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Hi KeePers! I’ve been reading over some of my old writing and I’m a little discouraged right now. It’s not that my books are unbiblical or unethical, it’s just that I’m lacking strong, foundational themes in my books recently. I’ve been trying to add them in, but they seem a little forced and/or preachy. (
It might also be that the genres I write in can get a little depressing which probably gets to me…maybe I should try a different genre? any suggestions???) For me, the joy goes out of writing when I don’t have strong themes in my books from the get-go. Do y’all have any ideas or advice or just encouragement? Y’all are the best <333-Ella
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what we do in life echoes in eternity
-gladiator, 2000@nova21 Personally, I don’t really think about themes, I just write, and then hope someone can tell me what the themes are, because I’m really bad at discerning what my themes are. Have you seen Story Embers’ latest article? I think that might help you. Let me send you the link (and hope that the forum doesn’t eat my post…)
Hope this helps!
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
If you find yourself seriously depressed by the genre you’re writing, I’d say you should try another one for a bit and see how it goes. XD But if you love the genre and just can’t think of themes, I’d say stick with the genre and just practice the themes. Dystopia has so many possibilites for powerful themes that will stay with readers.
What really helps me is to ask myself what message I’m passionate about sharing. You could ask yourself:
– What is a pattern in today’s world that really hurts you? (For me, it’s racism, so I often have themes of equality in my books.)
– What’s a truth you know that not many people seem to understand? (For me, it’s that “family” is not a group of biologically related people. A family is anyone who love each other with the love of Christ. So my books often have themes of found family.)
– What is something you’ve experienced personally – positive or negative – that affected you deeply? (For me, I’ve experienced betrayal from someone I least thought would betray me, and it was a journey to heal from it and forgive that person. As a result, my books often have themes of forgiveness and loving others even when they abuse you horribly.)
– What’s something you find incredibly inspiring? (For me, that’s when people are courageous, uncomplaining, and trusting through terrible suffering. So my books often have themes of faith in the midst of trial.)
– What’s something that makes you cry – happy or sad tears? (For me, that’s stories of sacrifice. When I hear of someone who sacrifices their own happiness for another person, no matter how terrible that other person is, it makes me cry both happy and sad tears. Themes of sacrifice remind me of Jesus’ death on the cross, so I love including themes of sacrifice in my own stories.)
You can also take one of your favorite books and ask yourself what moved you so deeply about this book. List at least five things that really stuck out to you or were messages that you took away. Then you can write something of your own that uses those five themes.
I hope this helped! YOU’RE the best, girl! <333
@joy-caroline, @devastate-lasting
Y’all, thank you so much!!!! <33 As soon as I read these, I grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled it down. Thank you so much for the help! I’m off to a gorgeous library for theologians to go study at, but I’ll get in because of my dad, lol. I got my sheet of theme notes and my computer and ready to write a bestseller… jk😂 THANK YOU!! <333
what we do in life echoes in eternity
-gladiator, 2000@nova21 Of course! Have fun!
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysI think that a lot of themes are hidden. Some stories, such as, say, aesop’s fables, have themes and meanings that are very evident. In other stories, the themes can be harder to concretely put words to. Take LOTR. I would say that a huge theme in that story is heroism. The book doesn’t state “that’s what it means to be a hero!”, it just uses characters, who are good, evil, and some a mixture of both, to show us this in a more subtle way. When we see Sam carrying Frodo on his back up Mount Doom, we see sacrifice and selflessness, we see what heroism looks like. And with dystopia, which (I think?) is your genre, we often see hope in the face of evil, perseverance in the face of adversity, joy in the face of pain.
Basically, what I’m saying, is that your books will always have themes, even if they’re hidden. Even with secular books, there are always themes that have some good in them, if we look hard enough. So you don’t have to be preachy! Write about genuine characters and genuine struggles, and themes will emerge, even if it’s hard to see them at first.
I can't think of anything witty at the moment.
Thank you so much, Relia! That’s great advice to think about! That definitely gets my gears turning… 😉
what we do in life echoes in eternity
-gladiator, 2000@nova21 Hmm, experimenting with themes is fairly new to me actually XD I didn’t used to include them, I just told my story. Recently however, I’ve found myself trying to include themes of forgiveness, empathy, mental/physical healing from harmful events, and repairing broken relationships (especially when it comes to family). If I think of more I’ll let you know!
Honestly, I don’t plan my themes usually. Sometimes, if one fits a character’s personality, I will, but normally, I just go with where my story is taking me.
It can be hard to stop in the middle of a book and switch the genre when you’re depressed about it, so why not try changing your story up? (if you think it would make sense, of course). Maybe introduce a good comic relief character, add a new subplot, whatever! Make it a tad more light-hearted.
And remember, being a Christian writer doesn’t mean writing only biblical fiction. God has children in the fantasy, action and sci-fi genres too! Just go with where inspiration/God is leading you!
"It's easy to be caught up in stardust and whispers when reality is so dark and loud."
Hi Ella! I may be able to help you on the level of a depressing theme getting to you. I have done it in the past where a theme or plotline that I feel should be in my writing. Or a theme I think will make my writing better or one that feels like a strong theme. I do it because I to, literally need strong themes in my work to keep my love in the work solid and make it feel more valuable. But there’s a point that I look back and either get deflated because my themes to too depressing or too small (I don’t have much in between ground here XD ).
I believe step one would be to make the Manga Carta lists. These two dandy little tools were a standard in my NaNoWriMo manual, but I don’t know if you caught my post before April about them. So basically what they are is:
‘Manga Carta 1’ is a list of all the things that you believe make a great novel. Whether that be first person or third, what settings you like the best, what character types you find incredible, short chapters or long, etc, etc, etc. And it’s where you’ll want to list all the themes that are thrilling to read for you or the ones you love digging your pen or keyboard into.
Manga Carta 1’s evil twin, the ‘Manga Carta 2’ is the list where all the things that you think make a bad novel live. Here you can list the themes that depress, annoy, or take away the desire to write or read on.
Once you’ve made the lists, keep them handy and pick the most exciting themes you want to incorporate, (the ones you want to invest your writing and time into) and don’t lose sight of them.
This all seems pretty basic… mainly because it is, but the truth is that when writing, it’s easy to lose sight of what we love writing about and get sidetracked with what seems like good substance for a novel, but it ends up getting us down.
Anyway, I hope I was able to help some:)
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