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?
This article was posted on August
24, 2004
