I start by describing the MC's life and his moment of conflict, what unleashes his journey and mission. When I describe the MC and one or two other characters, I get a hint of the theme, but I can only see it clearly while writing the early chapters of the first draft. This is a wonderfully informative article, and it also helped me realize something about myself in regards to my writing and who I am as a person--a surprising and exhilarating thing to experience!
Thinking back on my own writing, I recognized that the stories that mattered most to me were all exploring the same couple of emotions--and so is my current work in progress.
Many thanks for your interesting and useful article. I have one quibble. For me, the theme is what the book says about those issues, and therefore pretty much has to have a verb, e. But I think they need to identify for themselves with a fair amount of specificity what it is they want to say about that subject, and write their story accordingly.
Thanks again for the article. Several times I've had a theme emerge: my first novel was supposed to be just a post-apocalyptic adventure, but turned into an exploration of the practicality of pacifism. But if that happens you need to go back and integrate the theme you've discovered into the whole of the writing.
And I completely disagree with your view of "Lord of the Flies". It's right there in the title: the boys are not corrupted by the emerging power structure, but by their wild natures, which Golding gives a voice in Simon's delirium before the pig's head.
Jack's dominance is just a symptom. Reedsy is more than just a blog. How do I choose a college major? I have too many projects and not enough hours in the day. Is 8 hours of sleep really that important? How do I choose a topic for a personal essay?
What tips can you give me for studying for a test on something I've read? How do I write a good research paper? How can I highlight my textbooks efficiently? How do I convince my parents to spend a few extra bucks to upgrade from a dial-up connection to broadband like a cable modem or DSL?
They say I have to give some benefits for spending extra. What do you do when you're lost; when you can't concentrate and have lost your will to succeed? How can you get back on track? Is homework important? What is your opinion of the rise of virtual actors and the fall of live ones, what do you think about virtual actors taking the place of live ones? My mom and my friends say I should quit doing something [swimming, tennis, violin, honors classes], but I love all the things I do.
What can I do? I started my first job a couple weeks ago just for the summer. Do you have any tips for getting along with everybody at work? If so, why? When I am making a speech or a presentation in front of the class, my face or body automatically shivers. My voice gets weird also. How can I stop it? I want to finish high school in 3 years instead of 4, but I am not sure it is a good idea.
What do you think? What are some occupations involving astronomy? If I'm going to college for a degree in art, are all of my other classes even worth taking?
Are your freshmen grades important to get into college? Is Johns Hopkins University a medical school? How long do I have to spend in a medical school to become a doctor? Economics For Milton Friedman, what are the social responsibilities of business? What is The Fed and is it good or bad? What is a Ponzi scheme? What are the advantages and disadvantages of Gross Domestic Product? What is full employment and why is it difficult to measure?
What's a recession? What is economics? My parents and I are looking to buy a car for me I am 17 and I will be added to my parents insurance What cars have the lowest insurance rates but are still cool to drive What is marketing? Can you explain to me the impact money will have on the future or my future.
I am 16 years old? Foreign Languages Are there any Spanish words bearing even a minute similarity to the name Peter? Not a name, but any word that is in any way similar to Peter.
I need help locating a Web site that has pronunciation of the Spanish alphabet. Where can I find the Spanish alphabet? Do you have any advice to help me learn it? I know that there is no elision with French possessive adjectives.
So what's the deal with: Qui est ton artiste favorite? Do you have any tips? In Spanish how do I know when to use de, del, a and al? I'm going to be starting a new foreign language, and I'm not sure which language to take: French or Spanish. I know some French, but only greetings. Which do you think? What is the term for when the Congressional majority represents the opposite party of the President? Where in the U. Constitution are health and property mentioned? To what extent did the Cold War shape the American domestic life of the s?
The 10th Amendment does what? Which U. What does the FCC regulate? Who were the major political players during the Reagan Administration? Who helped shape President Reagan's legacy? Who was the first Secretary of State for the United States? Do prisoners deserve to be educated?
The death penalty has always interested me. What are the different ways you can execute someone without it being cruel or unusual? Who were the major congressional participants in developing Social Security legislation? With so many delegates speaking so many different languages, how does the United Nations get anything done? I love watching TV court shows, and would enjoy them more if I understood some of the legal jargon, like ex post facto.
What does that mean? The U. House of Representatives comprises members, proportionally representing the population of all 50 states.
Apart from those that encompass an entire state, which is the single largest congressional district by area in the nation? What is habeas corpus, and where is it guaranteed by law? Where is the establishment of religion clause in the U. What's the point of making texting while driving illegal?
Have social conservatives captured the Republican Party? Why are Republicans or those who favor capitalism called the right" or "right-wing" and Democrats or those who favor social issues called the "left?
