Learn Writing with Uncle Jim, Volume 1

Given the flow of the topic I feel compelled to share this:

Dear John,

I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior.
You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy - will you let me be yours?

Gloria

Dear John,

I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior.
You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?

Yours,

Gloria

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-Nick

Reading back on this thread, I realize I don't understand what a theme is.

Could someone please explain?

The serial comma is still given preference by the Chicago Manual of Style.

However, the AP Stylebook is anti-serial comma. The AP’s goal is a cleaner look for newsprint. IMHO, there is no logical reason to not use serial quotes in short stories and novels.

Bayou Bill

I'll ask this again.

Can someone please explain exactly what is a theme??

DamaNegra said:

I'll ask this again.

Can someone please explain exactly what is a theme??

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Probably not. However, this definition, taken in part from the Tameri Guide to Writing site. is about as clear and concise as I've come across:

Stories are written for a reason. Most convey a lesson or “greater meaning” to the reader. That is the theme.

Bayou Bill

Well, I'll give it a whack. I'm sort of nervous 'cause this'll probably wind up being a long-winded explanation that only makes partial sense, and them Uncle Jim will come along with a one-sentence explanation that's crystal clear, and then I'll feel foolish.

Anyway.

Theme is what the book is About.

Not in the sense of plot, which is what the characters *do*, but more about what the character's actions *mean.* The moral of the story, in a way, although that's an oversimplification. A book can be About the evils of slavery, or About love truly conquering all, or About how power can corrupt even good men.

In a book with a strong theme, the character's actions will reinforce the theme multiple times: subtly in some places, overtly in others.

Does that help at all?

Theme, like so much else in writing, is something that I can only define by example.

Earlier on I offered this, in re Dickens' A Christmas Carol:


Plot: Scrooge is visited by four increasingly scary spirits. Story: A sinner is redeemed. Theme: Charity.

See?

Bayou Bill said:

The serial comma is still given preference by the Chicago Manual of Style.

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Rather unsurprisingly, the Oxford Manual of Style is also in favour.

jules said:

Rather unsurprisingly, the Oxford Manual of Style is also in favour.

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I'd forgotten that. Many thanks, Jules.

Bayou Bill

Andrew Jameson said:

See?

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On bad habits and writing -- from the folksong Nottingham Ale (tune is Lilliburlero):

While I like the definition that "theme is what the story is About", I've been lately thinking about theme and its applicability and usages. Here's my current line of thinking:

1. I'm leery of using single-word or single-concept themes ("Love") because I find it hard to focus around them as a writer. I prefer to work with specific statements ("How we love is what defines us as people.") that certain characters and/or situations in a work can illuminate. For my own work, I'm trying not to include value judgments in my themes ("People who can't love wholeheartedly can't come to a good end."), although a given character may illustrate a position that could end up with a value-judgment type ending.

2. Characters can be established to explore various aspects of the theme, but once they are created in that light, probably shouldn't be handled as theme-puppets. Instead, I think what's going to work well for me is letting them play as they've been constructed to play; their genesis will make their actions do the work for me.

Frex, if I take the above theme as a story basis, I might have one character who can only feel any kind of love for those she has power over, and make him friends with another character who has no use for people who aren't at least his intellectual and social equal. Maybe a third character who loves indiscriminately, and a fourth who has found no love of any sort since his parents abandoned him, and invests all his energy in pets and drugs. I shouldn't need to manipulate anyone here; their origins will probably be enough to create tension that'll move the characters through whatever story they're installed in.

A practitioner of this method, if I'm interpreting the end product correctly, is Joss Whedon, with Buffy, Angel, and Firefly/Serenity. Take the (fantastically layered and nuanced) movie Serenity: River and the Reavers are flip sides of what happens when you muck with humanity.

It's still a thought-process in progress, but that's where I am so far...

Oh, and there's a neat book out there that your library or local college library might have - called something like "The Dictionary of Theme and Motif". It's a $350 book, so I'm not going to go rush out to buy it, but what I've been able to scrounge online from it definitely looks interesting.

