Themes

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I painted this when I was seventeen. It's been at my mother's for years and recently in my attic. While searching for a picture frame, I found the painting and when I turned it around, I was staring at the central motif, a Tree of Life, of my finished manuscript.

Writers have personal themes that they continue to return in their writing. Most write stories, finding the themes only after their books is nearly written. Without realizing it, writers explore themes important to their own search for meaning.

Themes are a writer's searches for meaning in his life.

Readers connect with interesting characters, not stereotypes. So what is the difference? Think of flat characters as first impressions that went no further. Interesting characters have desires, faults, and quirks. Like your friends they're not always easy to understand. They may contradict themselves and change their minds, but they remain who they are.

Writing means spending time getting to know your characters. It goes beyond character charts and outlines. No computer or pen is necessary. You need to listen for their voices, ask them questions, and have them play scenes out in your head. Oddly, characters can only tell you what they know. Once I had to ask a secondary character what secret was being kept from the main character. Another time a character had to undergo some therapy before I could understood why she did what she did.

And in answer to your unasked question--Yes, writers are little crazy.

Writing needs courage. Despite the best outline (which mine are not) a story unfolds as it must. The author has to trust his characters and experience each scene as it comes while looking down from his outline and planned outcomes. Often it means plodding along, worrying, stalling for days, when all you want is to rush to the ending. But the insights that come from this process will make the book a worthwhile read.