What are the differences in the ways the House and the Senate conduct debates on a bill? What is WikiLeaks? How long do oral arguments last in Supreme Court cases? What do you think are some reasons why the President was given almost unlimited military powers? What are some possible positive and negative effects resulting from the scope of the President's military power?
Why is the United States government so worried about North Korea? Did Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation actually free any slaves? How were U. Senators originally chosen? What changes in American society have created new issues for the government to address?
What was the Tweed Ring? What do you think secret service for the Obama girls is like? Is there a dude with a gun and stuff sitting next to them in class? Wouldn't that make it hard for them to concentrate? How many representatives does each state have in the House of Representatives?
How are justices to the U. Supreme Court elected? Is this a good or a bad thing? What type of education do you need to become Speaker of the House? Is that true? What do security and infringed mean in the Second Amendment to the U. What did Abraham Lincoln mean by A house divided against itself cannot stand"? President who never won a nationwide election? What is the current law on compulsory vaccinations in the U. Are there any exceptions for people who don't want to get vaccinated?
After the stock market crash, how did President Hoover try to help the economy? My economics teacher said something about stagflation , what is that, exactly? How do interest groups play a role in American government? Has Thanksgiving always been on the same day?
Can someone who's not a Republican or Democrat win an election? What can you tell me about the presidential election? The Electoral College — can anyone apply? How do lobbyists influence public policy decisions? What happens if the president doesn't like a piece of legislation? What are the legal elements of a crime? How did the Whiskey Rebellion change people's perception of federal laws in the United States? How do federal judges get their jobs? If you are dressed to conform to an informal, verbal dress code but a different, written dress code is enforced and you get in trouble, do you have a First Amendment right to challenge it?
My teachers enforce the dress code inconsistently. How does the CIA recruit people? What types of majors do they typically target? What is the importance of the Declaration of Independence? Why would the founders of our country need to declare" their freedom? Why is it so important today? What is the purpose of government, and how does a bill become law? Is there a way, other than retiring, to get out of the Supreme Court such as being dismissed? When did the pocket veto start?
Who would serve as the new president if both the president and vice president resigned? What's a Congressional Page and how do you become one? What is guerrilla warfare? Years ago I learned that our national highway system has built-in runways for emergency landing strips.
Is this still true? What newspapers did Frederick Douglass write for? I know that the days of the week are all named after Norse or Roman gods or the sun and moon, but I can't figure out what Tuesday is named for. Do you know? Can you give me a brief history of Prussia? Who were the Ottomans? Who discovered oxygen?
How did Peter I of Russia come to power? What can you tell me about Kwanzaa? What is the Alma-Ata declaration? I've heard that in some countries, everyone has to sign up for the military between high school and college.
How were women treated in Ancient Rome? What is the history and meaning of Turkey's flag? How are justices to the US Supreme Court elected Is this a good or a bad thing How did ounce come to be abbreviated as oz.? Why did Cromwell dissolve the first Protectorate parliament? What place did the underworld have in Egyptian mythology? Can you explain Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in words that a teen can understand? Who was the most famous mathematician? Where did Christopher Columbus land when he reached the Americas?
How did Zeus become ruler of the Greek gods? What is antidisestablishmentarianism? What is Leningrad known as today? Who were the leading figures in the Classical period of music? Who wrote, A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still"? What was the cause of the War of Spanish Succession?
What is the song Yankee Doodle Dandy" really about? How does history reflect what people were thinking at the time? My teacher says there's more than one kind of history. How can that be? What were the turning points in World War II? We just started studying Spanish exploration in North America.
What makes it so important today? What was it like for women in the s? Have Americans always been big on sports? Who invented baseball? What did American Indians have to give up for pioneers? How did imperialism spread around the world? How did Imperialism in India come about? What's the big deal about Manifest Destiny? How did the Tet Offensive affect public opinion about the Vietnam War? Where do the four suits in a deck of cards originate?
What do they represent? What was the Roe v. Wade trial? Who is Constantine? I need to know some info on the Monroe Doctrine. I have looked everywhere but I still can't find any information. Where did the chair originate from? I was sitting on one the other day and it said Made in China," but where did it first come from?
Everyone talks about how enlightened the Mayans were, but what did they really do? What caused the fall of the Roman Empire? Did Christianity play a role? What was the reason for the downfall of the Russian Empire in ? What prompted slavery? Why were the Africans chosen for enslavement? How did World War I start and end? What is The Palestinian Conflict? I don't really understand the French Revolution.
What started it, and what stopped it? What was the doctor's diagnosis of Helen Keller when she was a baby? What is the Trail of Tears? When speaking about Native Americans, what is the difference between an Indian tribe and an Indian Nation? What happened during the Boston Massacre?
What was sectionalism in America before the Civil War? How did the U. What is Ronald Reagan's Tear down this wall" speech about?
