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| Naomi Musch |
Hey, writers! Do you use your writer's ear as you write? Naomi Musch tells us how listening and story theme go together. Read on!
Listening for Your Story's Theme
by Naomi Musch
How
well do you tune your writer's ear to hear your story's themes trying to emerge
as your write? Novelists who pay attention while writing their stories notice
wisps that float by their consciences as emerging themes. When I begin to write
a book, I set out knowing something of its main theme. That theme depends upon
the larger story question—mostly. If the story is about someone who's been
betrayed, the theme may be one of loyalty. If the story is about someone unable
to adjust to change, the theme may be about spontaneity coupled with wisdom.
But further themes deepen with the writing if I don't let them escape my
notice.
In
my new release Paint Me
Althena I wanted to know, "If a woman abandons her family to
figure out who she is, and if she even lands in another relationship but lives
to regret it, will her husband's trust be broken too deeply for her to ever go
back again? Would it just be better for him and the kids to move on rather than
handle the wreckage she created?"
The
theme became one of grace and of the possibility for second chances in the face
of deepest rejection. But that's not all. In the search for the larger story, I
had to ask why she left in the first place, and that took me to another theme,
one of her poor self-image. What kind of things might a young woman resort to
doing in order to flee the person she thinks she is, without knowing whom she
wants to be? Self-image, hope, rebirth, forgiveness—all these and more became
smaller themes woven into the big picture.
But
we don't just arrive at theme by
asking story questions. Sometimes God speaks to us of themes He wants us to
explore. That means we have to train our writers' ear to hear Him. We might be
counseling a friend or family member when God reveals a theme, because when it
comes down to it, themes are really those big life issues that we all deal
with. They usually emerge when we come face to face with them in a crisis.
Themes
might tinkle on our ears during our Bible reading or while listening to a
sermon. This happens to me a lot. Every great story in the Bible is full of themes
meant for our instruction. How might some of those themes apply to our
works-in-progress?
Just
today I was reading a blog post about being single when suddenly I realized one
of the article’s themes would work for my current WIP. Good thing I had my writer's
ear tuned, because some of the responses to the post stated exactly what I wanted my character to
learn.
We
are surrounded by themes. Someone is struggling in their relationship with
their grown child. Someone is suffering from a secret addiction. Someone fears
losing their home or livelihood. There are story questions and themes in all
these situations.
Universal
themes unfold in thousands of stories. Most Christian fiction, for example, is
about redemption. Yet the story never grows old, and there are a billion ways
to tell it. So listen with your writer's ear and you'll hear your stories'
themes speak.
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| Paint Me Althena |
~~~~~
When
still life artist Ethan Day discovers a fantasy painting by Althena Bell in a
consignment shop, he's sure he's found Ava, his wife who abandoned him and
their two little girls three years ago. Finding and rescuing her are one thing,
but forgiveness and second chances are impeded by outsiders, and conflict
between Ava's search for identity and Ethan's new faith might break the safety
net he offers.
Naomi Musch writes from the pristine north woods of Wisconsin. She spent five years
on the editorial board of the EPA award-winning, Midwestern Christian
newspaper, Living Stones News,
writing true accounts of changed lives. While pursuing her fiction-writing
endeavors, she spent a year as an editor with Port Yonder Press. She continues
to enjoy writing for magazines and other non-fiction venues that encourage
homeschooling families and young writers, and loves connecting with new friends
via:
Facebook: Naomi
Musch - Author
Twitter: NMusch
Goodreads: Naomi Dawn
Musch
Naomi's site and blogs: http://www.naomimusch.com
Find the book at Desert Breeze Publishing.
