|
About Give it Meaning
Advice on how to make your story matter, setting up or identifying themes in your story, and how to tell when it's too obvious or too subtle. Author:
Scott M. Sandridge
Go back...
Keep it Real When writing a work of fiction with meaning, especially one with a moral core, it is always important to keep it real.
Appeared 2010-01-23 in
Make it PersonalThe #1 reason that keeps you from sitting butt to chair and writing is simply that, for one reason or another, you just don’t care what you’re writing about. So, if you’re having trouble writing your story, i.e. Ye Olde “Writer’s Block,” then ask yourself if the story matters to you personally. If it doesn’t then find something in it that will make it matter.
Appeared 2008-05-30 in
Love StoriesEver noticed there are more love stories than any other kind of stories on Earth? If any other type of story was done half as often, they would get the “cliché” tag stuck on them.
Appeared 2008-02-13 in
The Power and Futility of HateSome say love is stronger than hate, but I think hate is equally as strong if not stronger, but – unlike love – is ultimately futile.
Appeared 2008-01-27 in TeenAge
Orwell & NewspeakThe parts of Orwell’s 1984 that people remember most is Big Brother and Room 101, but there is something else in Orwell’s dystopia that’s more subtle but equally as dangerous: Newspeak.
Appeared 2008-01-14 in
Themes That go Boo! - Facing Your Deepest FearsDelving into the dark side of human nature can be a scary undertaking, but what would the horror genre be like if authors didn’t have the courage to do so?
Appeared 2007-10-29 in
The Power and Futility of HateSome say love is stronger than hate, but I think hate is equally as strong if not stronger, but – unlike love – is ultimately futile.
Appeared 2007-03-24 in The Sword Review
Love StoriesEver noticed there are more love stories than any other kind of stories on Earth? If any other type of story was done half as often, they would get the “cliché” tag stuck on them.
Appeared 2007-01-20 in The Sword Review
The Meaning of Christmas and Why it’s Also SecularIs there such a thing as a Christmas story that isn’t thematic? Ever noticed that even in stories that involve Santa giving kids lots of cool presents, there is still a warning against losing sight of what the Holiday is all about? Yet, sometimes the stories seem vague on the “what it’s about” part. And perhaps that is because it’s about more than just one thing. After all, there’s a good reason it is both a religious and a secular Holiday. The similarity between the secular and religious is the giving part, while the difference is in the form of the giving.
Appeared 2006-12-25 in The Sword Review
Themes That go Boo! - Facing Your Deepest FearsDelving into the dark side of human nature can be a scary undertaking, but what would the horror genre be like if authors didn’t have the courage to do so?
Appeared 2006-10-20 in The Sword Review
Earlier Columns
|