How many countries are there in the world? What did Columbus do besides sail to the New World? My history teacher said that if your religious denomination isn't Catholic, than you are a Protestant. Is she right? Do you think that Mormons are Christians? What is the full name of the Mormon Church? What is the size of Europe in square miles? How were the Crusades a turning point in Western history? I know that the verb pluck means to pull out or pull at, but what's the definition when used as a noun?
Which novels would you recommend to year-olds on the theme of places and forms of power? In The Pearl, why didn't John Steinbeck give the pearl buyers identifying names? What is perfidy from Sister Carrie, by Theodore Dreiser? Is being pedantic a good or bad thing? Is a termagant a type of seabird? What is ichor from The Iliad? Is a rivulet really a river, only smaller?
Charles Dickens has this person called the beadle" in lots of his books. Is that like a nickname for a man with buggy eyes or something? What is the main tenet of stoicism? What's the meaning of obsequious from Theodore Dreiser's urban novel Sister Carrie? Where are the Antipodes from Much Ado about Nothing? What is a truckle bed from Romeo and Juliet? What does truculent from Great Expectations mean?
If someone inculcates you, should you feel insulted? Nice or mean? What does laconic mean? At a restaurant famous for its rude servers, a waitress told me to lump it" when I asked for another napkin. Can you tell me about that phrase?
I thought necro had something to do with being dead. So, what's a necromancer? Sounds creepy. In Orwell's , what does the opening sentence suggest about the book? Understanding the literary genre Magical Realism What's a prig? I asked my granddad if he liked his new apartment and he said, It's all hunky-dory, kiddo.
I hate finding typos in books. Here's one I've seen several times: jalousies instead of jealousies. On the second week of my summer job at a bookstore, my boss handed me an envelope with what she called my emoluments.
Looked like a paycheck to me, though. In To Kill a Mockingbird, what are some examples of the characters having courage? What's cud? I was once told to stop chewing my cud and get back to work. What can you tell me about the word patois from The Awakening? What are thews from Ivanhoe?
What does pot-shop from The Pickwick Papers mean? Are all dowagers women? If someone is the titular head of a political party, does it mean they have all the power? The word flummox confuses me. What does it mean?
Somebody told me I looked pasty. Does that mean I've eaten too many sweets? I started taking private bassoon lessons. Is anomalous the same as anonymous? I know that a fathom is a unit of measure used by sailors, but how long is a fathom? What is a joss from Victory, by Joseph Conrad?
What does eschew from The Pickwick Papers mean? What does excrescence from The Call of the Wild mean? What does the word covert mean? In Shakespeare's Sonnet , what is an oblation? Simply put: If a story lacks theme, the reader might not connect with it. What happens when that link is missing? Theme helps a good story become a compelling one.
Most importantly, theme allows readers to relate to the characters and their struggles — and to feel invested in the outcome. This mini-course delivered via email gives you resources so you can jumpstart your personalized program. Write With Focus using these resources on writing craft, creativity and productivity. Sara Letourneau is a Massachusetts-based writer who practices joy and versatility in her work.
Learn more about Sara at her personal blog , Facebook , and Twitter. The theme or central idea or message about race in In the Heat of the Night ties together everything in the film. In The Godfather movies, it was succession. Great stories have universal themes that dramatize value-laden principles of life applicable to everyone, regardless of their race, culture, class or gender.
Every person faces the struggle to understand his or her emotions, reactions, and hidden premises, that is, his or her subconscious.
And like Alexander in Adventure Story every person can potentially have a conflict between their conscious mind and their emotions. An original theme like the struggle for self-understanding is immensely difficult to dramatize but deeply moving for audiences around the world when done well, as it is in Adventure Story. The universality of a theme influences the resonance of a story.
Generally, stories attract a broader audience if they are pitched towards the deepest values that all humans share. Examples of such primary values include survival, reason, freedom, justice, friendship, romantic love, self-esteem, dreams, and happiness. Because these values are universal needs, longings and ideals they appeal to people on a visceral level and thus have been the thematic heart of many great stories.
One of the most dramatic ways a writer can apply a theme in a story is in the character arcs. In many stories, whether it be an adventure like Star Wars or a drama like Saving Mr.
Banks , a lead character often changes during the story. How he or she begins the story is different from how he or she ends it.
This change is most often psychological, especially involving a change in the values and premises of the character. In Star Wars , for instance, Luke Skywalker is introduced as a boy with ambitions for adventure but as having low skills and experience. During the story of Star Wars , because of events, the influence of mentors, and especially because of his own thinking and choices, Luke changes so that by the end of the film he is a man who can fight the Empire and destroy the Death Star.
Luke has changed his ideas and self-attitude. The lead character in Saving Mr. Banks is P. Travers, the creator of the Mary Poppins books that Walt Disney has promised his daughters he will produce as a movie.
0コメント