Elliot Kessler

When I listen to most people explain their stories to me, they are often shallow ideas. They’re beautiful yet hollow shells. It’s like a house that looks great on the outside but doesn’t have anything on the inside. Unfortunately, that’s how most stories are written. Especially in the self-publishing industry. But how do you change that? How do you fill that space and create a whole package, delivering a great plot that doesn’t feel like an empty shell?

The key there is theme. You have to identify the key themes of your story and write everything else around them. Plenty of stories do this, and that is fantastic. That is a step in the right direction. But you can’t only have themes. You must explore those themes and consider how you relate to them. You have to put your own experiences, especially your emotional experiences, and put them in your story.

Themes

Some of you guys might not know how to identify theme in a story. Some of you might not even know what a theme is. Is it something to do with the color theme of the cover? Maybe it’s the feeling that the story produces.

The second one is true, but only partly.

Themes are what your story is about at its core. For instance, think about “Monsters, Inc.” If I asked what it was about, you might say, “It’s about monsters trying to save their world’s power source by keeping kids scared.” But that’s the premise. That’s not the story’s core (or theme). You might be surprised when I say the movie is about a man becoming a father.

Think about the movie for a second. What happens? A kid accidentally wanders into the world of monsters, and she must be protected from an evil CEO who wants to experiment on her. Sully, the top scarer of Monsters Incorporated, is the one who accidentally lets the little girl into the monster world and now feels responsible for protecting her and getting her back home. Now, relate that to a man becoming a father. I’m sure you can see the similarities now.

Fatherhood is the theme of that particular movie, but you can make your story about anything. You can write about vengeance, hope, depression, addiction, love, friendship, or anything else you want. It is up to you.

Write What You Know

Those who have read my blog have probably seen me write about this rule a few times, but that’s because I think it is vital to separate your story from the rest of the pack. It’s the difference between a good story and a great one.

Imagine if Pete Doctor decided that “Monsters, Inc.” would be about Sully trying to retire from his job despite the pressure created by his fame. It could be interesting, but it wouldn’t be nearly as good because Doctor wasn’t trying to retire. He couldn’t relate to that story. What he could relate to was a story about a man becoming a father, so that’s what he wrote. He created a world and put his own experiences into it. It isn’t only about the funny idea that a world of monsters comes to our world through closet doors. It’s about becoming a father and the emotional journey that comes with that change.

This makes “Monsters, Inc.” phenomenal and one of my favorite movies. By going out of his way to ensure he brought his experiences into the story, Doctor elevated his idea from a good story to a great one. He could have used the world he created and written a regular, uninspired story. It would have taken much less effort and time and probably would have been a fun film. But he decided that a good film wasn’t enough. The story had to be great, and it is.

Moral of the story: when picking the themes for your next novel, short story, screenplay, or anything else you write, make sure you can relate to those themes. If you lost someone close to you, write about loss. If you’ve suffered from depression, write about depression. If you’ve suffered from addiction, write about addiction.

Of course, they don’t all have to be negative like that. If you’ve been inspired by hope, write about hope. If you have ever fallen in love and found your “one,” write about that. Find something you have lived through and are passionate about, then write a story around it.

Conclusion

Those hollow stories I talked about aren’t bad. They could become excellent, but only when themes are added. The writers that write bland shells for stories understand plot but don’t understand story. Stories aren’t something physical. Most of my favorite stories don’t follow essential people. They don’t have world-ending stakes. They’re about average people in their worlds, going about their average lives until a sudden change happens. Something new is brought into their lives, and the story is about them adapting to that change. “Inception,” “Blade Runner,” “Ben-Hur,” and “The Maltese Falcon” are all like that. The world isn’t about to end. People might die, but that isn’t the main focus of those stories. They’re focused on whether the main characters will adapt to their sudden change or fail, losing everything they have.

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.