Worderella Writes

Details, Details, Details

In class, we’ve been talking about details: relevant vs irrelevant, and how they can alter the power of your story. I tend to rely on details.

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The Motivating Purpose

I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it.
– Toni Morrison (American author)

This is very true for my current novel, and perhaps even for my first novel. But is it true for you? Last week we talked about the motivaing purpose behind our main characters, and then some. But what is the purpose behind writing about those characters?

This is what I like to call the theme of the work. Why are you writing your book? What spurred that first idea? Who are you writing for?

These are questions that are as important as knowing that first problem that your main character must face. Why? Because it focuses your work. It gives you a breadcrumb trail to the second problem your main character faces, and then the third, and so on…

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Personal Themes Shining Through

Cynthia from Creative Writing Corner wrote an interesting post about how her life and history shapes the themes in her writing. It’s an interesting exercise, looking at how your life defines your writing.

For instance, I’m sure many authors have written about the relationship between fathers and daughters. But I only realized last week that both of my books (Catching the Rose and the WIP, Trentwood’s Orphan), discuss the topic. What happens when a daughter loses her father? How does that influence her and her decisions for the rest of her life? And what about the characters who haven’t lost their fathers… what am I saying about their relationships? A doubly interesting question, as I haven’t lost my father. What does this say about me?

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The Importance of Theme for Organization

I often read that the biggest things a writer should worry about are theme and organization. Theme, because that is the heart of your work; organization because that’s the skeleton to help you write about the theme.

For the longest time I wondered, How does one find a theme in the first place? Maybe something happened in your life that you want to write about. Let’s face it, wanting to write about that topic isn’t enough. You need a focus, something that connects you to the topic and distances you from it at the same time, so that you can communicate clearly with your reader.

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Fairy Tales

Stuck in a rut? Want to begin a new novel (since NaNoWriMo is coming up)? I find that I love fairy tales, and that they have the best themes to make the backbone of any good draft. Tired of the Disney versions? Don’t worry, they are by no means the only and official version of these stories.

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The Importance of Theme

I was reading the August issue of The Writer the other day, (which, by the way, has at least three really good articles in it) and found an article written by Paola Corso on integrating theme and story. Corso opens the article with the sad truth that when asked “what their short story is about, writers often recite a chronology of events because they equate plot with theme.” Corso goes on to say that it isn’t the “who, what, where and when but the why that gives meaning and elevates your writing to a thematic level.”

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