Whether crafting a short story or a novel, the writer needs to master the following fiction elements:
Theme Defined
- Insight, viewpoint or concept that a story conveys
- The point the writer is trying to make
- Central concern around which the story is constructed
- The melody, the motive, the dominant idea you develop through the story. It is what the story is about.
- The theme of an article, essay, story, poem, is why you are writing…it is what you are trying to tell us. Delton
- Sometimes it is the message of the story; the theme; the reason you are writing
- It is the conclusion of a fictive argument. You cannot prove two different themes or themes in either fiction or nonfiction.
- Theme is not Subject; the subject is the topic or thing described in the work; the theme is an insight, commentary or observation about the subject
Example: subject of poem: flowers; theme: the fleeting nature of existence
Finding your Theme
- Don't worry about theme at first, especially while developing or even writing the first draft of your story or novel.
- If you don’t know what your theme is when starting out, write your first draft and see what is valuable and what is fluff. See if a theme emerges in your first draft and then take everything out that doesn’t point to the theme in your next draft. The theme is a tyrant. Once the author formulates his theme, every scene, every line of dialogue, every narrative description --every sentence should contribute to the proving of the theme. If a part of the story does not help to prove the theme, that part should be cut out.
- There is no formula for finding a theme. You simply start with a character or a situation, give the protagonist a dilemma, and then mediate on how it might go. Start with character and conflict and see where it goes
Examples:
- Could be simple: Honesty is the best policy.
- Thomas Wolfe, You Can’t Go Home Again.
- Trust of a stranger leads to disillusionment.
- Unbridled greed leads to alienation.
Importance of theme
- Just as important for a children’s book as it is for a novel or short story. Just as important for a poem as it is an editorial in the newspaper.
- Writing a story without a theme is like rowing a boat without oars
- The theme holds the author to his subject; it filters out all the junk
Summarize
- Steinbeck said a writer should be able to summarize the theme in one sentence.
- Theme can be expressed through a familiar proverb perhaps.
- If an editor says a story is "slight" he or she is saying there is no significant theme
- In fiction the theme should have the three C’s: Character, Conflict and Conclusion
Example:
Adequate: Honesty is the best policy.
Better: Honest triumphs over dishonesty. This gives you action conflict.
break your theme down so that it suggests characters, conflict and a conclusion.
Theme is specific to the story
- BAD: Strangers are not trustworthy.
- GOOD: Trust of a stranger leads to disillusionment.
- BAD: Poverty is bad.
- GOOD: Unbridled greed caused by being brought up in poverty leads to alienation.
Theme is implicit
- It is not directly stated in words
- It is shown through images, actions, characters and symbols; theme must be inferred by the reader
- The theme is a natural, unobtrusive part of the story. The writer starts with an idea; as his story develops, it is influenced by his own philosophy or his observation of the human condition.
- Don’t preach; let the theme be covert; if the theme is too obvious, your writing will be too didactic.
- If incidents show the theme, then telling the reader what happens would be too preachy.
- Theme may be interpreted differently by different people.
Theme in fiction and non-fiction
In fiction, the theme leaves room for interpretation
Example: Skiing Across the Country
With Your Family
Example: How to Live on a Food Budget With a Family of Five
In nonfiction, proving the theme or theme is a almost like a lengthy argument, it can be proved by examples. In fiction, theme is not provable because it may not be a universal truth. The theme may be true only for the particular situation in a short story or novel.
Example:
Theme of your short story: Dishonesty leads to disaster.
Theme of the short story you write after that: Dishonesty leads to happiness.
Character Types
- Protagonist—main character in your novel; readers root for and care about him.
- Antagonist—the character in direct conflict with the protagonist. He or she is usually in competition with the protagonist. Readers should not like the antagonist. Antagonist can also be an inanimate object like a plane that is about to crash. If the protagonist is in the plane then the plane is keeping the main character from reaching his goal. The antagonist in Call of the wild by Jack London was the snow storm.
- Minor characters—background characters that have a small function. Not as fully developed as the main characters. Confidante to your protagonist or antagonist. Useful for getting information out to the reader or moving the plot. They can be involved in subplots. They can make your story or novel more interesting.
Know your character
- Know the history of your character why does he or she do the things he or she does?
- Interview your character
- Have the character write a letter to another character
- Write traits on 3x5 cards; 10 good, 10 bad; pick two or three good ones and one bad one for your protagonist; write a specific tangible example of the character demonstrating this trait; see if an interesting character develops.
