Creative Writing Tips -
How we usually begin the preparation
stage in the writing process is.
- We think of an idea for a story
- We think of a suitable theme
- We plot
Once we come up with a theme and we begin
plotting, we have to see how the theme
and the plot match up. Sometimes as we
plot we find that the theme we had initially
chosen won't do.
For example.
'Winning The Lottery Makes Your Life
Easier'
Plotting with this theme in mind, we
have our characters pay off all their
debts, go on endless shopping sprees,
go on holidays, etc. We find though that
this won't make a very interesting story.
So we spice it up, adding to the theme
or coming up with a different one.
"Winning The Lottery Makes Your Life
Easier But Everything Has Its Price."
We can show the characters living the
life of the rich for a while before they
realize that being wealthy has its problems
too...
- They now fear for their safety
- Their friends and relatives are constantly
harping at their door asking for assistance
- Etc
This second scenario creates more problems
for the characters, so it's more interesting
for us readers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The preparation stage is there to prepare
before you write. It's our workbench where
we figure everything out. We test our
theme, we test our plot and once everything
passes the test, then we begin writing.
You can change the theme as many times
as you feel it needs changing, while you
are in the preparation stage.
The main thing is to make your story
interesting.
It's not a good idea to keep changing
the theme when writing the story because
then you will have to keep changing the
story. This means rewriting.
Figure everything out then write.
Have you tested your theme against your
plot?
This article was posted on August
24, 2004
