Creative Writing Q & A, 2

In my opinion, theme is always crucial in writing. If the story doesn't have a theme, the author has un-successfuly left his/her footprint on his/her work. As for ideas, every great book must have a central idea to it. If it doesn't have a combination of a theme and an idea it will probably lack direction and cohessiveness. In every book I have read so far this year for American Lit., we spend about half the class period discussing the different sections we have read. Generally, the theme is rebeling but the idea usually revolves around finding one's true-self. My point is, we've only read books this year that contain a theme and a central idea. On the other by forcing yourself to incluede both these items in your writing, it can be rather constricting and my limit creativity.



One popular theme that would appeal both to parents and kids would be "the rebel". With this in my you could go anywhere with it making it leniant. When you use the rebel as the theme of your play it really can go both ways. You could have the honorable hero who rebels against the king or enslaver or you could have the rebel who doesnt agree with societys morals be them good or bad. One common "good" rebel would be the leader of a resistance group within a dictatorship. One conception of a "bad" rebel would be one who breaks our standards (stealing, fighting...). Obviously some of historys greatest influential figures were rebels but the same is also true the other way around.



One conflict I would love to write about is just the moral issue of stealing. I'm still a little sour about my coat and thats one main reason I really just want to talk more about it. Also rebeling and stealing can go hand in hand. Another conflict might be a certain lie that really screwed someone up. Eventually he atones for his lie and everything turns for the better but only after experiencing painful memories on his part. Really those would be two great ethical issues that I think would be great conflicts in a story.