overcome this problem
- If the main character won or lost against the bully…
Then we’ll be focusing only on that incident which is what our story is about.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scenario Two
Now if we took that situation further and in our story said that this character grew up and was bullied in high school and then later by a colleague…
That will be listing three incidences, which will weaken our story because we are not focusing.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Remember a short story is short.
We don’t have too much leeway to develop too many things so we have to be selective with what we choose to concentrate on. Short stories work best when they span over a short period of time.
Like in scenario one, this incident might span over a couple of days or a week, where in the second scenario, it spans over a number of years. The shorter the time span the more intense the story.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Your theme should begin at the beginning, run through the middle and conclude in the end. So let’s put a theme to the first scenario…
‘Strength Comes From Within And In The End Prevails.’
How can I have this theme running throughout my story?
Initially I will portray my main character as a weak individual. But I will excuse his weakness, by saying perhaps that…
“He comes from a closely knit, loving family and initially doesn’t know how to deal with such a conflict.”
As my story progresses, I will gradually show his inner strength and I will do this through incidences, which will show his maturity, like…
• He helps out by caring for his younger siblings and contributes with the housework.
And
• I can show him cutting the neighbours’ lawns or delivering newspapers before school to show that he contributes economically too.
If I do this, my ending (when he wins against the bully) will be believable because I have developed his inner strength. My theme would have run its course.
Is your theme running throughout the story?
?>
News on Writing
Writing ability declines but still crucial for success
At the large South Florida law firm Gunster, poor writing skills can obliterate a young lawyer's chances for a job, no matter how glittering the resume. Content Writing King Creates New Search Engine Optimization Service Guide
Content Writing King Creates New Search Engine Optimization Service Guide Article marketing company, Content Writing King, has announced that they have created a new search engine optimization basics guide to help consumers who are new to SEO. [...] it helps to clarify as many industry buzzwords as possible so that newcomers aren’t confused. When asked about the connection between the new SEO ... 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Writing
You've been wanting to write???for your blog, for your company, for industry publications, or maybe just for fun. But you aren't quite sure how to improve your skills. Well, we've put together a few fun and simple ways to get you started. Writing was an act of love in 1824 Philadelphia
 The writing and typesetting of "El Habanero" in 1824 must have been intensive labor of love for the one who put it together. Word by word and letter by letter, patiently assembling the lines of movable type, avoiding at all cost the devil in the typos, must have been a total headache wherever it took place in Old City Philadelphia. Greater even than the headache the author created when his ... Livescribe Celebrates Five Years of Digital Writing
Livescribe, the innovative company behind the world’s first smartpen, is celebrating its fifth anniversary. Livescribe revolutionized the digital writing market by syncing recorded audio with handwritten notes and providing a valuable new tool, which saves times, improves learning and enhances business productivity.
|
