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Writing Your Story's Theme: The Writer's Guide to Plotting Stories That Matter by K.M. Weiland
gina_elizabeth_writes's review
5.0
This was an outstanding book to study while I let my first draft marinate. It's sparked ideas and questions about my novel, and future book ideas. Definitely worth a read as a writer!
josiahdegraaf's review
4.0
This is an ambitious book.
There aren't many works out there that I'm familiar with that seek to unpack a comprehensive approach to theme-building in fiction writing. (The closest I've found is Truby's Anatomy of Story, and it isn't even a work primarily about theme!) You have several that touch on the subject and some--like Weiland's earlier Creating Character Arcs that do an impressive job of hitting certain aspects of theme really well. But I'm not familiar with many that focus specifically on the subject.
This book endeavors to change that--with an exploration of theme that draws from a number of great writers and thinkers, contains a variety of philosophical and theoretical insights into the nature of storycraft, and offers a comprehensive approach to the subject.
The first thing potential readers should know is that this book is going to feel quite different from Weiland's previous books. It's not as "formulaic" or "model-focused" in its approach (as, say, Creating Character Arcs or Structuring Your Novel are), and it tends to spend more time unpacking the theory of storycraft than her previous books. (Which is not to say it isn't practical... simply that she talks more about higher-end concepts in this work.) In my mind, this fit the topic well, but it did take some adjustments on my end in what I was expecting. This book is less about presenting a model and more about establishing principles, and the chapters can sometimes feel disconnected from each other as a result.
Enough, however, about what the book is generally like. What about its content? If it's more about establishing principles, what are those principles actually like?
Unsurprisingly to anyone who's read any of her previous books or follows her blog, her principles are, of course, solid through-and-through. There are a lot of lists in this book that give a variety of helpful tips for tackling the various aspects of theme. I particularly appreciated her points about why themes don't need to be unique (simply powerful), how the plot of a story meaningfully grounds the exploration of the story's theme, and how theme effectively solves the plot vs. character debate. Her section on subtext was also quite excellent.
So how well does this book live up to its goals? It's one of the best unpackings of the Truth/Lie model of thematic development I've seen--not in a way that's focused on simply providing a model, but in a way that's focused on unpacking the theories and principles behind the model so writers know how to use it effectively. As a storyteller, I still find the Experiment in Living model to fit my personal writing style better than the Truth/Lie model when approaching thematic development. But I still learned several useful principles and techniques by reading this book and for writers who use the Truth/Lie model, this is pretty essential reading in my book for how to expand that into your plot, subtext, and side characters.
My recommendation would probably be to read Creating Character Arcs first to get the foundation of the character arc that will form the core of your character's theme. But after that book, this work is a very natural sequel to it that will be a fantastic guide for authors looking to take their story's theme beyond the character arc.
My one complaint about the book is that I read the digital version and I really need the physical version so I can mark it up appropriately. (It's in the mail as I write this.) You'll want to go with a physical edition of this work if possible.
Recommended.
Rating: 4 Stars (Very Good).
There aren't many works out there that I'm familiar with that seek to unpack a comprehensive approach to theme-building in fiction writing. (The closest I've found is Truby's Anatomy of Story, and it isn't even a work primarily about theme!) You have several that touch on the subject and some--like Weiland's earlier Creating Character Arcs that do an impressive job of hitting certain aspects of theme really well. But I'm not familiar with many that focus specifically on the subject.
This book endeavors to change that--with an exploration of theme that draws from a number of great writers and thinkers, contains a variety of philosophical and theoretical insights into the nature of storycraft, and offers a comprehensive approach to the subject.
The first thing potential readers should know is that this book is going to feel quite different from Weiland's previous books. It's not as "formulaic" or "model-focused" in its approach (as, say, Creating Character Arcs or Structuring Your Novel are), and it tends to spend more time unpacking the theory of storycraft than her previous books. (Which is not to say it isn't practical... simply that she talks more about higher-end concepts in this work.) In my mind, this fit the topic well, but it did take some adjustments on my end in what I was expecting. This book is less about presenting a model and more about establishing principles, and the chapters can sometimes feel disconnected from each other as a result.
