Fiction is like an iceberg. Only twenty-five percent of it is visible (the words on the page). The other seventy-five percent is known as subtext. It’s the part that is tricky to convey, but when you do it right, it makes for a compelling story.

Last week, I told you about the Toyota dude and the issue with my van doors. He didn’t tell me he was nervous when I calmly asked my question, again and again. His body language gave him away. I interpreted, based on what he didn’t say and how he acted, that Toyota had never inspected the doors during the regular maintenance, even though they knew there was a design flaw. But maybe I was wrong*. Maybe he was shifting on his feet and looking at his coworkers, who were busy staring at their computer screens, because his bladder was about to explode due to a super large latte he recently consumed. Maybe he was hoping someone would come to his aid so he could go to the bathroom before he humiliated himself.

Okay, I didn’t believe that either, but it does show you how things might not always be as they seem. That’s the beauty of subtext. It can add an element of suspense. You can have your character screw up by thinking the subtext means something else and misdirect your reader. But make sure it’s believable. If your reader can guess the truth behind the subtext, your misdirection will come off as contrived and your character will sound like an idiot.

It isn’t always necessary to spell out the subtext for your readers. Often it’s more satisfying if you let them figure it out for themselves. That’s the beauty of fiction. It exercises our brains. However, if the subtext is confusing and is going to frustrate the reader, then definitely have a character spell it out.

One thing to avoid is the mistake director Catherine Hardwicke made in Twilight and Red Riding Hood. In Twilight, she wanted to show Edward’s eyes, which changed color depending on when he last ate blood. In Red Riding Hood, she wanted to show that the werewolf had human eyes. Fair enough. But in both movies, the close-up shots of the eyes filled the screen, and the camera stayed zoomed on them for way longer than necessary. In Red Riding Hood, Catherine then focused on everyone’s eyes so we could examine them (not necessary, if you ask me). Except, I doubt Amanda Seyfried (Red Riding Hood) was leaning that close to the individuals, and for that long, to check out their eyes. At one point, my eleven-year-old said in an exasperated tone, “Yeah, yeah, we get it.”

Lesson: don’t underestimate your readers’ intelligence. They won’t appreciate it.

Do you use subtext to misguide your readers?

<<<3

I’ll be talking more about subtext next week.

(*I wasn’t wrong. Toyota never inspected the doors until I complained about the noise. And by then it was too late.)

source

This summer, I dragged two of my kids to our Toyota dealer because of an issue with our van. Five years ago, we bought a vehicle that turned out to have a major design flaw. A design flaw Toyota knew about.

Several days after we took our van in for regular maintenance, the door on the driver’s side made a loud cracking sound every time we opened it. We took it back to Toyota and they told us only an auto body shop could fix it. At. Our. Expense. That was a $600 bill. This was when we found out it was a common problem for Toyota vehicles made over five years ago (and of course, our warranty had just expired).

I went back to the dealership and asked: During our regular service appointments did anyone, knowing this was an issue, checked the status of the doors while our van was still under warranty?

The last thing the service guy wanted to do was answer my question. He kept avoiding it. He told me the info I had (printed from their website) only applied to the U.S. (Yeah, right). So I repeated my ‘yes or no’ question. Okay, maybe I’ve watched one too many Law & Order episodes. I was beginning to sound like a lawyer, stressing each time that I was only interested in a yes or no response.

The guy grew agitated and shifted nervously on his feet. I kept asking my question and he kept refusing to answer it since I was taking him away from his script. It was actually quite entertaining, especially when he shot panicked looks at his co-workers and they pretended he didn’t exist.

Subtext enables your reader to see that more is going on than what’s in the text. It enables you to create a richer, more emotion packed story. But remember, subtext is never told. It’s implied (shown) by many things, including your characters’ actions.

Do you enjoy writing subtext? Is it something your focus on when editing a draft?

(Note: I’ll be talking more about subtext next week)

One way to create a richer story is by weaving in symbolic subtext. This is also a great way to reveal the story’s theme.

