It's that time again! My newest "Ask the Coach" article is live on ScriptMag. I've written this month about a subject that has always intrigued me: Theme. I have found thinking about theme in my own work to be both utterly confounding and quite simple, depending on the day, week, month, or state of my draft.
Debates About Theme?
My writing friends and colleagues run the gamut too, from thinking theme is important to completely ridiculous.
Personally, I think of theme as a tool I can use or not use, as I see fit, especially because my clarity about theme varies with each story I write, though I do have common writer-centric themes I tend to explore.
The Question
Long story short, I was happy to see a question come in about theme, so I'd have the chance to explore it further. The article is called "How Do I Find the Theme For My Script?" and in it, I respond to the following reader question:
“How can I find the theme for my story? It feels complicated and confusing to identify. Maybe even above my pay grade. ;) I know the story I’m writing… but the theme isn’t obvious to me.”
Using Theme
In the article, I talk about ways to discover your theme and about ways to use it as a tool. Most importantly, I believe you can use theme to enhance your story, as well as using your story to discover your theme. (It works both ways.)
Here's an excerpt explaining more about what I mean:
"Stories should be about something, obviously. Examining theme — our underlying intention — can take us into the deeper meaning of a story. Once identified, theme can serve as a guidepost and decision-making tool for key story elements like the title, opening, climax, and resolution, the main character’s arc, and more. And while we can clarify and enhance these elements with our theme (once/if we know it), these story elements can also be used to help us identify our theme."
Finding Theme
If you’re wanting to find the theme in a story, take a deeper look at some of the following aspects of your writing. (You can click through to the article to read the details.)
Who are you as a writer?
Why are you writing this story?
What’s the main character’s journey?
What does your title reveal about your theme?
What do your opening, climax, and world building point to?
Check out the full article by clicking here ⇣
Plus, here are three fun things:
It's nearly my birthday. My formula for a happy birthday is simple: A meal out at a favorite place, a movie in a theater, and a trip to a bookstore. If it's a weekday and my family members are at school and work, I go by myself (and we go out for a separate family birthday dinner later). If my birthday falls on a weekend day, they come with me for the full day of delights. ◡̈ This year, we'll probably see two movies, one on Thanksgiving and one on my birthday, since we're celebrating T-day early. I'm looking forward to seeing the new Knives Out movie (Wake Up Dead Man) and Wicked For Good.
I'm still (still!) reading! I finished reading nearly all of Michael Connelly's Bosch-universe books other than his non-fiction Crime Beat* and his newest Mickey Haller book, The Proving Ground, which I'm waiting for from the library or Libby. Now I'm diving into theOld Man's War series, by John Scalzi. I had intended to read The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey (two writers writing as one, fun!) but I seem to be rejecting physical books (we have the whole series in print) in favor of ebooks — which are easier on my wrists and work better with my current love of reading in the dark with the screen dimmed — and Leviathan Wakeswas on hold on Libby 4-ever. I'm now up to 57 books since my June 6 counting streak, which is pretty fun but also weird. It feels like a reunion of sorts.
I had some adventures in binge watching, too. I had a small reading hiccup between October 24 and November 15 or so whilst waiting for Libby to liberate ebooks for me and banging up against the end of the Bosch universe. I instead got swept up into a little binge-watching. In addition to watching the Bosch and Bosch-related TV series with my husband, and the newest season of the Great British Baking Show with our younger kiddo, I watched the newest season of The Diplomat on Netflix... and then for good measure rewatched the whole series, ha. I also watched the newest season of Upload (didn't rewatch the whole series) and The Peripheral on Amazon Prime Video (I haven't canceled Prime, I know, I know...). The Peripheral is pretty darn cool, I have to say. I'll get around to reading that sometime soon, I'm sure.
Thank you for reading, and happy writing!
