Theme

This is a sticky subject and has been for thousands of years. Even Socrates and Plato discussed the so-called didactic nature of story-telling: should fiction teach a lesson?

Some have said if you have a message, you should send it in a telegram.

Others have retorted that there is no point to writing without something to communicate.

Where do I stand?

As the perpetrator of many stories written specifically to convey a point, I have to say that in practice, I do rely heavily on the presentation of a theme and the concept of a "lesson" that enlightens the reader with a new perspective. Perhaps this comes from my background as an impressionable reader with a long line of influential books in a trail behind me forming stepping stones to the person I am today.

Perhaps I write to offer the same guidance I found in books to pay them back, so to speak.

I don't find a lot of pleasure in reading postmodern books about the death of meaning that themselves have no plot or significance. If I want a meaningless existence, I can ride the metro and look around me.

On the other hand, I do resent being flogged with a message, and I'd advise writers who have something to teach to follow some guidelines:

• Turn every theme into a character with a problem.
• Better yet, write about a character with a problem and let the theme reveal itself.
• Beware the obvious theme.

Turn every theme into a character with a problem.

Here's an easy way to tell a bad story just by someone's description of it:

"Uh, it's about mankind's ultimate despair in the entropic void.

That's not a story. That's a midterm paper written for a despotic Deconstructionist English professor.

Try this:

"Two days before his father's funeral, a man learns that his father burned down a village in Vietnam."

This has the beginnings of a story because it is about somebody with joy and pain and feeling. A high concept does not keep most readers turning pages. Compelling characters with whom they can identify do.

Step one whenever you want to tell a story is to think of a character who can personify that concept. Who feels the most? Who hurts the most? Who loses the most?

That's the character you need.

Better yet, write about a character with a problem and let the theme reveal itself.

Some writers say that they write to find out what they believe, and this is the method for writers of that ilk.

Envision a problem, create a character who suffers from the problem, and follow that character toward his or her solution. By "follow the character" I mean that you write about him or her as honestly as possible, creating reactions that he or she would logically show to events.

Let's say you're fascinated with the plight of the elderly, for instance. You wonder if anyone would take Alzheimer's more seriously if, instead of going senile, the eldery had a disease that made them psychotic and violent. You create a character whose father suffers from this disease and follow him as he tries to find a solution to help his father stay out of a mental hospital.

By following this character's plight with his father, you may discover some of your feelings and issues about the treatment of the elderly and subconsciously create a theme.

Beware the obvious theme.

Many writers find themselves while writing in a godlike position to create a world that conforms to their views.

Unfortunately, the world doesn't work that way.

While writing, think about whether your story is really a story or merely a power trip in a world that doesn't exist. Is a character just like your boss dying a horrible death? Is your despotic step-mother being eaten by fire ants? Is the central concept of your story that the world just shouldn't mess with geniuses like you?

These are warning signs that your story isn't a story but a fantasy, a daydream. There's certainly nothing wrong with this; writers excise their demons in their writing. But the difference between a writer and a neurotic codependent is that the writer tries to dump off his or her demons in a manner that is entertaining to other people.

Perhaps the best way to do this is to try to take the perspective of other people as much as possible. Sure, the people at the cable company are idiots for not being able to connect your service for two weeks, but what is the "service account executive" on the other end of the phone really feeling?

This empathy makes for better characters in the short run and better stories in the long.

In short, ask yourself these questions every time you're about to write a story about how you feel about a subject:

• Can I be wrong?
• What would somebody who disagreed with me have to say on the subject?