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Pre-NaNoWriMo Book Giveaway Day 5

Welcome to the final day of Pre-NaNoWriMo Book Giveaway! Another NaNoWriMo Prep tip and opportunity for you to win a book or course of your choice. Click here for the list of pre-nanowrimo books and resources giveaway prizes awaiting you. 

DAY 5 Pre-NaNoWriMo Tip

Theme as Your Touchstone

A definition of touchstone on thefreedictionary.com says: an excellent quality or example that is used to test the excellence or genuineness of others. 

A thematic significance statement becomes a sort of touchstone for writers. A statement that best represents your entire story serves to test the excellence of each scene in relationship to the whole. 
 
Theme Exercise:
1) Think about what the story you envision writing means, really. What themes do you plan to write about? Love conquers all? Good versus evil? What do you plan to convey about good and evil through your storytelling? What do you want your reader to come away thinking about conquering fears through love at the end? What will all the chapters and scenes and words add up to mean in the end? Your ideas may be vague. That’s fine. Clarity comes through the actual scene writing itself.
 
2) Write a thematic significance statement you believe my best represent the overall deeper meaning of your story. This will likely change and become more refined as you write your story. Be flexible. Work with your story. Allow your characters to communicate meaning to you. If thinking at the macro level like this makes your head hurt, simply write down themes your story will explore. Continue this exercise throughout the month.
 
3) Ask yourself:
  • How does the thematic statement (themes) apply to the protagonist’s internal and external plot? 
  • How does it apply to the antagonist? 
  • What about to the romance plot? 
 
4) Arrange the different themes and ideas that seem the truest to your story into ten thematic statements (use words you’d say if attempting to convey to others what your story is really all about). 
 
5) Hone the ten statements down to one that incorporates all the major elements and feels like the truest and best representation of your entire story.
 
6) Write that statement where, everyday you write, you’ll be reminded of your story’s meaning. Use the thematic significance statement as your touchstone and a continual reminder of the focus of your story. Let the thematic significance statement help guide you as you search for meaningful scenes to write throughout the month.

For more about the importance of theme in stories and for more help and examples and exercises to develop a thematic significance statement for your story, each of the pre-nanowrimo books and resources in today’s giveaway offers support.