Tag: Plots

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Creating a Character

Several months ago, after I had formatted and published a book for a friend, the author asked, “Do you know who the main character is styled after?”

“No, I hadn’t thought about it.”

“I already had a plot, but I formed the primary character after a man that we both know. That made it easy because I didn’t have to create the character. You wouldn’t recognize him because I added a few other traits to mask his identity.”

That’s good thinking, and it greatly reduced his writing time.

Use the character traits of a friend, family member, or even someone you don’t like. Use them to form your heroes and villains. You can also take notes of what you observe about someone you just met and set your imagination free to think about what that kind of person might do in various situations. A story idea can pop up without much effort.

Writing can be fun. It takes time, but it can be easy. So, sit down and write that next book. And make sure that you …

Write Creatively

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Fulfilling Your Dream of Writing – Step 3

You established your place to write, and are working on developing your writing routine. Today let’s talk about Deciding on a Theme.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “flying by the seat of his pants?” That refers to an airplane pilot who doesn’t file flight plans. He just flies his plane in the direction he thinks he needs to go, and expects to get there. But events outside his control such as inclement weather and physical problems with the plane can generate life-threatening situations. A flight plan can save his life, or at least get him back on track.

There are actually 2 parts of the flight plan: 1) where he wants to go, and 2) how he’s going to get there.

Some people “write by the seat of their pants.” Some of them thrive in it, but some writers flail in confusion because of it. They don’t have a direction, or a theme.

Now, to understand what a theme is, let’s look at that flight plan.

1) Where the pilot wants to go would be the theme (the underlying message the author is trying to convey to the reader), and 2) how he’s going to get there is the plot (the structure that the storyteller uses to show how the events are connected).

Let’s turn it around.

If someone asks you what’s your story about, and you say, “It’s a story about an angry man who robs banks, is arrested, but is befriended by the policeman who arrested him,” that’s the plot of the story. But if you say, “It’s about love overcoming hate,” that’s the theme.

The theme is the central message behind the story. It connects all the major ideas in the book together.

While the plot tells what happens in the story, the theme explains why it happens. It gives meaning to the story. Without a theme, your story is a recording of actions and events, but it doesn’t explain why these actions happen. Most likely you have a plot in mind, but deciding on a theme will help keep you on track.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Write Creatively