Tuesday's Writer's Tip - Openings - Settings and more @BWLAuthor #MFRWAuthor #amwriting #props # settings

 There is more to the opening of a story than the characters and the moments around the change happening to one or more of the characters. Setting is a big thing and Symbols are another that can shape the story.

Symbols is another word for a prop or an object that means something to the character and may be present throughout the book. I use this frequently. In some of my fantasies, jewels play a large role and often are used by the characters to enhance their talents. Often these gems are with the characters constantly. There are other symbols I've used. In my mystery series, mint tea plays a large role. Sometimes people think the cat, Robespierre is a prop but to my character in the book he is a person. So when you're developing a story try to find something for the character or characters to use.

Settings have a great deal of influence in stories. This has always been my problem and I've been accused of having my characters existing in a vacuum. This has become less stressful for me as a writer over the years. Of course there are some writers who expand their stories with volumes and volumes describing the settings. This can definitely upset the reader and often causes them to skip over the materisl. In an opening scene, the setting can give a hint to the atmosphere of the story. My current story has the opening scene in the hero's office and gives a bit about his character. The heroine's opening scene is set in the place where she is the caregiver to a young boy. These settings give the reader a view of the characters in their ordinary life and then shows the change.

Settings can set the tone and mood of a story. Often in my fantasies the opening scenes can show darkness coming to a character's life. One I recall has the heroine overlooking a keep and wondering what will happen to her and why she has been torn from her family. So remember the opening setting in important to your story.

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Inspired by Becoming Your Own Critique Partner - Theme, Symbols and Writer's Voice, Thanks Debra Dixon

Many of us have taken lit classes in high school and in college. Find the Theme is a game the instructors like to play. When they come to a conclusion, are they right or is theme something else? Last week I heard Debra Dixon speak on Voice and one of those ding ding moments occurred to me. Authors are always striving to find their voice as a writer. Voice is part of who you are. So is theme and I realized theme is part of voice.

Themes are often written in cliches and that's because they're universal. They can be a single word like love, hate, revenge, obsession. I'm not sure when I write I deliberately choose a theme, except once. Yet there are themes in many of my books. Good wins in the end. Love finds a way. Always dark before the dawn.

But while listening to what Debra said about a Writer's Voice and that moment I realized there were some perhaps not themes but symbols in my writing that were part of my voice as well as part of the themes in my books. I often use caves or other dark places in various ways. They can mean fear, despair or beauty. Jewels are another of the things I use and these jewels are used in different ways. I'll probably be spending a lot of time deciding what these underlying symbols mean to me as a writer and what do the themes have to do with my voice. Debra, thanks for giving me another way to look at what I do.

How about you? Are there themes and symbols that are found in most of the things you write? Do these themes and symbols impact your Voice as a writer.