Heavy-Handed Themes (Or, What Conrad Dislikes the Most in Fiction)

I’m going to start off this topic with one simple sentence.

I hate Atlas Shrugged.

Why am I starting off a discussion of theme with a statement like that? Because Atlas Shrugged is an example of how to do theme wrong. In it, there is a three hour speech given by the character John Galt. This goes on for sixty pages, not one word left out.

This, boys and girls, is what has made me dislike books with strong theme ever since. Yes, theme can be a very wonderful tool in a book, a very aesthetically pleasing part of a work of literature that can enlighten you and give you a new view of the world at large. But when you lecture us on that theme, and use strawman characters to help get it across, you have officially sacrificed your story for that theme. And, in my personal opinion, that is the absolute worst cardinal sin you can commit in writing.

Now, this doesn’t mean that I immediately hate all books with strong theme. The Chronicles of Narnia have strong theme, and yet I enjoy them immensely. I think the difference here is that C.S. Lewis managed to give his villains some strong traits, and his heroes some weak ones. Why is that all the difference? Well, it allows you to say, “I don’t agree with the themes he’s presenting, but I can at least get behind this story. It’s decent.”

After all, we’re in the business of writing fiction to tell stories, are we not? So when someone writes a story that is really just a disguise for the message they wish to present, I find myself disappointed in them. They sacrificed a story just to try to lecture people on their message, but they tried to say that they were going to tell me a story. So not only have they bored/annoyed me, but they have lied to me.

Bear in mind that this is all just my opinion. I’m incredibly interested in what you all have to say about it as well. I’m just going to say that, to consolidate my opinion, if the actual story, plot and characters and whatnot, is weaker than the theme it is trying to present, then I think that there is a problem and that it needs some heavy editing. In my opinion, theme can never be stronger than any of the other components of the story, or else it ceases to be a good story and becomes merely a parable.

But again, what are your thoughts? Chime in! I’d really like to hear what your thoughts on this particular phenomenon are.

Frequent Themes

One of the things that I have a problem with in my work is repetitive themes. I was talking with Suzanne about this the other night. She mentioned that marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, seem to pop up quite a bit in the stories that I write. I can’t really refute that. But is this a bad thing?

The reason that I pose the question is because not a month or two ago I had an incident where using a theme repetitively got me in a bad spot with my writing. With that, it was the idea of half human characters like mermaids or centaurs (I write speculative fiction, in case you couldn’t tell). Is there something to be said for using the same theme repeatedly in different stories? After all, some people make a good thing off of it.

The conclusion that I’ve come to, at least for myself, is that having themes that show up quite a few times is not in and of itself bad. But you have to take care that they do not take over your stories. The incident of a month ago was bad because I was ignoring good characterization and just creating what you would call gimmicky characters. So long as having these themes you enjoy does not compromise your work, I would call it all right. But what do you all think?

Writing Resource: TV Tropes

www.tvtropes.org

TV Tropes is simultaneously both a blessing and a curse for writers. It is a blessing because here you can find many archetypes that are used in fiction and see examples of them. You can use this to help you include them more effectively in your own fiction.

At the same time, however, it is a curse because you can easily spend several hours at a time just browsing through it. This is a phenomenon similar to what can happen on Wikipedia, where you click on a link in an article, which takes you to a new article, where you click on a link in that article, and so on and so forth.

Despite this danger though, I’m still going to link you guys to it, because I believe that it is a very useful resource for giving these characters, settings, and ideas that are used in fiction both names and semi-quantified definitions. Check it out. If nothing else, the lover of fiction in you will be entertained.

Writing Prompt: Characters You Hate

For this week’s writing prompt, think up a character who you do not like. Give them a viewpoint that you do not agree with. If you happen to be liberal, then make them conservative. If you believe in the right to bear arms, have them believe in gun control. Make them so against what you believe that you dislike them. Then, write a short story and portray them as heroic and sympathetic.