Theme

When you're writing, the theme of your piece can seem very elusive, and perhaps inconsequential. But, as poet William Carlos Williams said of the Red Wagon, so much depends upon it.

But that doesn't mean that you need to know the theme up front. In fact, in writing Secret Spy, I truly had no idea what the theme might be when I began. I imagined that after forty or fifty pages it would start to emerge, but that didn't happen. A hundred pages? Nope. Two hundred? Still not there. As I wrote the last paragraph of  the epilogue, which centers on the experience of Tom Huttle, I still didn't have a theme. I wondered what Tom Huttle might think as he looked back on all of the twists and turns of the story. "You never know what's going to happen," Tom thought. "So you just keep going."

I had my theme. It hadn't become clear to me literally until the last sentence of the book, but I knew it was right. How did I know? Because it had been played out within all of Tom Huttle's actions in the book. The theme is nothing more, and nothing less, than the controlling idea of the book. Now, beginning the rewrite, I KNOW what that controlling idea is. For a character, a theme is something like their life philosophy. They may not, in fact, be able to articulate it, but it operates in the background. For example, in life, if someone believes they always get a raw deal... they always get a raw deal. Objectively, they may get some very good deals in their life, but they aren't capable of seeing that. The "raw deal" becomes their theme. In fiction, themes operate much the same way.

The theme of my book Huttle the Hero was "If you suppress your imagination, it will control you," also featuring Tom Huttle. Tom was quite unaware of this for most of the book, but the idea plays out in myriad ways throughout the story. By the end, he understands it quite viscerally.

I think that, in a story, if your characters are authentic, and if they operate according to coherent motivations, striving toward goals in a way that is true to them, and encountering and dealing with obstacles in a likewise coherent manner, the theme will emerge. Why? Because, unconsciously, you are imposing on the narrative your own life's philosophy, and your own values and view of the world. Call me kookie, but in this way all books are autobiographical. I, for example, have been thinking a lot lately that in life one never knows what is going to happen, and that even so, you just keep going. In some sense, it was not a big surprise that this should reveal itself as the theme to Secret Spy... but then again, it was a shock. I truly had not grasped how I was on imprinting my philosophy on every page.

So, now that I know what the theme of my book is, what am I going to do? I'm going to go through the book and make sure that Tom and the other characters are living consistently within that theme. Some characters may take a different aspect of the theme, of course.

Finding that consistency in theme requires you to start at the beginning. As the story of Secret Spy opens, for example, Tom is at a crisis point in his life. He's unhappy with the status quo and decides to take a leap of faith and do something different. He takes a leap of faith. He does not know what will happen. By the end of the book, owing to the experiences he has had, he, along with the reader, looks back at what has happened and realizes that "You never know what's going to happen in life, and you just keep going." By then, Tom has reached many points where he didn't know what was going to happen. He just kept going, and when he looks back at it, he realizes he did the right thing. In other words, he learned this lesson as we learn all lessons: through experience. The reader has been with him during these experiences, too, and consequently has learned the same lessons.

Maybe you don't know the theme of your book. It is there, however. Try doing what I did: take the point of view of one of the characters and ask him or her: what have you learned? Their answer may very well surprise you, and lead you to the theme.

Writing is rewriting

Since last I posted here,  Inhuman has continued to sell sporadically. It is an unusual book, I know. Maybe people can't handle the gore or the weirdness of getting into a killer's head. At this point, I'll consider publishing it as a public service, await its viral sweep through the publishing universe and try not to take it personally if said infection doesn't occur. Haven't heard word one from Joel Bernstein, and I'm tempted to stick my thumbs in my ears and wiggle my fingers at him, saying "neener neener neener." But that would be immature.

Instead of obsessing about Bernstein & Co., I have done the mature thing: written a new novel! After all, I am heart a humor writer, so this new book is for me a return to familiar territory. My first published novel was Echo Valley, a comedy. After that, there was the sequel, Huttle the Hero. The novel Deadlines, though a detective story set in the Pacific Northwest, is also, well, not a comedy, but breezy and funny. All are available for Kindle and Nook.

In any event, my new book, Secret Spy (working title) is a prequel (hate that word) to Echo Valley. Set in 1982 Los Angeles, Secret Spy is based very loosely on the case of an FBI agent who fell in love with a KGB agent, and to win her affection passed along to her some classified information.
Tom Huttle, the hero of Echo Valley is swept into the plot when he gets a job writing feature stories for the corporate magazine of  a big insurance company. But, though TransCom Insurance is a legitimate insurance company, it is also a front company for the CIA, which uses it to re-introduce its compromised field agents to the real world of commerce and business. Tom has no idea that the people he's writing about are former spooks.

I won't spoil the plot, but before long the subjects of Tom's articles start being murdered, and Tom is believed to be the culprit. Meanwhile, the FBI agent becomes more and more deeply ensnared with the seductive KGB agent, both of whom suspect that Tom Huttle--completely oblivious to what is going around him--is a Master Spy.

So far, I've completed a first draft, 64,000 words and change.

I won't delve too deeply into the process of writing quite yet, but I started the book June 16, and I wrote almost every day. Weekly, with a break at Thanksgiving and Christmas, I presented a new chapter to a small group of writer friends, including the incomparable Deb Norton (www.debnortonwriting.com) who provided invaluable feedback. I incorporated all of their notes before proceeding to the next chapter.

Now is the fun part: rewriting. Secret Spy is my seventh novel. Though all of them are not published, I did learn a lot in writing them. Through the process of writing the novels, as well as many screenplays, teleplays, and short stories, I've developed a scheme for rewriting that I thought I'd share, in hopes others can benefit from what I've learned.

I didn't outline Secret Spy at all. Periodically, I'd write down some possible plot developments and such, but generally speaking I winged it and trusted--to employ a cliche--"the process." Not everyone is comfortable doing this, but I thought I had a strong enough premise, and strong enough characters, to let them take over the story. In fact, I love working this way because as the narrative develops, things start to occur that I never would have anticipated, and that keeps me interested.

The farther I got in the book, the clearer the characters and conflicts became. It was a wonderful experience.

And that leads to my first "Writing is Rewriting" Tip: Rewriting begins with the first draft.

How? Because, as you move along in the narrative, ideas will occur to you. Maybe you'll want to set your story in Dallas rather than Phoenix. But, if you go back and start changing the thousand and one references you made to Phoenix and environs, you might lose steam. It's best to simply make a note to yourself, and write it in ALL CAPS in the manuscript: "From now on, the story is set in Dallas." That helps you keep your momentum going.

Moving ahead helps you refine and develop your characters and your plot. Going back and fixing everything in the earlier portions of the work can get discouraging.

The best argument I can present for continuing to move forward is this: even if you have outlined your story to within an inch of its life, as you write, you learn more. Characters and conflicts become clearer. New ones arise. The plot unfolds. The theme emerges. Going back and revising too early is like living a life of regret. I've known too many people who wrote the first thirty pages of their book over. And over. And over. And over. They never finished because they were determined to get it right.

As the saying goes, "Don't get it right. Get it written."

Unlike in real life, fiction permits a "do-over." That's called rewriting. My step-by-step strategy in posts to follow.