I
know I’ve posted on this before, though it’s been a while.
Good
stories have an underlying theme, or themes.
We
know the how-to advice, that strong stories are better born of strong characters,
and the more generic/commercial stories are born of a plot arc.
For
me, almost all stories are incepted from themes, and as I draft, I keep the
theme front of mind.
Pivotal
themes in picture books are family, the nature of nature and other man-made
creations, feelings such as sadness or joy, and concepts such as
numbers/colors/letters.
For
middle grade readers (ages 8-12) central themes are friendship, family, school
struggles and, as the perennial for all ages, the nature of our world, i.e.,
reality and our place in it.
I
got to thinking about it again as I read this
post here.
I
know what themes I want to explore. Then, I choose the persons who would go on
this exploration (protagonist and antagonist) and their side characters usually
emerge as the plot unfolds. Mechanics of plot are so well researched in how-to
books that this is the smaller, less demanding part of drafting.
Most
storytellers don’t follow this order of construction, but I offer it as yet
another way.