Enough, however, about what the book is generally like. What about its content? If it's more about establishing principles, what are those principles actually like?
Unsurprisingly to anyone who's read any of her previous books or follows her blog, her principles are, of course, solid through-and-through. There are a lot of lists in this book that give a variety of helpful tips for tackling the various aspects of theme. I particularly appreciated her points about why themes don't need to be unique (simply powerful), how the plot of a story meaningfully grounds the exploration of the story's theme, and how theme effectively solves the plot vs. character debate. Her section on subtext was also quite excellent.
So how well does this book live up to its goals? It's one of the best unpackings of the Truth/Lie model of thematic development I've seen--not in a way that's focused on simply providing a model, but in a way that's focused on unpacking the theories and principles behind the model so writers know how to use it effectively. As a storyteller, I still find the Experiment in Living model to fit my personal writing style better than the Truth/Lie model when approaching thematic development. But I still learned several useful principles and techniques by reading this book and for writers who use the Truth/Lie model, this is pretty essential reading in my book for how to expand that into your plot, subtext, and side characters.
My recommendation would probably be to read Creating Character Arcs first to get the foundation of the character arc that will form the core of your character's theme. But after that book, this work is a very natural sequel to it that will be a fantastic guide for authors looking to take their story's theme beyond the character arc.
My one complaint about the book is that I read the digital version and I really need the physical version so I can mark it up appropriately. (It's in the mail as I write this.) You'll want to go with a physical edition of this work if possible.
Recommended.
Rating: 4 Stars (Very Good).
regnarenol's review
4.0
Great book.
I approached this book as a sceptic. I'm sceptical of the idea of story structure itself, in several different ways. I'm sceptical that a single, universal set of very fine-grained plot beats underpins every story ever written. At my most cynical, I see such efforts as little more than seeing human faces in the red sands of Mars: the very human tendency to see patterns in chaos. On the flip side, the idea of story structure has a sort of self-fulfilling power: like Yuval Harari's idea of human myths, if a large group of people believe in the idea of universal story structure, and output according to that formula, then it will be true that stories have universal structure. That makes me sad; the beauty of writing, and all art, lies in not following formula. But myths cannot be discarded off-hand; human constructed myths have enormous power - try telling your bank that your loan should be waived off because money is a made-up construct.
Anyway, why did I approach this book if I was so sceptical? The chief reason I think is just to make this vast, impenetrable enterprise of novel writing *feel* doable. Books on structure, no matter how much they overreach, at least offer some kind of step-by-step framework that lets this software engineer iterate. A sort of planner-helper to bookend my chunks of unfettered creativity. The other, more pragmatic, reason, that I only allowed myself to think in moments of weakness, is that developing a feel for understanding the story structure myths of today would make my book more likely to be successful.
That's how little I expected of this book (or indeed any story structure book I read). But this book forced this sceptic to sit up and pay attention to its core argument. Well, it has several, but the most fundamental one is that every good story has a strong theme, and that strong themes are universal. They're universal in that they resonate with aspects of the human condition. Things like "the human spirit endures". This is an argument that strongly resonates with me. As a reader, I'm always looking for books to say something interesting on the human condition. As a writer, I probably start most things off with theme first, then plot, and then character.
K.M. Weiland would strongly argue against there being any stories that just 'entertain', and have no theme. At best, they are unconsciously tapping into the zeitgeist, and likely not in interesting ways, given that they are unaware that they're doing so. I would agree. With that out of the way, she sets out to the nuts and bolts of applying theme to the work of writing a story. How does theme integrate with plot? How does theme integrate with character? How does this work on a scene level? How do you have theme without coming off too heavy-handed?
As the book progressed, and K.M. Weiland tightened the screw further, pushing theme deeper and deeper into a story, I started to worry. Would this be another hyper-detailed formula to churn out books by specification, just that this specification would now have this cool thing called theme? Not entirely. K.M. Weiland would insist that theme has to come from the soul, or a place deep within your belief system. She would also insist on honesty, and she has a very nuanced take on what honesty is: not that it is your truth as the author, but the truth according to the story you're telling. She would say, and indeed has said something to this tune, that writing a story according to spec would still not be a good story, if it doesn't have a piece of you in it. I found that reaffirming. I don't know if it was enough to cure me of my worry about formula, but there was another thing I realised that brought me closer.