Subtext works both at a conscious and unconscious level. When we read a book or watch a movie, some symbols will jump out at us, especially if the creators have done a good job drawing your attention to it. With other symbols, you won’t stop to analyze it. For example, if the scene takes place in a room with green walls, you won’t be thinking that the director wanted to reveal the subtext of life. But you can guarantee someone behind the scenes purposely picked that color because of what it symbolized and not because it was her favorite color.

In the first season of Criminal Minds, there was one episode (Compulsion) in which fire and the number three were important elements. Among other things, fire represents anger and divinity (Symbols, Images, Codes: The Secret Language of Meaning in Film, TV, Games, and Visual Media by Pamela Jaye Smith). It was eventually determined that the unsub was starting fires based on the need to test her victims. If they survived the fire, they were free of the wrath of God. The number three (or rather the triad of the number three) would set off the unsub. The creators could have randomly selected any number, but three (like other numbers) has a symbolic meaning. In Christianity, it represents the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. As the unsub lined up the three bottles of flammable liquid, before dousing her three victims with them, she made reference to the bottles as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

In the book Where the Heart Is, author Billie Letts used a tree to represent life and growth. Pregnant seventeen-year-old Novalee is abandoned by her boyfriend at a Wal-Mart store. With nowhere to go (since her mother ran away with a guy many years ago), she secretly moves into the store. A woman mistakes her for a young girl she once knew and gives Novalee a Welcome Wagon gift of a buckeye tree. As can be expected, the tree starts to die. Novalee tries to return it to the woman, who suggests they plant it in her garden, but only if Novalee comes by regularly to take care of it. This is the turning point in Novalee’s life. These are the first acts of kindness she has experienced in a while, and under the guidance of Ruth Ann, Novalee turns her life around. This is only one example of what the tree symbolized in the story.
In the second example, the meaning behind the symbolism was obvious from near the beginning of the book, and was woven throughout. In the first example, it was only obvious at the end of the show, when the Behavioral Analysis Unit solved the crimes.

The two resources on symbolism for writers I recommend are Symbols, Images, Codes: The Secret Language of Meaning in Film, TV, Games, and Visual Media by Pamela Jaye Smith (I’ll be reviewing it on Wednesday) and the blog The Bookshelf Muse.

Have you woven symbolism into your story to highlight theme and to be use as subtext?

I’ve almost finished week #2 of my YA writer’s workshop, so I thought I’d share with you some of the stuff I’ve learned so far. I’ll admit most of what I’ve studied isn’t new to me. I’ve already read a zabillion books on writing. But sometimes it’s nice to get a little reminder or two of the important stuff to pay attention to.

For obvious reasons, I’m not going to print off the lecture notes. I will, though, share a few things I’ve noticed while critting my classmates’ assignments, plus include some important stuff covered in the course. Last week the focus was on POV. This week it’s dialogue.

1. What your character doesn’t say is as important as what they do say. This is known as subtext, and a whole chapter is dedicated to the topic in one of my favorite books on writing: Getting Into Character by Brandilyn Collins.

2. Make sure you know proper dialogue mechanics . . . unless you want an agent to reject your novel based on the first page. There’re a lot of books on writing dialogue, and they all cover this important topic. Please don’t fudge it. These are the rules you can’t ignore.

3. Please pay attention to your character’s point of view. One of the assignments I critted had the main character jump into another character’s head. Sorry you can’t do that--unless it’s a paranormal novel. Another writer was also confused by POV. She asked me, since the main character’s mom’s name is Bonnie Tyler (not the real name), if she can alternate between Bonnie and Mrs Tyler in the narration. The answer is no. Because the POV character’s a teen, she would refer to Mrs Tyler as either ‘her mom’ or ‘Alyson’s mom’ (the novel is in third person) in the narration. There are, of course, exceptions to this.

If you find yourself struggling with POV, check out The Power of Point of View: Make Your Story Come to Life by Alicia Rasley.

4. Skip on the clichéd characters. Slush piles are already loaded with tons of them. I critted one assignment in which the secondary character was the geeky team manager of the high school basketball team. And guess what? He was bullied by the jocks. Yawn. Not. Original. Fortunately, there are ways for writer to improve the characterization and strengthen the story.

