Themes crop up all the time in creative writing. Many story and article competitions set a theme. Many writers have a theme in the back of their minds when creating a story or piece of non-fiction writing. Indeed, my theme here is to share tips about writing to themes.
For Writers’ Narrative magazine (which can now be found via Substack), there is a monthly theme the core contributors, including me, write around.
I am fond of short story collections for various reasons, not least of which is the fact they gave me my way into being published. My first story in print was A Helping Hand in the Bridge House Publishing anthology Alternative Renditions back in 2009.
Coming right up to date, I am also pleased to say another short story of mine, The Family Legend, has recently been published in Bridge House Publishing’s Magi anthology. I’m looking forward to celebrating that book at the Bridge House Publishing celebration event in London next week, which is always a fun event.
It is with great pleasure I welcome debut novelist and fellow Swanwicker, Anita D Hunt, to Chandler’s Ford Today. Anita’s novel, Behind the Curtain, is a domestic noir published by SpellBound Books.
The novel was launched at The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick following its release in paperback on 2nd August. Anita had the joy of signing copies in the Book Room, almost literally hot off the press.
The best light works do not lay their themes on with the proverbial trowel. As you read the marvellous prose and get behind those characters, you will pick up the themes almost by osmosis. There is no lecturing. You are left to follow the characters on their journey.
Does the title of this post sound like a strange combination? It’s not as odd as you might think. I thought this would be a good topic given we have just had St. Valentine’s Day. That saint’s day alone triggers obvious writing themes – love and sacrifice, the latter especially so if you write a non-fiction account of St. Valentine’s life.
Themes are the bedrock of any story told in any form (play, flash, novel, novella, short story et al).
This topic was inspired by last week’s post when I talked about Pinch, Punch, The First of the Month. I’ve often used well known sayings in my flash fiction. Sometimes I’ve used them as titles. Sometimes I’ve used them as themes. And I have written stories where the well known saying was both the title and theme.
[Read more…] about Sayings – Their Uses in Fiction and Non-Fiction
Image Credit: Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Themes, like story ideas, are all over the place. It is a question of having an open enough mind to spot them and then working out which ones you like best. Those are the ones you will put heart and soul into writing up.
