If I tell someone I’m writing a novel invariably the first thing they ask is, “What’s it about?” It’s what I ask when someone tells me they are writing a novel. The consistent response is for them to tell me what happens in their book.
“Well, this divorced dad on a cruise to Saint Petersburg meets this Swedish woman…”
I used to do the same thing.
“Well, this elf is banished from her home and wakes up in a field without her memory and her ears cut off…”
But that’s not what my story is about. Those are just a series of events and actions which occur in my book. There are many underlying themes in my book, but the soul of it is about the human race’s disconnection from the natural world and the effects that disconnection has on society – spiritually and physically. I deliver this theme through the perspective of archetypal fantasy creatures in an alternate Earth’s history, where horses are the symbol of our connection to nature and their absence the disconnection. That’s what my book is about. Or is it?
My advisor at Pacific University, Dr. Kathleen Postma, taught a literature class which focused on the works of JRR Tolkien and Ursula K Le Guin. We were discussing some point of symbolism I thought moot because I had already read the author’s take which was completely different from the discussion. I decided to end the discussion by pointing this out. Why are we debating the author’s meaning when the author has told us in multiple interviews? Kathleen looked at me with her sharp blue eyes long enough to communicate I had just said something clearly idiotic before turning away with the comment, “We don’t care what the author thinks.”
Indeed, why should we care what the author thinks? As readers, it’s our connection to the work we enjoy, and that connection may be different from the author’s or another reader. To me, Steve’s book, Hollywood Dreams, is about what happens to war veterans with untreated PTSD. His vehicle for this vision is a hard-boiled detective chasing Nazis and the Spear of Destiny throughout Los Angeles. The Nazis and the Spear – the dead girl on the beach who triggers the events – are merely props that allow us access to Detective Elijah Tomb’s horrific experiences in The Great War and how they shaped who he is. As a veteran, I connect to this character and the challenges of his daily life. That could be just one of many sub-themes for Steve. He might believe his book is about the dangers of extreme nationalism and glorification of empire. (But he’d be wrong!)
Yet as authors we must know what our book is to us if we hope to deliver a concise and meaningful treatise our audience can connect with. Even if those connections may be different than our own. Ever read a book that meanders? Has a lot of threads that don’t lead toward a specific point? That’s a writer who doesn’t have a theme or know the heart of their story. (Nor an editor to guide them to it, but that’s another discussion.) Are you struggling with direction? Indecision? Have too many unconnected threads? You probably don’t have focus and are still trying to figure out what it’s about. Push through those moments and your breakthrough will come.
For me, writing is thinking. I can’t outline. I must write. I do so with only the vaguest ideas of plot and character development, which is evident in my shitty first drafts (SFD). I was 100 pages into The Ghost of Silver Creek before a solid concept of what it is about began to coalesce. A lot of things cause “writers block” but I believe they all boil down to not having a connection to the heart of your story and anxiety others won’t either. It can also be disheartening to push through the grind knowing there is so much you need to change. Then going back to make it all perfect. The temptation to go back and rewrite immediately can be overwhelming. Don’t do it. Take notes for your new ideas but continue forward. I had all these feelings about The Ghost of Silver Creek, and everything I wrote before but never finished. For the first time I ignored them. I don’t believe it’s coincidence this is my first complete draft. Even if I do have to rewrite most of it, I have a sense of renewed energy.
Experiment to find what works for you. Write to please yourself and you’ll eventually find the key to getting through that SFD and discovering the heart of your story so next time someone asks what your story is about you’ll have the answer and not an inventory list.
So, with that in mind, what is your story about?
Trick question. We don’t care what the author thinks! (But tell us anyway in the comments below.)
– JP
Note: As always, you can find the first drafts of our posts on our Patreon page, Pacific Novel Project. Find this article and it’s first draft attachment here.
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