Creative Writing Tips �

It�s no use coming up with a theme and not using it. Short stories are about a character or characters and about one situation or happening in those characters� lives.

By concentrating on that one thing, our stories are focused. You will need to focus to maintain a level of intensity and sticking to the theme enables us to do that.

Let me give you an example�

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Scenario One

Let�s say your story is about a young man (main character) who is being harassed (one situation) by the school bully (secondary character.) Let�s place the setting in grade school.

Now if we focus on that single happening and in our story say�.

• What started the bullying
• What the main character felt, confronted with this problem
• What the main character did to overcome this problem
• If the main character won or lost against the bully�

Then we�ll be focusing only on that incident which is what our story is about.

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Scenario Two

Now if we took that situation further and in our story said that this character grew up and was bullied in high school and then later by a colleague�

That will be listing three incidences, which will weaken our story because we are not focusing.

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Remember a short story is short.

We don�t have too much leeway to develop too many things so we have to be selective with what we choose to concentrate on. Short stories work best when they span over a short period of time.

Like in scenario one, this incident might span over a couple of days or a week, where in the second scenario, it spans over a number of years. The shorter the time span the more intense the story.

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Your theme should begin at the beginning, run through the middle and conclude in the end. So let�s put a theme to the first scenario�

�Strength Comes From Within And In The End Prevails.�

How can I have this theme running throughout my story?

Initially I will portray my main character as a weak individual. But I will excuse his weakness, by saying perhaps that�

�He comes from a closely knit, loving family and initially doesn�t know how to deal with such a conflict.�

As my story progresses, I will gradually show his inner strength and I will do this through incidences, which will show his maturity, like�

� He helps out by caring for his younger siblings and contributes with the housework.

And

� I can show him cutting the neighbours� lawns or delivering newspapers before school to show that he contributes economically too.

If I do this, my ending (when he wins against the bully) will be believable because I have developed his inner strength. My theme would have run its course.

Is your theme running throughout the story?

This article was posted on August 24, 2004