In other news:
If you're looking for support making writing happen day in and day out — including regular writing sprints — check out my Called to Write Community, now available at a new lower rate: https://calledtowrite.mn.co
If you're looking for developmental editing support, I'm booked through mid-March, approximately. If you'd like to get onto my editorial calendar, let me know. https://jennaavery.com/for-writers
* All book links herein are affiliate links for Bookshop, which means I earn a small referral fee if you purchase from them, and which helps me keep my writing ship afloat. Thank you!
• “I'd ruminate less and just get down to writing more.” • “I’d stay focused even with family distractions and self-doubt.” • “I’d be less dithery.” • “I’d stop second-guessing myself.”
My response ranged from tackling second-guessing directly to working around it to taking a more spiritual approach. You can click through to the article to read the details.
Here's a summaryof the points I wrote about:
Examine the doubts for their veracity and usefulness.
Ignore the fears and focus on structure and habit.
Trust the path, trust the writing, do the work.
Check out the full article by clicking here ⇣
Plus, here are three happy things:
It's almost Halloween!! We've stalled on putting up our decorations because of pending rain (by the time you read this the threat of rain will have hopefully passed), but this is a favorite holiday for me. We get tons of kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood (like 300-400, which means the candy funding is intense) and go all-out on decorating, so I'm both a little in dread of the work ahead but also excited for a fun night. I've been building a fun steampunk costume over the last couple of years which makes me happy too.
My sister came over again (yay!) and we tidied my writing space. It had become the dumping ground for various "to do" items and it was really getting neglected and out of control. (Picture me writing with blinders on, surrounded by clutter, and NOT BEING HAPPY ABOUT IT but doing it anyway). Now, I'm no longer overwhelmed by stacks of paperwork and warranty registrations and kid artwork to scan and yada yada yada and IT FEELS SO GOOD! I'm massively relieved and it feels like a major Clear the Decks success. (There's a free course on this — Clear the Decks For Writing — in my Called to Write community if you want a little inspiration in this department too. I've done a lot of that work already but having my sister here helped me push into the physical clutter that had built up.)
I'm still reading! I finished reading The Martian* by Andy Weir to my younger child and we moved on to All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, which was the underlying IP for the movie EDGE OF TOMORROW starting Tom Cruise. I'm doing a LOT of on-the-fly verbal editing with that one, sheesh. I thought The Martian needed a lot. I was wrong, haha. On my own, I'm STILL reading Michael Connelly's Bosch-universe books and my book count is now up to 50 since June 6.
If you're looking for support making writing happen day in and day out — including regular writing sprints — check out my Called to Write Community, now available at a new lower rate: https://calledtowrite.mn.co
If you're looking for developmental editing support, I have space coming up in my editorial calendar for manuscript critiques and script notes in mid-October. https://jennaavery.com/for-writers
* All book links herein are affiliate links for Bookshop, which means I earn a small referral fee if you purchase from them, and which helps me keep my writing ship afloat. Thank you!
“How can I cultivate and step into my writer’s identity more fully, or better design and live a ‘curated’ writing lifestyle? I want to engage in the routines and rituals of my writing lifestyle with aplomb, no matter the storyline or plot twists of daily life, and let them serve to enhance my writer’s identity.”
Here's the TL;DR of my response (+ you can click through to the article to read the details):
The desire to live a writer’s life is real.
Writing is also a job, not only an identity or lifestyle.
Do claim your identity as a writer.
Writing is about taking action.
Close your writer’s life gap in specific ways.
Build routines and structures.
Trust you’ll get through the plot twists.
Check out the full article with more reflection by clicking here ⇣
Plus, here are three cool things this week (in spite of it all):
Holy smokes, batman, I got to see Annalee Newitz and a bunch of new-to-me folks speaking on a "Public Transit Visions in Speculative Fiction" panel the other night. I couldn't make it to San Francisco around parenting and personal obligations and needs, so I watched the live stream but sheesh-wow it was so fun and exciting — at least to me. The combo of geeking out about speculative fiction AND urban design AND transit? I was pretty much over the moon. And given the many dark moments this week and last, it was a delicious experience to have a moment of inspiration and joy.
