Theme and Strategy
How many times have you heard someone say you can't control creativity, so just lie back and let it happen? Don't believe it. You need to shapecreative output as it emerges -- have a theme and strategy in place to control the creative juices when they start flowing. And that's what this book is about. It teaches you how to establish a patternto get from point A to point B in your fiction writing, all in a lively, informative manner. To planthe seemingly trivial details that are in fact meaningful elements of a carefully constructed pattern. And to stay aware of the "big picture" as the story develops, avoiding the nearsightedness that so often afflicts beginning (and experienced) fiction writers. Theme & Strategyshows you: >how to imagine the reader and keep the audience in mind while writing >how to piece together the essential elements of a successful story >how to develop pattern throughout a work of fiction, resulting in a unified whole Instead of heady analyses of often unfamiliar literary works, Ronald Tobias uses contemporary examples from literature, television, and movies to cite effective (and ineffective) use of theme and strategy. For example, Hamletis analyzed in terms of character. Structure is explained through a step-by-step breakdown of a fairy tale. And capturing your audience's attention is explored through a cartoon analogy -- the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. Whether your fiction is short or long, romance or western, you'll learn how to effectively build and use theme and strategy to write compelling fiction that others will want to read.