- Fill out character worksheets for your characters and place them in a notebook for reference as you write.
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- Know the basics of your character before you begin writing, but don’t feel like you have to know every single detail; If a trait emerges as you write, make a note of it on a character card you keep for each character.
Where do characters come from?
- Your friends and family—take three people you know who are similar and combine them into one character; change the character enough so that he or she is unrecognizable.
- Strangers you see in restaurants and malls—a girl in the bookstore; the arrogance musclehead at the gym
- Yourself—interview yourself and get the true story on what a person feels like in certain situations
- Analogy—if you have never experienced something, find an analogy; death of a loved one—death of a pet
- Memories—remember people from long ago
- New memories—deliberated go out and meet people with the goal of collecting character traits.
Character Traits
- Physical—character’s appearance; their looks, clothing and body language
- Identity—habits, quirks and vices, emotional problems, behaviors; other external things also make up a characters identity: occupation; education hobbies.
- Social/moral—how a character interacts with other characters; could be the characters code of ethics.
Main Goal
- Every character should have a main goal in their life.
- This ruling passion almost has to be exaggerated.
- In a novel a character may have more than one goal: he may have a love interest, a career goal and a selfish goal. (Meet the babe who works in the record store, be a rock singer, prove that he can be a success like his millionaire cousin)
Revealing Character
- Character can be revealed in different ways.
- Exposition—the writer describes the character; this is telling; slows down the story
- Self-description—first person viewpoint; diary entry
- Confession—talking to another character; "Every time I want to stand up to her, I loose my nerve and back down."
- Action—how the character behaves; actions may not necessarily reflect thoughts or feelings, but they can cause the reader to think about what the character is up to; Is the husband who brings home flowers being loving and thoughtful or does he have a guilty conscience?
- Speech—How a character talks, including the specific words and the manner in which they are said.
- Name—pick the name of your character with thought to how you want the reader to perceive the character. Les Nessman.
- Appearance—clothes, body language; girl in the car with different boyfriends; does the character fidget or avoid eye contact in certain situations?
The Good and the Bad
- Protagonist should be likable but not perfect
- Give him some negative traits or faults; these could turn into your conflict
Make your character proactive
- Give your character a goal and make him or her go for the goal
- This makes your character more interesting.
- Don’t just let things happen to your character; make them proactive; give them a reason to go for their goal
Defined
- If theme is what you are trying to tell the reader, plot is how it happened.
- Careful arrangement by an author if incidents in a narrative to achieve a desired effect
- The incidents selected by the author are used to resolve a conflict.
Plot vs. Character
- Some say start with character and let your story develop from there
- Some say plot and character go hand in hand
- In some genres, such as mystery, westerns or hard core science fiction, plot is emphasized over character; in serious literature, characters are emphasized
- Determine your purpose—do you want your readers to make friends with your characters, love or hate them? Do you want to cause your reader to think? (science fiction novel Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke).
- Be careful that your plot doesn’t turn your characters into puppets.
Conflict
- Struggle or fight
- Obstacle to the protagonist’s goals
- The resolution of the conflict must have consequences for the main character
- Most plots involve conflict
- Introduce your conflict quickly in the story or novel (may unfold more slowly in the novel)
- Some conflicts: man against man (PERSONAL); man against himself (INNER); man against nature (EXTERNAL); man against time; man against society; try to have both internal and external conflicts in your fiction.
Tips on plotting
- Remember there is no one right way to plot
- The plot must fit the characters and setting
- Some writers outline before they write; some writers don’t outline; some write a rough draft and then outline; do whatever is best for you
- Try outlining not what happens in your piece, but what event you hope to have on the reader in each part of your tale
- Trying netlining (webbing) if outlining doesn’t appeal to you
- You don’t have to wrap everything up neatly in a work of fiction; keep a few loose ends that stimulate your reader’s imaginations but without making them grumble
- Look for events, developments and twists that work in tow or more ways at once. Multiple meanings or consequences; these can be among the most powerful elements in any piece of fiction.
- Follow your hunches no matter how strange
Dialogue Defined
- Conversation in fiction or drama
- Exact words a character says
Dialogue can do the following:
- Breaks up narrative.
- Moves the Plot—develops conflict.
- Presents dry facts—provides exposition, information in an interesting way.
- Characters should not become information dumps.
- Characters should not say things that are obvious to them ("As you know…").
- Develops character—reveals their personality, age, intelligence and experience.