My 'lil sis came over and we worked on purging and decorating our house. We moved here 2019 and sort of unpacked stuff and shoved it onto shelves and then covid hit and everything sort of stayed where it was? But we don't really need all those things? And there's too much stuff in our house? Anyway, she's been working on similar things at her place so it's a massive help to have fresh eyes and a good accountability partner.
If you're looking for support making writing happen day in and day out — including regular writing sprints — check out my Called to Write Community, now available at a new lower rate: https://calledtowrite.mn.co
If you're looking for developmental editing support, I have space coming up in my editorial calendar for manuscript critiques and script notes in mid-October. https://jennaavery.com/for-writers
* All book links herein are affiliate links for Bookshop, which means I earn a small referral fee if you purchase from them, and which helps me keep my writing ship afloat. Thank you!
In this month’s “Ask the Coach” article, I’m responding to a reader about having confidence and stretching farther as a writer:
“I think it’s my confidence. I feel completely sure that I don’t know what I’m doing. I’d like to believe it when I tell myself, ‘It may not be there yet, but it will be,’ about my writing. I’d also like to set goals for myself that feel a little more ambitious than those I set now. I like that I protect my feelings but I may be doing too much of that.”
From what I’ve seen, all writers face crises of confidence periodically, including professional, experienced writers, so it’s good to remember you’re not alone. We may also be questioning ourselves about whether we’re pushing ourselves forward enough.
In the article, I explore some possibilities to help:
1. What you say to yourself matters:
2. How you set goals matters.
3. How you protect your feelings matters.
We arrive at confidence by doing the work, not by having confidence in advance.
Want the full scoop? Get all the details in the full article on Script Mag:
In this month’s “Ask the Coach” article, I’m responding to two readers in response to their submissions to a recent reader survey I conducted.
Their comments and questions coalesced around balancing writing with the rest of a busy life:
“I am struggling with balancing writing with life. I know what I need to do but similar to dieting, there is bingeing then over-compliance. It’s hard to make the habit work with so much to do.”
“I’ve not written in a LONG time — it feels like life events overwhelm me — I’m just not motivated.”
Especially if writing is an optional endeavor—at least in the sense that we’re writing on spec and not being paid (yet!) to write—it’s not easy to balance with the rest of life. Even professional working writers can find writing swallowing up or at least significantly impacting their personal lives, from what I’ve seen.
In the article, I discuss the challenges these writers are facing and then explore some possible strategies and solutions to consider when dealing with a busy life, a propensity to binge, avoid, or overly comply, and a lack of motivation to write.
Solutions:
1. Structure.
2. Rock bottom minimum writing targets.
3. Not to exceed guidelines.
4. The passion rule.
5. Three big rocks.
Much like a screenplay benefits from a proper structure, so do you as a writer. Structure is a container for a story. A writing practice is a container for your writing. It makes a place for writing to be a part of your life. If you don’t have this kind of structure, or container, you have to struggle daily with the “when” and “if” of writing, rather than it being a given.
Want the full scoop? Get all the details in the full article on Script Mag:
In this month’s “Ask the Coach” article, I’m responding to two readers in response to their submissions to a recent reader survey I conducted. Their comments and questions coalesced around dealing with distractions from writing:
“I’m struggling most with distractions and interruptions.”
“I am having a hard time writing between family distractions and self-doubt.”
In the article, I focus on distractions in terms of tasks, logistics, and awareness, as well as interruptions and physical challenges, and explore what we can do to corral them and keep them from overtaking our writing:
1. Give tasks a place to live.
2. Create a time to complete tasks.
3. Give logistics their due.
4. Recognize the emotional and mental load you’re carrying.
5. Build protections and resilience around interruptions.
6. Take care of your physical well-being.
7. Cut out the truly unimportant sidetracks.
Drill down into what’s truly important to you and make sure you’re eliminating everything not on that list, so you can focus on what you’re called to do: write.
Want the full scoop? Get all the details in the full article on Script Mag:
