If it sounds like writing, drop the grand theme

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it,” says Elmore Leonard in his 10 Rules of Writing.

This is the rule he says defines all the others. His book is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. I love that one. It cuts through all writing pretension.

If I had to think up my favourite rule, it would probably be: Don’t start with a message. Any number of writing students come to Richard and me with a story idea – or they think it’s a story idea. It’s really a theme or a message.

You know the kind of thing: “I want to write a story about the inhumanity of men”, or “I want to expose the way women are treated in …”

And we say: “Okay … but what’s your story?”

“That’s our story,” they say.

Okay, some really great writers probably started with the idea of exposing a great wrong. But then they managed to put it behind them while they got on with crafting a story that would draw readers forward, and characters that were compelling enough to hold their interest.

Personally, I think that it often works better, particularly in the hands of a first-time writer, to think of characters and story first. I promise you, a theme will appear. It happens intuitively. The story will say something. You don’t have to agonise over it. 

If you create a story set in the time and place where a great wrong is being committed, the characters will end up leading their readers through the issues at play. And if you set your story and characters in ordinary times, in which no great wrong is being committed, your characters will still end up grappling with the issues that we all do – whether they’re societal or concerned with the larger themes of humanity.

But if you start out with the message, the danger is that you’ll push your characters around, forcing them to convey that grand theme you have in mind. Both your narrative and your characters will suffer as a result.

You’ll be so busy worrying about the message, you’ll forget to explore human nature, or the motivations of the characters you’ve developed. And you won’t have time to build a story that is believable and compelling. 

For help and support with your writing join our Writers’ Circle Course, either online or face-to-face in Johannesburg.

To read about the pros and cons of online versus face-to-face courses click here.