I Believe in Theme

Theme: a unifying or dominant idea, motif, etc., as in a work of art.–dictionary.com

I know. <Ugh.>

All those stories we’ve worked so hard on have to have a general message or statement about the world, people, or events, aka ‘theme,’ hidden in them somewhere, right? Right?

That’s how I feel about some of my stories. However, the story I have been working on since November has a definite theme. In fact, it has about two or three, but the major theme is not only important, but purposeful. It has become the crucial thread that holds all the mini stories in this novel together.

Because my story has a plethora of characters and subplots, I need to work that theme to my advantage. I need every scene and every chapter to highlight that theme, and for that theme to giving meaning to the story’s events. This theme needs to illuminate the ramifications of all those character actions and reactions. In short, it needs to be the PB in the PB & J sandwich.

Tonight I watched The Tooth Fairy (movie) and it got me thinking about theme. I suppose that could be because it’s a kids movie and they like to beat the theme over the audience’s head. Which, actually, was kind of handy for me who has been ruminating about theme lately.

The major theme in The Tooth Fairy movie was believe. Yup. You probably could have guessed that one! BUT, it was for all the major characters. Ooh. Tricky.

Here’s the rundown on how the theme played out for all the characters…

Hockey player Thompson dude–needs to believe in his dreams again
Tooth Fairy guy without wings–needs to believe he can overcome the obstacle between him and his dreams
The head Tooth Fairy lady–she believes she can change Thompson and make him believe again
The mother/girlfriend–she believes her son and boyfriend will develop a true relationship
The son–needs to believe in himself
The daughter–she believes in the tooth fairy

Writing this out, I noticed something–all the men in the movie need to believe and all the women already do. Interesting. Is there another theme hiding in there? Maybe. Or maybe I’m just looking too deep. I mean, the movie did dress a professional wrestler in a pink tutu for goodness sake.

So, did this theme work? Did it pull it all together? Did it give the story unity? Yes, yes, and yes. The beliefs that the women had needed to be proved correct and the men needed to start believing. Once that all happened, everyone was able to live happily ever after. Awww.

How about you? Is theme something that happens intentionally in your stories, or is it a byproduct–you hope–that you discover afterwards? Do you think some genres use theme more than others?

The Unexpected (In Writing)

The biggest thrills… when do you get the biggest thrills as a writer? As a reader? As a movie watcher? What really makes you dive in that extra  little bit? Pay attention just a little bit more?

For me, it is the unexpected. I was watching The Hangover the other night (Loved it! Don’t watch the trailer if you haven’t seen as it gives away some of the unexpected. Doh!) and found myself getting right into it. What was it that sucked me in? The unexpected. Yes, it drove me a bit crazy in the beginning that these guys had had a huge room wrecker of a bachelor party and couldn’t remember a thing from the night before. But what truly made this story great was the unexpected. It was one big unexpected event after another. It was unexpected for the characters and unexpected for the viewer. Yet, it was all still believable. Tiger in the hotel bathroom–unexpected. Believable? Actually, yes!

The joy of discovering something unexpected is the same when I read. I think one of the reasons I loved The Flying Troutmans and The Glass Castle was the unexpectedness of events and character reactions. Yet, it all fit and that made it believable.

When I am writing, it is the same thing. I’m trucking along, putting it down and then ‘whoa!’ a character just got arrested. ‘Whoa!’ a character just revealed an 18 month long affair. It is invigorating and exciting. It surprises me and makes me pay attention. (This is actually how we humans are programmed–a change in patterns is surprising, which in turn, gets our interest. Survival instincts kick in and we assess that change for danger or reward.) Most times, the surprises that my muse presents are like little treats for the brain.

However, when seeking to add an unexpected twist in our writing, we need to ensure that this unexpected element will stay within character and fit the story. If we sensationalize for the sake of throwing our readers off balance, we may get their attention, but we’ll also leave them with empty, meaningless surprise and no message. And that’s no fun.

Has something unexpected caught you off guard and grabbed your attention lately?

Crazy Rejection Reactions

As a writer, sometimes rejections make us do crazy things. I have personally reacted all over the spectrum when it has come to the rejection of my pages, from the indifferent shrug to the all out breakdown/tantrum.

Now, I just want to take a moment to say that all my agent rejections have been exceedingly kind and complimentary–it is NOT the agent. In the reasons for my rejection, there is always that little something missing in my stories that will make it jump out in the tough market I am seem to be drawn to writing for.

Once the sting of rejection passes, what does a writer do? While I briefly consider the idea of giving up, I always return to the worn out keyboard more determined than ever. (Well, maybe not more than ever, per se, but pretty darn determined.) However, today I took an ‘extreme’ approach. I decided to go ahead and enter WEbook‘s PageToFame contest (entry fee $4.95 per entry). I didn’t just enter once, I entered twice. Yes, you heard me. I even entered things nobody else has read before. Scary. I know. Not yet tried, tested or edited.

Why did I do this? Because I want to know how a blind reader sees my work (okay, they only actually get to read the first 250 words). Yes, there are big prizes involved if you do well, but I’m not in it for the prizes. I need to know whether my pages (okay, okay, first 250 words, 200 shy of when the caca hits the spinning blades in my story, propelling everything in chaos) have the potential to stand out. And I am learning that they do not.

Story 1: 2 rankings
Story 2: 6 rankings

Reading through some of the PageToFame submissions, I can say that I feel as though I am at least average (even though my marks above say I’m below reader expectations). However, I should add that I can be a little delusional about my own talent, varying from ‘this is brilliant’ to ‘this blows multi-coloured chunks.’ As well, if someone you know has entered PageToFame and you want to judge their entry, you have to sift through quite a bit of slush until you land upon it. While readers may be tempted to say they don’t like the work just to move through to the next submission which may be the one they are looking for, there is also the very real realization that they are clicking low numbers because they aren’t grabbed by the story (or they are trying to take out their competition–women can be sneaky that way. I say women because I entered in the women’s fiction category, which is mostly written by women). Then again, I may just be making up excuses and need to get a life.

