Multiple themes/character development

[Grace H.]

Hi everyone,

So for a novel idea I’ve been struggling with for some time, I have the protagonist learn different things over the course of the story. The central theme would be selfishness, but at the moment I’m not sure if all that I have going on is too complicated for one book.

Here’s a synopsis: My protagonist is selfish and by circumstances is forced to join an institution which forces her to deal with doing good for the other person, and not for the praise of others. She then kind of deals with that and focuses on fighting, selflessly for the people she helps. Then, she finds that one of her good friends is actually an enemy of her institution, and goes forth to selflessly help her friend even though it ends up sabotaging the institution, which was set to fall apart anyways.

So the thematic conclusions of all of it are:

• It is worth it to sacrifice for the good of others.
• Help for the sake of the other person, not for other people’s praise.
• Don’t hold on to things that are unnecessary (kind of hard to explain, but the institution itself, by existing, was really hindering its true purpose, which was to help people)

And the major subplot is a love triangle (actually a square) that helps my protagonist deal with resentment, jealousy, and immaturity in general.

My question is… is this too much theme and plot for a novel? It’s realistic fiction with both a school aspect and action/spy aspect. I keep feeling like all of the ideas are running together and its hard to stay focused, and it doesn’t seem very centered on a theme.

@daeus @dekreel @aratrea @rochellaine @catwing @sam-kowal @kate-flournoy @ethryndal (similar to your previous thread) @anyone

It's g-h, 2-4-6-8 twice, three 9's
literatureforthelight.wordpress.com

[Daeus]

@gh24682468999 It doesn’t sound too complicated. I can’t just take this limited information and guarantee it will work, but I think it can. One question: what’s the antagonistic force in this novel?

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[MNValentine]

@gh24682468999 It is not too complicated. Actually it sounds fairly cohesive. If you think about it, any theme written realistically will have multiple applications and multiple conclusions. The world is complicated and so are humans, and so a simple theme will not be convincing and is more likely to come over as preachy, as opposed to a complex theme like the one you have laid out here.

Good luck 😀

Silence! Silence everyone, for the king's speech!

[Sam Kowal]

@gh24682468999 That doesn’t sound too complicated to me, actually. It depends on how long it is- the more book, the more theme you can fit in. The important thing is to be delicate and decisive with the ideas, and they will all fall together nicely. Good luck with it! 😀

 

*Giarstanornarak tries to melt chair*
Also, Daeus has 22 turtles in his signature.

[Grace H.]

@daeus Okay, thanks! And the antagonistic force is primarily the opposing institution, due to a long history of rivalry between the two.

@mnvalentine Mmm, yes, that makes sense. Thank you!

@sam-kowal 😀 Thanks! I don’t know how long it’s going to be (its my first real novel idea) but we’ll see.

It's g-h, 2-4-6-8 twice, three 9's
literatureforthelight.wordpress.com

[Catwing]

@gh24682468999 It doesn’t sound too complicated. Anyways life is complicated. ;P

IMMA KAPEEFER! Til we're old and gray!

[Grace H.]

@catwing Thanks! I guess I’m just freaking out about it. It’s not like I’ve written a novel before… xD

It's g-h, 2-4-6-8 twice, three 9's
literatureforthelight.wordpress.com

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