Does Your Writing Have Meaning?

Yes, I guess they do. I'm currently working on a were-jaguar piece that's all paranormal fun but my MC is an uncertain little mess because he won't admit that he's gay and doesn't know yet that he is a were-jaguar. So, he needs to learn who he is and accept who he is, which would be a larger theme around acceptance.

I don't go looking for themes and can't say I write to focus on them. They seem to come about naturally if I start with a character with a problem. Through the plot and the growth that should come through solving the problem, a theme usually emerges.

I think over the years, I've become a more -- let's get back to the basics and tell a good story -- sort of writer. I made it through a graduate writing program, read tons of things telling me to focus on character, themes, symbolism, etc. Everything except the plot. Then I spent some time teaching writing and found myself reading stories filled with highly developed characters wandering around with nothing to do. Now, everyone is wants to discuss themes and platforms. No one just wants to tell a good story. When did plot become a four letter word?

Sorry, to ramble, but just some early morning thoughts before the caffeine kicks in.

Marie

My erotica is far less themed than my suspense, but every story has a theme. I seem to return quite often to the "steel magnolias" thing, that each of us has an inner core that's quite strong, but it sometimes takes a lot of damage to reveal it.

The masochistic partner in what I'm writing now thinks he's solid pudding, but when things go too far, he'll meet force with force. (Well, he already has; that part's done.)

Maryn, who sometimes can't identify her own themes

I do two genres, but I don't do novel-length suspense. The market for short stories in suspense is just about gone unless you're writing "Murder, She Wrote" material. My stuff's harder.

Oh, ha-ha, I wasn't even thinking about the pun potential. I meant my suspense was more bleak and violent, not hard-hard as in erotica. (Snicker.) (I know, grow up, Maryn!)

Maryn, perennial seventh-grader

Maryn, please don't ever grow up.

Point of fact, my work is plot driven, but I hope a theme shows through.

I would add a 3rd leg to this tripod--subtext.

Setting and writing style can have a subtle influence on the reader, and convey ideas and meaning that aren't explicitly shown in the plot, or in the characters' emotional journeys, or in larger themes that you are more or less aware of writing about.

As for having great characters, and no plot, I find I have difficulty sometimes with my minor characters just not doing much to make things interesting. Even though I understand who they are, they just sit there. I'm starting to think that I need to plot each story multiple times, each time with a different character as MC.

Subtext is a brilliant tool. It can given a plot multiple meanings, and allows readers to have their own interpretation. That, and if you state everything explicitly it makes for pretty bland reading!

I find plotless characters need something inflicting on them. It was described to me once as "character climbs tree, character gets stuck, character must find way down". If your character won't climb that tree airlift them in! Creat conflict with external events: bad weather, criminal acts, accidents, etc. This forces them to do react and change, which drives the plot. Erotica, after all, is a hugely character driven genre, and meaning comes from character.

Most of my mine do not, but I do have one that also happens to be an erotica. The plot is basic. Girl explores her sexuality and falls in love with the least likely.

The theme though is that love transcends all boundaries, inhibitions, social beliefs, religion and even sexual preference. Love is an emotion and a label is something the current society places on things based on the general consensus of those in control of said society. By ignoring the status quo, what society thinks about love and sex, she discovers love was right there before her eyes and she never saw it until her eyes were truly open. Something along those lines, anywho. =)

This is only my .02, but I think the truly great stories always have a strong theme, some universal meaning that speaks to the reader (and presumably the writer as well). Often times, these themes do not surface until later drafts, unless the writer consciously decided, "I'm going to write a story that revolves around [theme]." As I've worked on my WIP, I've noticed that there are themes present that I wasn't aware of initially.

I've always thought it was strange for a story to be absent of theme. Rest assured, though. An English major is always capable of finding one even where there isn't.

My novel was very much: Know your fantasies or live them for real.

Thanks to being locked in a chastity belt, the hero gradually becomes sucked into a permanently chaste and ultimately enslaved lifestyle.

Had he embraced his turn-ons, he could have played them out safely within a healthy normal relationship.

There are three sub themes. Two of these are a lie, but pleasantly erotic to contemplate.

Eroticism is better than orgasm. The chastity belt's timelock runs backwards whenever the hero becomes aroused. So he's constantly having to choose between erotic highs and the increasingly remote possibility of gratification.

Men hold women back erotically. Being effectively neutered makes the hero a better rather than worse lover, and frees his various partners to pursue their own gratification without worrying about his.

Women who make relationships difficult are really just phallophobic: The Pr_ck tease, the ice queen, the nervous virgin.... they all succumb to a man without a p_nis.

If there is a theme in my erotica it's that a person finds true happiness when they accept what they are.

But really, I just want my readers to send me feedback that say, "God, that was hot!"

How Theme Develops

DBliss said:

... For example in one of my short stories my main character wants to be exceptional and on her planet she is pretty average with really no potential to rise to the level she wants to get to. So she manages to escape and finds herself on another planet where she is worshiped as a goddess but finds it's not as glamorous as she thought it would be.

My theme for this piece is basically the grass is always greener in someone else's yard until you are actually over there standing on it looking into yours.

The article really helped me in the development of my stories. In fact, I find it easier to actually write and finish a story when I've got a theme that I'm writing to ...

Click to expand...

Yes, let's say theme is the broader take away meaning connecting to big and important turns, principals, lessons in life, to what some philosophers call the "human condition." My idea about theme development, for what it's worth, is it's best to treat it two ways:

- as a working hypothesis at the outset, the message you anticipate will emerge from the interaction of strong characters who, above all else, should rule and

- as a found and developed, near sacred revelation to you the author as you go, maybe in sync with the initial hypothesis, maybe not, but emerging as authentically and realistically as possible from your characters and their interactions through plot, with plot too capable of changing as your characters create their own lives on the page.

So, for me theme is the key reward for writing, the discovery, the fountainhead, not so much a pre-set message I want to weave and get out to others. That's why I also try not to think about the commercial side of theme, or plot or characters, i.e. how all will play with the reader and current market trends. I find doing so cuts the zoom of writing, the finding about what I believe or thought I believed, and why I like my characters to box me around and flatten my preconceptions. If all goes well (you can see this style brings no guarantees), the result has a fresh, sparkling and original feel to it. Of course, such an approach also means some of what I write makes it to publication but some finds no home. I suppose my approach comes from the "luxury" of not writing for a living, but feeling very alive while writing.

Another

My erotica is not theme based. I write it with the sole intent of eliciting a physical response from the reader. Most of my other writing does have themes, but I try not to focus on them while I write. If I concentrate on the theme, the story becomes preachy. I try to make my themes like tickling feathers instead of base ball bats.