Have you noticed? The children's magazine writers who are selling consistently have a secret: each of them has discovered a method for writing to theme!

"I can't write to someone else's theme," you say. "I have to be INSPIRED to write!"

And yet, a number of children's magazines, including Pockets, Cobblestone, Cadet Quest, Calliope, and Faces, work with a specific theme list for each month. A much larger number have more general themes: good health, or God's love, themes which must be integrated into your stories if you wish to sell to them. And almost ALL the children's magazines use seasonal themes: Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc. So doesn't it make good sense to learn to write to a specific theme?

Now here's the good news: a foolproof three-step plan for writing stories to theme -- stories that will be as real and as true to your unique outlook on life as your "inspired" stories. If you put this method into practice, you too, can be a selling writer to all those children's magazines that buy stories according to theme.

Here's the plan. Step number one: Write the theme down at the top of four sheets of paper. This can be a specific theme from a magazine theme list, a more general theme that you see reflected in a specific magazine, or a seasonal theme.

Tape one sheet in the bathroom on the mirror.

Put the second by your bed.

Put the third on the refrigerator.

The fourth sheet is variable, depending on your lifestyle. For me, that fourth sheet gets posted by my favorite reading chair in the living room in the winter, or out on the back deck by the lounge chair in the summer.

These four sheets of paper are critical to the success of the plan. They are the trigger for your subconscious to begin dredging up usable memories, information, experiences that relate to your theme. Every time you walk by one of the sheets, jot SOMETHING down: a fragment of an idea, a character that might work, whatever comes to your mind. At this point don't do any editing. No matter how unworkable or silly they seem at the moment, get those ideas on paper. You'll be amazed to discover how much will bubble up from your forgotten past that has to do with the theme listed. Just by virtue of the fact that you've lived a certain number of years, you're rich in life experience -- and the memories of those experiences are all stored within your brain, waiting to resurface if you press the right button.

Take a look for a moment at the creative process. What do you mean when you say you're "inspired?" Usually, that a chance remark, a story from the newspaper, or something you observe or experience, triggers a tremendous upheaval within you. Somehow that external happening unlocks all sorts of things that have been mulling around inside for the past few hours, days, weeks. The result? A startling insight of explosive proportions.

You can trigger the same process when you're writing to theme.

In this case instead of waiting for the chance combustion of inspiration, you drop a particular idea or theme into the bubbling brew of your subconscious. The important thing here is to stir it around.

That's what the lists do. As you're continually reminded of the theme and jot down your bits of ideas, the ingredients of your own life season the concoction so that what rises to the surface will be real and uniquely you.

Step number two : An intense brainstorming session. After the themes been posted a few days, take your four sheets of paper and sit down at your typewriter, computer, or yellow pad. Start by writing out all the ideas you've listed; don't edit yet.

Then KEEP writing - any ideas that come into your head. Take time here to think CONSCIOUSLY of what's going on in your own life right now; often the circumstances will fit nicely (and fictionally) into a story you're writing. I found this true when I was trying to meet a deadline for a Pockets story right after my father-in-law had died from cancer. After a frustrating few days of trying to get past my own grief to focus on the story, I suddenly realized that my situation would fit well into the theme I was developing for that issue.

Stay at the brainstorming for half an hour at least, writing down things as fast as possible. When you get stuck, reread your list, rethink your present life, and go on again.

Often by the time I reach this stage of the process, one of the thoughts I've jotted down has really taken hold of me, and I find myself itching to write.

Hold off just a bit now, and evaluate. Which of the many ideas and pieces of ideas really works best? Fits best with the theme as you understand it? Think of possible "bonuses " that would fit into the story: unusual setting or information, that will make your story stand out from the others on the editor's desk.

For this evaluation phase, move to your favorite thinking spot -- be it the couch, the shower, or a jogging trail. Keep the list in a pocket to refer to if needed. I defy you not to feel inspired by now! What's rising to the surface has come from your own personal source of ideas fermenting deep in your subconscious -- and it's bound to contain at least one story possibility that excites you.

Step number three : Write your story according to your own usual method, with one modification at the end of the process.

In other words, if you usually outline and do character charts, do so now. If your mode of operation is to get the story down on paper first and and then go heavy on the rewrites, do that. Don't think about theme at this stage of the process. If you've done steps one and two properly, you'll have no problem with a "patched in" theme. Because you BEGAN with the theme and let it incubate in your subconscious, the theme is integral to the story that developed.

Now for the modification mentioned: After you've written and revised your story, go back and check for any sign of preachiness. In other words, make sure you don't have too MUCH theme. You don't want to hit your young reader over the head with a sledgehammer. Reading aloud is the secret here. Note particularly all the "message lines," lines where your character (or narrator) is thinking or saying what he is coming to realize. Cut as many of these as possible without losing the meaning of the story. If you are thorough and honest with yourself at this stage of the process, you'll find you have a story that's unified by theme, but not weighed down by it.

When you write to theme, consider the oyster.

An oyster can produce pearls in two different ways. A natural pearl -- an "inspired" pearl -- is beautiful and can be extremely valuable. Unfortunately a well-formed one is also extremely rare.

The cultured pearl, on the other hand, is predictable. Plant a bead of mother of pearl deep in the mantle of an oyster, and the mollusk will begin to secrete around it the substance of its own life, producing in time a pearl. Cultured pearls are not to be scoffed at; the high quality ones are beautiful and bring a good price.

I've no doubt, however, that the initial bead in the oyster's shell is downright irritating. Writing to theme may feel the same way for you, but I suggest you try it. Plant a workable theme -- from Pockets or Cobblestone, or any number of children's magazines -- in your being and secrete around it the substance of your own life. You may be pleasantly surprised!

 

 

 

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