As the list of things that K.M. Weiland demanded of authors grew, I, somewhat paradoxically, grew calmer. They were exceedingly difficult to achieve, and probably impossible for a first time novelist like me. The author would say that's by design; the craft of writing a good story is not meant to come easy. It is a skill, and the ceiling is the sky, a target that can never be reached but only aspired to. And that was a relief, because all things formulaic have a secret, hidden feature: they seek to make the difficult simple. But K.M. Weiland's formulas are hard to simplify; arguably, they complicate, by bringing the hidden structures that animate good stories and the craft it takes to write them, to the light. This probably means I can never apply them to construct a new story by specification. Instead, when I'm in a place where my n-th draft is somewhat done, I can check how it does by the formulas in this book. Then, I would already have poured a giant piece of me into writing what I have, and I could do something similar for all the things I will inevitably find I've missed.
So, how does the book help with my original tasks? It doesn't do very well as a planner-helper. If anything, I'm even more impressed (intimidated) by the amount of work it takes to write a good novel. But maybe that's unfair. It can be a very good reference for revision (I'll get back to you when I get there). Like all good books, this one confounds my expectations, in a good way: it makes a very strong case for theme being a crucial, conscious element of writing.
I still dock a star because this book suffers occasionally from that bane of all non-fiction it seems: repetition. I wonder if authors, knowing that readers are going to blaze through their books exactly once, resort to banging us over the head with the same point said slightly differently, to defeat our speed-reading and stick? But K.M. Weiland has some brilliant turns of phrase, and a subtle sense of humour, that made the repetition as enjoyable as it could be, particularly in the first half of the book.
I approached this book as a sceptic. I'm sceptical of the idea of story structure itself, in several different ways. I'm sceptical that a single, universal set of very fine-grained plot beats underpins every story ever written. At my most cynical, I see such efforts as little more than seeing human faces in the red sands of Mars: the very human tendency to see patterns in chaos. On the flip side, the idea of story structure has a sort of self-fulfilling power: like Yuval Harari's idea of human myths, if a large group of people believe in the idea of universal story structure, and output according to that formula, then it will be true that stories have universal structure. That makes me sad; the beauty of writing, and all art, lies in not following formula. But myths cannot be discarded off-hand; human constructed myths have enormous power - try telling your bank that your loan should be waived off because money is a made-up construct.
Anyway, why did I approach this book if I was so sceptical? The chief reason I think is just to make this vast, impenetrable enterprise of novel writing *feel* doable. Books on structure, no matter how much they overreach, at least offer some kind of step-by-step framework that lets this software engineer iterate. A sort of planner-helper to bookend my chunks of unfettered creativity. The other, more pragmatic, reason, that I only allowed myself to think in moments of weakness, is that developing a feel for understanding the story structure myths of today would make my book more likely to be successful.
That's how little I expected of this book (or indeed any story structure book I read). But this book forced this sceptic to sit up and pay attention to its core argument. Well, it has several, but the most fundamental one is that every good story has a strong theme, and that strong themes are universal. They're universal in that they resonate with aspects of the human condition. Things like "the human spirit endures". This is an argument that strongly resonates with me. As a reader, I'm always looking for books to say something interesting on the human condition. As a writer, I probably start most things off with theme first, then plot, and then character.
K.M. Weiland would strongly argue against there being any stories that just 'entertain', and have no theme. At best, they are unconsciously tapping into the zeitgeist, and likely not in interesting ways, given that they are unaware that they're doing so. I would agree. With that out of the way, she sets out to the nuts and bolts of applying theme to the work of writing a story. How does theme integrate with plot? How does theme integrate with character? How does this work on a scene level? How do you have theme without coming off too heavy-handed?