- Intensifies a scene of reality and immediacy
Dialogue characteristics:
- Must seem true to life without be verbatim; it should be realistic but not too realistic; leave out the useless chatter, small talk, ums, ahs, redundancies and coughing.
- Must make the reader forget he or she is reading; good dialogue must not draw attention to itself.
- Give each character a unique voice—speech patterns, vocabulary, specific phrases (leapin lizards),
- Using dialect is risky; Mark Twain did it; we are not Mark Twain; it becomes distracting; a little bit of accent goes a long way; "We was just sittin’ here" has the right ring and is easy on the ear. "We wuz just a-sittin’ hyar" is distracting. Use apostrophes and odd spellings sparingly, only when necessary.
- Use dialogue to show (not tell)
- Dialogue should have a purpose. If it doesn’t reveal character, create conflict, move the plot or anything else important, remove it.
- Always incorporate conflict into your dialogue—even if there is no outright fighting, use dialogue to show some kind of disagreement—if a line of dialogue doesn’t lead up to a conflict some how, take it out.
- Use body language and gestures to enhance your speech. "I’d like to help you," said Enid pulling a needle through the embroidery. "This project is really keeping late at work," Keith said, staring at the floor, picking at a piece of lint on his pants.
- Dialogue can’t be faked; it takes practice; copy it from your favorite writers; read it aloud; have someone else read it aloud.
Tag Lines
- Important for reader to know who is speaking. Use dialogue tags like "he said"
- Most of the time use he said or she said. Said fades into the background unlike some tags like "he snarled, he snapped, he yelled, he belched" Sometimes you could use he whispered or he replied, but only once a great while.
- Avoid adverbs. "He said angrily" The dialogue itself along with some actions of the character should reveal that he is angry.
- Use tags sparingly. Combine dialogue with action. "My hair is a mess." Jennifer reached in her purse to find a comb.
- One character shouldn’t say another character’s name to avoid dialogue tags. "Ashley, my hair is a mess." "Yes it is, Jennifer."
Article about dialogue on Wikipedia
Scene Defined
The basic unit of fiction is not the sentence or paragraph. It is the
scene. Scene portrays action and dialogue. Characters stand in the spotlight
and move the story forward by their behavior, words and thoughts as the
author remains invisible.
Purpose of a scene
A scene may have more than one purpose:
- Develop a character
- Further plot
- Create suspense
- Create conflict
How big is a scene?
Length, number of settings and number of characters are all elements that
vary in a scene. Some scenes may only be a few paragraphs long or may
last for pages. Same for number of settings in a scene. Same for number
of characters in a scene.
Keep purpose of scene in mind when writing it. The purpose will dictate its length, the number of settings and the number of characters. Keep in mind that you don’t’ want more words, settings and characters than necessary. Everything should be kept at minimum.
Developing a Scene
Consider the following questions:
- What is the purpose of scene?
- Does scene support them of the story?
- Who are the characters in this scene?
- What is the main conflict?
- What is the time of day?
- What is the weather or other environmental conditions?
- What will the end of this scene make the character do next?
- What has change in the story from the beginning to the end of the scene?
Article about scene on Wikipedia
Defined
- How the story is told
- from whose viewpoint the story is told
- narrator of the story; which characters’ minds the reader is allowed to observe as the story is told.
Types of Point of View
- First Person-character is the narrator (I, me, we)
- First Person Objective-tells story without opinion
- First Person Subjective-events are colored through character’s emotions and intellect. Subjective narrators are considered "unreliable" but this is not a negative term—his colorful interpretations make the story more interesting.
- Advantages: reader bonds with character
- Disadvantages: getting certain information to the reader may be difficult since the character/narrator cannot be every where at once.
- Second Person-You, the reader, are the character
- Advantages: creates suspense
- Disadvantages: rarely used in fiction and difficult to master; gets on reader’s nerves.
- Third Person-Narrator is "God." (He, she, it is used); narrator is fly on the wall watching events
- Third Person Omniscient-narrator may reveal thoughts and emotions of any character he wishes to do so (like God)
- Third Person Limited-reveals emotions and thoughts of only one character throughout story; only actions of other characters are revealed.
- Third Person Multiple-Narrator may switch to revealing thoughts and feelings of more than one character, but only one at a time; sticks to same character’s point of view throughout a scene or chapter.
There are many other forms of third person narrator that all blur together. The ones mentioned above may have different names from different sources that describe them. The key is to remain consistent in point of view.