Themes that Stick with You by Annette M. Irby

Father and son*

Have you seen the Richard Donner cut of the movie Superman II, with Christopher Reeve? If you haven’t, you should. Apparently, the fans demanded it be made and a decision-maker allowed it. I’m glad they released it. Donner (the director) had a vision for movies I and II, but that vision was cut short when he was let go from the project and another director stepped in.

What Donner did, that the theatrical release version didn’t, was include certain universal themes that made the Donner cut work. Themes, like the relationship between father and son, and what happens when you make an irrevocable decision. What happens when your choice costs someone who loves you more than you can bear to receive. So, so good. 

There is a lot of symbolism of Jesus as Messiah in the Superman lore. Superman is a noble hero. He’s honest, and as Clark Kent, very sympathetic. He just wants to fit in. (Relatable? Yup. Universal? You betcha.) And he’s heroic, of course. Because he’s fighting crime while rescuing people, even when there’s sacrifice involved. 

That’s what makes a noble hero—someone who is determined to help others, even when it hurts. 

The father-son dynamic of Superman II, the Donner Cut, gets to me, touching emotions and fascinating me. I’ve seen this theme in other places. Can the father-figure in a long-running TV series both find a redeeming quality in the felon and convince him to choose nobility over a life of crime? We’re on the edge of our seats watching this play out over several seasons. 

How about the Flash TV series? Lots of father-son dynamics because we have a man who was adopted and whose birth father was jailed for killing his mother—though he’s innocent. Father wounds. Adoptive dad. Choosing to be a hero and lessen another’s pain while in pain.

I’m sure there are other movies or TV series I’ve watched where that element was present, but those three stand out. Perhaps that’s why I included that thread (the father-son dynamic) in all three of the books in my recent series. That theme spoke to me. I didn't set out to explore it, but that's what happened. I got to approach it in three different ways, with different characters—one facet per book. 

Perhaps those threads in each book are meaningful to readers—I don’t know. But they sure were meaningful to me as I wrote about them. 

So, here’s how to use this to your advantage, dear writer. Ask yourself: Are there themes that come up in novels, the Bible, movies, or TV series that move me, or fascinate me? If so, perhaps you’ve found one of the central themes for your next manuscript. Chances are, if a theme speaks to you, it'll speak to others. If it's meaningful to you, it'll impact others, especially as you approach that theme from a place of emotion, passion, exploration.

Once you can pinpoint your favorite theme in a book/movie/series, study how it's treated in that medium. Does it work? If so, why? If not, why not? Did the writer handle it well? How would you handle it? How can you take an original approach to that universal theme?

Write on, friends!

~~~~~

  Releasing March 1

 

FL on Whidbey Island

Finding Love on Whidbey Island, Washington

Could what drove them apart be what draws them back together?

Liberty Winfield lives with loss every day. She’d rather leave her history behind her, but when faced with moving back to her hometown, the past becomes unavoidable. She takes a job at the florist shop owned by her ex-boyfriend’s family from a decade ago. Now he’s unavoidable.

Clay Garrison knows the pain of ruing his mistakes. Most of his regrets center around Liberty. If he could undo his poor choices, he would. Liberty is back. He has one more chance to make things right. She doesn’t believe anyone could love her unconditionally, so he sets out to prove her wrong. He must also try to right the biggest wrong of their past, knowing that in doing so, he could lose her forever.

Will addressing the past together help them find love?

~~~~~

Annette M. Irby**

 

Annette M. Irby has been writing since her teen years when she sat pounding out stories on a vintage typewriter just for fun. Since then, she’s joined Christian writing groups and launched blogs so she could share the joy of writing. She likes to say she’s addicted to color as flowers and seascapes inspire her. In her off hours, she enjoys gardening, photography, and music. She lives with her husband and family in the Pacific Northwest.

Learn more here on her Seriously Write Page.

Links to connect with Annette:
Website: www.AnnetteIrby.com
Twitter: @AnnetteMIrby
Facebook Reader Friends Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/252272708574760
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/annette-m-irby or @AnnetteMIrby
Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/annette_m_irby.com  
Book Review Blog: www.annetteirbyreviews.blogspot.com

* father-son photo credit: Pixabay

** author photo credit: Sarah Irby

Listening for Your Story's Theme by Naomi Musch

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. 

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 

Write Reason

More Reason to Write 

Find the book at Desert Breeze Publishing.