As the book progressed, and K.M. Weiland tightened the screw further, pushing theme deeper and deeper into a story, I started to worry. Would this be another hyper-detailed formula to churn out books by specification, just that this specification would now have this cool thing called theme? Not entirely. K.M. Weiland would insist that theme has to come from the soul, or a place deep within your belief system. She would also insist on honesty, and she has a very nuanced take on what honesty is: not that it is your truth as the author, but the truth according to the story you're telling. She would say, and indeed has said something to this tune, that writing a story according to spec would still not be a good story, if it doesn't have a piece of you in it. I found that reaffirming. I don't know if it was enough to cure me of my worry about formula, but there was another thing I realised that brought me closer.
As the list of things that K.M. Weiland demanded of authors grew, I, somewhat paradoxically, grew calmer. They were exceedingly difficult to achieve, and probably impossible for a first time novelist like me. The author would say that's by design; the craft of writing a good story is not meant to come easy. It is a skill, and the ceiling is the sky, a target that can never be reached but only aspired to. And that was a relief, because all things formulaic have a secret, hidden feature: they seek to make the difficult simple. But K.M. Weiland's formulas are hard to simplify; arguably, they complicate, by bringing the hidden structures that animate good stories and the craft it takes to write them, to the light. This probably means I can never apply them to construct a new story by specification. Instead, when I'm in a place where my n-th draft is somewhat done, I can check how it does by the formulas in this book. Then, I would already have poured a giant piece of me into writing what I have, and I could do something similar for all the things I will inevitably find I've missed.
So, how does the book help with my original tasks? It doesn't do very well as a planner-helper. If anything, I'm even more impressed (intimidated) by the amount of work it takes to write a good novel. But maybe that's unfair. It can be a very good reference for revision (I'll get back to you when I get there). Like all good books, this one confounds my expectations, in a good way: it makes a very strong case for theme being a crucial, conscious element of writing.
I still dock a star because this book suffers occasionally from that bane of all non-fiction it seems: repetition. I wonder if authors, knowing that readers are going to blaze through their books exactly once, resort to banging us over the head with the same point said slightly differently, to defeat our speed-reading and stick? But K.M. Weiland has some brilliant turns of phrase, and a subtle sense of humour, that made the repetition as enjoyable as it could be, particularly in the first half of the book.
rejena's review
5.0
This book feels like an advanced fiction writing course. I feel smarter but slightly intimidated. Good stuff.
lostlenore_'s review against another edition
5.0
Totally loved Weiland's new book! It provides so many helpful and practical tips about locating the theme in your WIP and using it to embellish on plot, character and story. I've been editing my own stories based on Weiland's models of writing, and using theme has tremendously impacted the way I craft my work.
K.M Weiland is a true inspiration and an amazing creative writing coach. If it weren't for her ideas, I wouldn't have been able to outline my stories let alone identify the things that need work and provide effective solutions.
If you want to spend time on a creative writing course, choose Weiland's books instead. They're cheaper and much more effective and specific than any writing course I know of.
K.M Weiland is a true inspiration and an amazing creative writing coach. If it weren't for her ideas, I wouldn't have been able to outline my stories let alone identify the things that need work and provide effective solutions.
If you want to spend time on a creative writing course, choose Weiland's books instead. They're cheaper and much more effective and specific than any writing course I know of.
jun_shi's review against another edition
5.0
Many books and podcasts on the craft of writing contain a discussion of theme. They usually start with an acknowledgement that theme can be a nebulous concept and throw out lots of good—but mostly the same—ideas and advice. What this book does differently is tie theme into the other aspects of the craft, like structure, plot, and characterization, in a way that makes the advice *actionable*. It’s still true that there’s significant art in actually implementing it in your own work, but the author does a good job of clarifying how things can or should tie together and provides lots of useful examples. I found myself leaving the book repeatedly to jot down notes on how I could tweak this or that scene or character in my own work in progress to better support the theme. It’s the best value per hour of time invested that I’ve experienced since first encountering story structure. It’s my favorite of the author’s work thus far. It builds upon her earlier work, and you definitely want to understand story structure and character arcs to get the most use out of this book, but if you’re unfamiliar or rusty with respect to those topics, there’s a nice appendix that will probably give you what you need.