Sunday, February 26, 2017

Dive into Meaning



These last few blogs, I have addressed various literary devices that turn a decent piece of writing into something more meaningful than just a story.  I have been reading a manuscript written by someone who calls it "literary fiction."  I've had to inform him there is nothing literary about his fiction.  The story meanders without purpose or deeper meaning from event to event, drawing no conclusions and making no suggestion at anything deeper.

What makes literary fiction?  Literary fiction is a manner of describing events that shapes meaning through literary devices such as those I've described.  This genre of fiction exists not just to tell you once upon a time, something happened but that once upon a time, something happened for a reason or multiple reasons.  If you are not writing with purpose and theme, you are not writing in any way that could be called literary.  And any genre, if well handled, can become at least somewhat literary.

What is a theme?  Theme is simply meaning.  You can incorporate multiple meanings into one story, but if there is no theme at all above and beyond bare facts, why are you writing?  Why tell the story?



Obviously, there's much more to it than this, but all of these literary devices are meant for one purpose: to suggest something grander is going on than just simple events.  You can read To Kill a Mockingbird as a set of fictional events in a made-up child's life.  However, if you do, you miss much of what is going on beneath the surface.  You miss the grander themes of prejudice, child abuse, hatred, love, and so much more.  You can read Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet as depressing yarns in which a whole series of people die, but then you may as well read a cheap thriller.  Shakespeare's plays explore questions of love, loyalty, family, murder, revenge, and language, among other things.  Clearly, the authors built these tales as carriers of depth and meaning beyond just the events described.

So how do you explore themes with your works?  This depends on your writing process.  You could simply write the bare bones story and then decide on what meanings you find yourself exploring or you could decide in advance what meaning or meanings you wish to address through your writing.  I decided with my first manuscript to explore child loss as part of the tale because I'm working on healing from the loss of my baby almost seven years ago.  For more on this, look to another of my blogs, Alamanda's Place.  I consciously decided that was one of my themes before I ever started typing.  That was my starting place, why I wrote the story.  Other themes have grown organically out of the story as I've gone along.



 Harry Potter writer J.K. Rowling started writing her tale as the story of a child wizard, but as she went along, she consciously wove deeper themes into her novels such as death, resurrection, love, and friendship.  When she started to explore those deeper themes that spoke to the human condition, she began to write fantasy in a more literary fashion.  If you haven't done so already, go to your latest work in progress and brainstorm what themes you can find in your own work.  What greater statements about the human condition do you make?  If you can't find any, what themes do you WANT to explore?   You don't want to tack something on that feels tacked on, nor do you want the narrative to become preachy.  Either way, you're bound to turn readers off.  Look at your favorite books.  See how the authors have woven themes throughout their tales so you can see how they do it.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Foreshadowing



Last post, I wrote about similes and metaphors.  This time, I'll talk about foreshadowing.  These are two of many devices used in writing to make it more meaningful, more literary, than just a story with a simple narrative.

Most people who have taken an English class have heard of foreshadowing.  Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is full of talk of suicide, hinting where the story was going long before either followed through with the hints.  This is not to be confused with foretelling.  The prologue reads, "A pair of star-crossed lovers took their life." This is simple foretelling.  I tell you it's going to happen, and then it happens.  In Shakespeare's day, playwrights were expected to tell you what was coming.  In modern literature, this is generally considered bad writing.  If you hear a plan laid out, chances are, everything will go differently, usually badly.  Now, foretelling is used most often to tell the reader is supposed to go, so when it goes differently, the reader knows what went wrong.

Foreshadowing is something else again.  Throughout the scenes of Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet both talk about death, how they'd rather die than lose each other, with comments about how "Life were better ended by their [families'] hate" than that they were separated.  Every suggestion of death enhances the sense of foreboding created by that prologue, building on each other until the main characters' demise, especially at their own hands, seems inevitable.

On the website Literarydevices.net, we're told,  "Foreshadowing in fiction creates an atmosphere of suspense in a story so that the readers are interested to know more."  Shakespeare tells the audience/reader in the beginning that Romeo and Juliet will die, but the suspense builds throughout the story as to how and what leads to it.  That website goes on to explain that "foreshadowing can make extraordinary and bizarre events appear credible as the events are predicted beforehand, so that the readers are mentally prepared for them."  A modern audience may find it hard to believe that two teenagers would kill themselves for each other after having known each other two or three days, but as mentioned before, by the end of the story, this choice seems inevitable for the characters.



Say a major character is going to sacrifice himself at the end of your story.  Through dialogue, phrases, or narrative, you hint at his sacrifice to come.  The story builds up toward the events at the end.  This happens throughout the Harry Potter series, especially in book seven.  The reader knows the hero will going to sacrifice himself in a conflict with Voldemort because it had been foretold and foreshadowed.  The prophecy in "Order of the Phoenix" tells the reader, "Neither [Voldemort nor Harry] can live while the other survives." This is a foretelling and a foreshadowing.  We know a conflict between the two is coming, and one will die.  Then, when we find out that Voldemort can only be killed after Harry dies, it's clear Harry has to die.  However, we don't know how it can possibly happen.  The narrative builds toward Harry's death, but yet, there are hints of the resurrection to come as well.  Fawkes the phoenix proves rebirth is possible.  Voldemort, too, is reborn in multiple ways.  We know and hope it can be done, but we're not sure how.   The foreshadowing builds toward these impossible events--death, rebirth, and triumph against all odds--and somehow makes them feel possible if not inevitable.

When you write your next story, try using hints toward the end to help your reader anticipate what is to come.  Try building suspense and meaning through foreshadowing.