In case you’re wondering, no I haven’t made any of these mistakes. Have I received tons of feedback to make my novel better? Uh . . . well . . . no. From my classmates’ perspective, I handed in another kick-ass assignment. My instructor’s comments made me realize the drawbacks to the course. She doesn’t know what happened in the preceding chapters, so what she perceives might be a problem, isn’t. There are things at stake in the scene. My main character does have a motive. And both the characters have opposing scene objectives (okay, the instructor didn’t bring up this point, but it's in my favorite book on writing).

Regardless of these drawbacks, I’m happy with the feedback in the workshop. And at least I know my teen dialogue is authentic. Believe me, that’s a huge deal. Plus I'm editing those excerpt of my novel like crazy, and focusing on my "issue." That in itself is worth it.

I hope that helps. Next week’s lesson is on writing YA emotions. And we know what a roller coaster ride that can be.

As writers, we’re constantly reminded to read outside our genre(s). Certain genres are character-based while others focus on plot. If you read predominantly plot-based stories, you’re missing out on an opportunity to see how others develop characters readers love to connect with. Romance, young adult, and horror are a few genres that rely heavily on emotions. Thrillers and suspense are perfect examples for solid pacing. By reading other genres, it will help you further develop your craft, plus they might trigger ideas to use within your stories.

But what about craft books on writing? Have you explored books that don’t focus solely on writing novels and short stories?

We’re all familiar with Writer’s Digest. My bookshelves are crammed full of craft books from the publisher (yeah, I have a little addiction issue). But last year, I discovered a publisher most of us aren’t familiar with—unless you’ve read Save the Cat! by Blake Synder. Michael Wiese Production publishes tons of books that focus on TV and film, and many of these deal with topics relevant to novelists.

The following are books that now live on my bookshelf (all which I love):

Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting That You’ll Ever Need by Blake Synder (I recently ordered the sequel Save the Cat! Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get into ... and Out of at Elana Johnson’s recommendation. It's in the mail.)

(Seriously, how can you resist this cover????)

Story Line: Finding Gold in Your Life Story by Jen Grisanti

Writing Subtext: What Lies Beneath by Dr. Linda Seger

Symbols, Images, Codes: The Secret Language of Meaning in Film, TV, Games, and Visual Media by Pamela Jaye Smith

Inner Drives: How to Write & Create Characters Using the Eight Classic Centers of Motivation by Pamela Jaye Smith

Have you read any craft books geared toward screenwriters?

(So what does Brad Pitt have to do with this? Nothing. But it got you to look, right? And maybe if you study these books and take up writing screenplays, you might just meet him when you pen his Oscar winning movie. Hey, you never know.)

Characters are the core of your story. There’s no doubt about that. Even if you write plot-based fiction, you still need dimensional characters. You also want to create characters who feel (i.e. show emotions) so that your reader can connect with them. And if the reader connects with the main character within the first page, she’s going to keep reading. Right?

This is why you want to check out the non-fiction book, Breathing Life Into Your Characters: How To Give Your Characters Emotional & Psychological Depth, by Rachel Ballon. Whew! Say that five times fast.

In it you’ll learn how to create your characters both inside and out, and I mean beyond the typical interviews you see in most books on writing fiction. You’ll know your characters so well, they’ll become real to you, and that will make it easier to for you to make them real for your reader. You’ll learn through explanations, examples, and exercises to:

• create character backstories and motivations
• infuse feelings into your characters
• determine how they deal with conflict
• work with dysfunctional families
• make your villains believable and non-cartoonish
• create believable characters who have personality or behavior
disorders
• convey emotions through imagery, dialogue, and subtext

This is one of the best books I’ve read on the subject of characterization and emotion (the other two I’ve discussed here and here).

Any questions?

<<<3

I have some contest news. Enter Kate Walton’s contest and you have a chance to win some awesome prizes, including a first chapter critique by agent Sarah LaPolla.

But then again, if you don't enter, if increases my odds of winning. Of course, if one of you wins, I'll be really excited for you . . . so please enter. I'd love to see one of my friends win.