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Post by churnthybutter on Aug 7, 2013 15:51:21 GMT -5
Hi All! I feel like I struggle with theme a lot. Like I try to cram too many themes into my story until I don't know what it's about anymore. It just becomes about everything and is therefore meaningless. It losses passion and feeling and heart. Makes me feel like my writing is flawed on a fundamental level. I know it's not true but it's still something I feel and it's not a happy doubt to have. Anyone else struggle with this? Know how to fix it? Thanks  |
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marcel
Member
Posts: 138
Joined: January 2012
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Post by marcel on Aug 7, 2013 22:30:45 GMT -5
I know, I have the same problem. I don't think there's any 'cure' except to just focus in on the main theme of the story and where you want it to go.
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Post by churnthybutter on Aug 8, 2013 0:30:15 GMT -5
Agreed. I'll just have to try rewriting with a specific theme in mind and see if it rings true. If it doesn't I'll rewrite with another theme.
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Post by joshuachrisstoff on Aug 29, 2013 11:43:46 GMT -5
How about you decide what YOU want to write about? What message do you want to pass onto the readers? I feel once you have that overview, then the style of the story should flow.
What is your genre? I picked Military, Spec Ops. It is not espionage or strictly a military story, or set of stories. I came up with Action/Adventure and then found that was an established area of writing and was pleased to see my work fits in there.
Everything that happens involves the MC. zIt is written from inside his head. The more he progresses and as time passes, the more you get to know him from the inside and out.
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Post by greenwriter on Aug 29, 2013 13:24:44 GMT -5
Great advice Joshua.
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Post by joshuachrisstoff on Dec 1, 2013 17:33:49 GMT -5
When I write a BOOK, I start with an idea of an encounter or larger plot. To some extent I feel I am lucky since I have 21 books in one series and therefore I expect the reader to have read all 20 books b4 they read 21. If that is the case, then they will know all about the MC and enjoy it a lot more. If they haven't read anything but pick up 19, say, they will get a good action read but they may miss a lot of subtle interactions and the 'why' he has this or has to do that.
Maybe you need to sit a while, pick a subject or character or action or idea, and then spend a few days or weeks 'thinking' about what you want to say at the climax and the end. If I know what the high point is at thr end, I know most of which has to be put in NOW, in th first half of the book so the story has what it needs to win the day in the end.
Maybe a bit like . . . the hero is stripped naked, starved and dehydrated. Half his group of people are dead or so close to it. No one knows what to do, how to go about rescuing themselves. They are under constant surveillance not that a moments privacy would help, or would it? The guards smoko break replacement hasn't shown up and he needs to go and take a leak. The hero pushes, pulls and prods his scalp, easing out the razor blade that he habitually hides in there for these exact type emergencies. THAT now makes sense for the raders who wondered what the idiot was doing on page 1 going thru the pain and suffering of have the mad doctor shoving the razor blade under his scalp a week b4 they left to go adventuring.
So you make a big deal about it on page 1, hoodwink the reader into thinking it is painful, gross and totally unnecessary, that the author has lost the plot . . . but if you don't put i in there you can't use it on page 499. It is extremely suspicious putting it on page 498 tho, I am sure you agree!
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