I've been blogging on writing in a more literary fashion. One thing that works of literature have in common is they get at truths behind the human condition. Works that stay paper-thin are those that just tell a story without any meaning, without eternal themes that have the power to elevate writing.
I've read stories and seen movies that tell a good story. They introduce characters. They go through the motions and beats that are expected of such works. But the story falls flat. It may excite for the moment as the reader follows the hero's adventure, but nothing sticks. In cinema terms, we'd think of it as a popcorn flick. Nothing changes the reader's world like good literature does. When we read great pieces of fiction, we want to feel like we've learned something, like we've considered a new perspective, like we've found a fresh approach to something, like we haven't seen this story a hundred times before. The reader wants to feel transported and somehow changed, even if only a little bit.
I read a piece of cheap pulp fiction, and I may even forget its title or plot a few days later. It was a fun read. I like cheap fiction, as do many others. But, it feels like I've eaten cotton candy, not a steak and potatoes. If I want to write with steak-and-potatoes depth and quality, I need to consider meaningful themes. In a fluff piece, perfect man meets perfect woman, they pull away from each other or deal with some other fleeting hardship, and they get together. A detective solves a mystery. A crew of a space ship fight off an alien monster. So what? Who cares?
However, I can take a couple in a romance and have them struggling through loss or betrayal in order to get together. I can have them experience a meaningful voyage and choices, good and bad, that lead them through hurt and frustration at racism, sexism, fear, hope, or any other thing that reflects the human condition.
It helps If I have either experienced what I'm dealing with or can authentically speak to it through research. I don't have to have lost a child or had cancer or have seen my parents get divorced or have watched my husband go to war only to have them die on the battlefield to write about these situations. However, I need to know and convey what it's really like. Otherwise, those who have will feel betrayed. Lee Harper didn't have to be a lawyer or the child of one to write Scout's perspective in To Kill a Mockingbird. However, Harper had to know enough about the legal process and racial tensions contemporaneous to the work to write in a way that would make the novel so eternal. Otherwise, the reader would be so thrown out of the work that the themes of racism, abuse, etc. in the story would have had no power.
Now, it's your turn. Ponder what themes you want to bring out in your story. Read several similar novels in your genre to find out how they do it. Then, you can start to write. If you already have a piece without meaningful themes, take a careful look at what themes would naturally come out of the story you've written. How can you bring out those themes in a way that is meaningful and speaks to the human condition? Good luck.
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