Hi everyone and welcome back!
This week I will be delving a little bit into my approach to writing.
Giving you an inside scoop on my process, how my ideas come to me and offering a few lesser known secrets I picked up along the way.
So, in other words, this post will be a kind of "masterclass" of sorts.
Now, I'm gonna kick things off by writing a quick disclaimer...
This is my approach to sitting down to grind out a story,
I am not saying this is what you should do, but reading this post may help inspire you in some way.
Okay, with that said, let's get down to it!
Today I'm going to talk about getting started and touch a little of Themes and Plots.
When writing, it is important to set out a few key details, you can't just sit down and expect magic to flow out of nothing, it's extremely important to go into it prepared, especially if you're trying to write the next "Lord of the Rings" level epic.
So, when I power up the computer, I usually have some vague idea about what I'm going to write, whether it's a scene that's wormed its way into my head in a dream [EREMOPHOBIA] or a concept like some form of monster that hides in the shadows, waiting for you to close your eyes before it does something sinister [THE THING BEYOND SIGHT], or maybe even just a line of dialogue: 'I never even considered what it would be like to lose my best friend, so when her body was discovered in a ditch on the west side of Easthampton, it should go without saying, I was shocked.' [I JUST MADE THAT UP]
*[works I've written]
Sometimes its the smallest detail that becomes the biggest hook.
One of the biggest impactors to writing a novel is time. It's gonna use up a fair amount of it. Your story may come in a week (unlikely, but I still wouldn't dismiss it) or it could take years, but sometimes all that extra time and care you put into your work makes all the difference, I guarantee Stephen King doesn't knock out a best seller in SEVEN DAYS
and Yes, that is a reference to the ring (2002)
Anyway, once you get that first key point out of the way, you need to establish a plot.
A story is nothing without a thick juicy plotline, something that entrances your readers. In other words...
Your story needs to go somewhere.
Whatever you do, don't get mixed up between plots and themes, the two are very different, but both very crucial to create a masterpiece. Let me break them down for you:
Plot: the sequence of events in which each event affects the next one through the principle of cause-and-effect.
This means the drive of your story, where is it going? And how does it get there? I can't think of a single book I've ever read that has no clear plot, even "the very hungry caterpillar" went somewhere.
But it's not just that the plot takes every little detail into account, like certain actions your protagonist(s)/antagonist(s) make, be them massive or iddy biddy, they still should affect something later down the line even if the significance is small.
Theme: a central topic, subject, or message within a narrative.
Themes can be in your face and extremely obvious, an example - DEATH. I mean, did you really think I wouldn't mention a dark one, come on guys! What's a horror author who doesn't explore this theme in any way?
And sometimes they can be extremely subtle, barely noticeable unless you really look for them, would you believe that, "IT" technically explores the idea of PTSD. The children go through a traumatic event and it affected them so badly that they forgot about IT and everything they associated with it, even their friends as adults. The moment they receive the phone call, it all comes flooding back and they struggle to come to terms with what they know they need to do.
Good books can have multiple themes, each one affecting the story in their own way, but one thing is for certain - there will always be one the stands out above the rest and that is the main theme.
The trick to themes like this is to consider what aspect you are going to take away and make your own, and be sure to keep in mind that the theme will affect the plot, but the plot shouldn't alter the theme.
*definitions from Wikipedia
I'm going to end it here this week and I hope you find this little slice of knowledge useful, come back next week for more
SAM
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