HTH!

-j

Theme is something that will grow naturally out of your storytelling. I wouldn't attempt to impose it from the beginning. Later, when revising, discovering the theme can help you sharpen the story, help guide you in making choices in what to keep and what to cut, help you discover what new scenes must be added, how characters will react.

Sitting down and saying "I'm going to write a story about Love!" gets you not an inch closer to telling that story. Having re-read your story and saying "Y'know, this story is about Love" will help you decide if that scene in the Shamrock Pub really belongs.

King says some stuff about theme in On Writing, and indeed he does suggest working in the theme after the first draft, because some of the strongest themes can come through unconciously. That's the way I think it will be with my novel, Hadeon, but some shorts that I'm writing have a predefined theme in mind, but it's central to the story and obvious from the start, that you can't dodge it and decide to wait until you've finished the first draft.

I write with the theme in mind. Actually, I outline with it in mind. I come up with the premise, the characters, and decide what theme I want to support or prove (one that makes sense with the plot and genre I've chosen). Though the major plot points occur specifically as a result from the actions taken by characters leading up to that point, I still make those major points, and most major decisions by the main charcaters, support the theme. Doing this in the outline kind of frees me from having to think about it during the writing. It kind of just happens after that. During re-writes I'll check to see where I can reinforce theme, and where I was too heavy-handed with it.

Works for me.

I like to keep theme in mind during the initial plotting phase. It helps me to decide what sources of conflict to include, and concentrate on what I hope will be a strong, self-consistent core of story. I'm also fond of themes that are longer than just a few words. The book I'm currently planning, for example, has a theme of "People who you think you can trust sometimes turn out to be untrustworthy; people who you really can trust can be found in the most surprising situations". It'll be the first in a series, all of which will have different themes, but each of which will revolve around trust in some way, so you can I suppose say that "trust" is the theme of the series.

But once I know who my characters are and what their situation is, I let go of the theme. It's distracting to keep refering back to it while writing. It works better if I let it affect my choice of characters instead.

Once I understand the theme, I understand the cast of supporting characters.

I feel like if the theme develops organically out of my story instead of informing it, the work is far less likely to turn into didactic grandstanding. It's doubly important for me as a YA writer to make sure I write a story and not a 'message,' because my target audience can smell preaching ten miles off.

Maybe that's just me though. If you're writing with a theme in mind, how do you keep it from getting too heavy-handed?

LeeFlower said:

I feel like if the theme develops organically out of my story instead of informing it, the work is far less likely to turn into didactic grandstanding.

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If you have your characters sound out the theme, then yeah, it could turn into a type of Aesop's Fables. Demonstrate it subtletly however, and you're less likely to run into that problem.

LeeFlower said:

Maybe that's just me though. If you're writing with a theme in mind, how do you keep it from getting too heavy-handed?

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Theme doesn't have to be a universally held edict, like "honesty is the best policy" or "crime doesn't pay". If you do think of theme strictly in that way, then it can very easily sound preachy. But even if you go with those two samples, the old addage "show, don't tell" plays a key role in getting across theme without it becoming too glaring.

I'm not saying I have a complete grasp of it, but what little I know helps my writing.

If you have an interest in reading a, (in my opinion), superbly crafted opening chapter from one of our own AW pals, soon to be printed by Kensington/Zebra, check it out below. Click her website. This is one I've got to have, and will order.

http://www.jackiekessler.com/books/hellsbelles.html

HELL'S BELLES by Jackie Kessler
Kensington/Zebra Books (January 2007)

THE ROAD TO HELL by Jackie Kessler
Kensington/Zebra Books (January 2008)

Come, let me lure you to my website...

We got the cover flat for Mist and Snow. Full text (including sales information for bookstores and sales reps) is here: http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=read&group=sff.people.doyle-macdonald&artnum=20938

LeeFlower said:

If you're writing with a theme in mind, how do you keep it from getting too heavy-handed?

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By not pounding heavily on the theme.