Theme. A man against nature thing? A man against man thing? A theme... is it it the music underlying your story? Is it your voice speaking loud and clear about life? Stop. Think. Be.
Here are some Maass Illuminations from WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL:
A breakout novelist needs courage, too; the courage to say something passionately... it is a truth that the world needs to hear, an insight without which we find ourselves ourselves diminished...
... strong novelists have strong opinions. More to the point, they are not at all afraid to express them. Scratch the surface of a best-selling author and very likely you will not find a marshmallow underneath. You will find a fiery, impassioned advocate.
... stories lacking fire cannot fire readers. Cleave to your convictions. Cherish them. Let them stoke your story with an energy that will drive it like the giant pistons of a steam locomotive. Let yourself care because that is to live with passion--and it is passionate stories that your readers crave.
Do you have passion? Do you have conviction? Do you care about SOMETHING? Share it... don't preach. Just share it in the voices of your characters...
Move them forward. Move yourself forward. Think. Be. Live. Fight. Be. Go for it!
2 comments:
Definitely food for thought. I'd like to think my passions come out in my stories, but it may not be clear.
I have a hard time writing about something if I don't believe it, although I don't want all of my characters to think like me. How boring would that be?!
I think it is very important that our stories have passion and conviction in order to create strong and sympathetic characters. But I don't think Maass advocates for us to write about something we don't believe in. I think it's more about filtering the deeper elements about what drives us as humans and expressing it on the written page.
I did mine something from my own life for the current WIP in R. It came to me after I read the passages quoted. And it made sense for the character.
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