Hi Mason! I'm wondering about subtlety in writing - I think my themes/big-overarching-questions always come off as really heavy-handed. I enjoy those kind of big speech moments at the end, but I'd like to get to a point where I can communicate messages without necessarily having my characters explicitly think them or say them aloud. I just have... no idea how to do that :/ I know it's a tough skill and takes a lot of practice, but do you have any tips? Thank you!!!
[THIS] post is about what themes are and how they fit in a story and [THIS] post is about how to approach incorporating themes into characterisation etc
It’s perfectly fine to have your big speech moments, they can be really stirring and awesome when they’re done well. But sometimes it can be difficult to figure out how to communicate themes in the more mundane moments.Â
Now, remember, a part of writing is that at some point you’re expecting a reader to come along and do what readers do, and a part of what readers do is to ‘fill in the blanks’ in your story, so that while you may not explicitly state something, the reader can (hopefully) pick up on the implicit meanings that you layer into events, characterisation, images, etc
So perhaps we can use an example: Justice.
Perhaps we have a character who, in small moments throughout the story, is faced with situations of injustice. Big and small, minor and personal, and huge and systemic. Throughout the story, the way that the character reacts to these issues will help us figure out their position on the theme of Justice.
If we have a character who continually stands up for the little guy, sticks it to the man, and bristles at bullies, it will not be such a huge leap if this person jumps up at the high point of the story to give a rousing speech about justice to help spur allies into action.
The character themselves may never conceptualise of this underlying theme as ‘justice,’ they may see it as ‘I can’t stand bullies,’ or ‘I’m just doing the decent thing that anyone would do,’ or ‘I can’t stop myself when someone needs help.’ But we can add up all the moments, the injustice itself, the characters gut reaction, the actions they take to deal with the situation, the feelings and thoughts they have about it.
You can think about it as collecting ‘evidence’ throughout the course of the narrative. Each little thing that gives us a clue as to the character’s motivations and reactions, and how they’re related to the character’s connection to the thematic elements that underpin the text.
A helpful exercise might be to go through a story that you’ve found has a strong expression of thematic elements and take note of where you have ‘lightbulb moments’ about the themes, what are the little clues that you pick up on as you read, and how are the themes carried throughout the narrative.