Have you been rejected? What is the craziest thing you’ve done to combat the sting and self-doubt?

Advice From Literary Agent Kevan Lyon

Last night, I moderated a live online chat over at AgentQuery Connect with literary agent Kevan Lyon of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency in California. It was a full house with many new faces and Kevan answered around 30 questions in that short hour. In case you missed the chat, I will share a few tidbits, insights and advice from Kevan Lyon.

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On being located on the West Coast (instead of New York):

*Kevan mentions that West Coast agents often work longer hours as they start early in the day in order to be available to those working on the East coast. She says working in the Pacific timezone also works well for writers who are in other parts of the world. Plus, Eastern editors tend to start later in the day and work later–matching the West Coast workday. In today’s world where the majority of business is done electronically, it matters less and less where agents are physically located. (Especially when they are like Kevan and are willing to hop a plane to New York as needed.)

On e-books, and debuts in trade paperback (instead of hardcover):

*”I see the shift to trade paper as a positive for new authors — with a lower price point there is less reluctance on the part of readers to take a chance on a new reader. The $25+ hardcover price can be a difficult hurdle in this market, partic for a new author. On the e-book side I see those sales as primarily incremental. There is the potential to introduce your work to a whole new market of readers that may not have otherwise been exposed to your book. I encourage my authors to promote their availability on e-books to ensure they are casting a wide net.”

On female/male protagonists:

* “Generally there needs to be a female protagonist somewhere in the story. The majority of readers are women! I prefer a female main character, but will certainly consider a story that has male protagonists — try to include a woman tho!”

On word count:

* Yes, 200,000 words will make an agent skeptical. However, if the writing is uber intriguing, they may consider it. But remember, reading that many pages is a massive time commitment. On the flip side, if you are writing a story you want published in its own volume, try and get over the 60,000 word hump. (We’re talking about novels and adult non-fiction, here.)

On historicals:

* “European history — from King Henry’s time period forward to Victorian times — it is fairly UK centric, but France is also popular. If you are writing straight women’s fiction/historical they generally prefer a well known historical figure to be included in the story.” She also likes books done in the Civil war era, but cautions that other periods can  be tough to sell.

On YA (young adult novels):

* Male protagonists are fine (even though the majority of YA readers are female). Protagonists should be in about the 15-19 age range. A little romance in your YA is welcome, but any genre is okay as long as you have a good hook.

On series:

* Sell the first book, first. Then worry about getting the rest of your series on a bookshelf.

On writing in multiple genres:

* She feels that is a positive thing and would not turn down a writer because of it. (This was where I began professing my love in the middle of the chat!)

On being a young (high school age) writer seeking literary agent representation:

* “If the query is well written and the plot intriguing I will take a look. It is not necessarily something I would suggest you stress [referring to your age], but it is worth mentioning — there are marketing benefits sometimes for the publisher.”

On query writing:

* “Make sure you capture the essence of your plot in a succinct and descriptive way — you need to distinguish your story in the query — we read many queries at one sitting generally.”

* Comparing to other titles and pinpointing your market in your query: “The market is probably most key in my view for non-fiction. In fiction you need to tell a wonderful story. I don’t really need you to tell me the target market in your fiction query. But I do want you to be clear on what your plot and story line is for comparison to other titles it can be helpful for fiction, so that I get an idea of the narrative style or voice, but not absolutely key.”

Additional hints:

* Don’t call her ‘Mr. Lyon.’

* She prefers e-queries.

* Don’t tell her why she would be a perfect match, tell her what your story is about.

* If she asks for a short synopsis, she feels that 3-5 double spaced pages is fine.

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If you would like to meet Kevan or her partner Jill Marsal at a conference or workshop, check out their Facebook fan page. And if you would like to query Kevan, find out more about their submission guidelines here.

Online Chat With Literary Agent Kevan Lyon Tonight!

That’s right, AgentQuery.com is holding another literary agent chat and it is tonight!

Our agent guest is Kevan Lyon of the West coast agency Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Kevan has twenty plus years in the publishing business, many of them in retail and distribution, making her a force to contend with when it comes to figuring out which books will sell and how to market them.

Curious about what Kevan is seeking in her submission pile?:

“Kevan Lyon works primarily with women’s fiction, with an emphasis on commercial women’s fiction and all genres of romantic fiction and young adult. Her particular interest is historical fiction of all types. She is also interested in non-fiction representing authors in the areas of memoir, pets, environment, parenting and current events.” As well, “Her authors in women’s fiction span a broad range of genres from more literary, commercial projects to all genres of romance including historical, contemporary, suspense and paranormal. With non-fiction projects she looks for topics that she is passionate about or that speak to issues of particular concern to women and families.” –From her AQ cafe chat area bio.

Join us tonight at 8PM Eastern! I will be serving as moderator so feel free to ask me chat related questions in the comment area. As well, there are more details posted in Kevan’s Chat thread on AQ Connect about the chat’s ins and outs as well as some handy timezone gadget links for those (like me) who find themselves in other timezones. The chat will be held in the AgentQuery Connect chat area and is free for all members. (Membership is free, but you do have to sign in to participate). The chat starts at 8PM Eastern and will last for one hour. If you have a question you’d like to ask Kevan, here’s your chance!

See you there.

“Write because you must, because it is your passion. Write for yourself, not to be published or for monetary gain.” Kevan Lyon.