Confession:
Before this entire panini-panorama, I actually never tried to write short fiction. It was only novels—some which turned out to be novellas. The only time I’ve read short fiction was for English lectures. And I’m sure you know how assigned class readings go. All analysis no fun. Of course there’s nothing wrong with analyzing works. I actually encourage readers to do so. And as I grow as a writer/researcher, I find myself doing this even more. It’s a necessary skill to have. Analyze away! But often times when it comes to writing short fiction, I’m stuck thinking about a theme/moral.
Now I’ve heard from various short story connoisseurs that focusing on thematic aspects is not the best approach to writing short fiction—that it’s better you just tell an interesting story. I followed this advice with my recent short story, but as I was going through my fourth rewrite I… kinda-sorta noticed a theme.
Well it was very faint at first and I guess I had been subconsciously skirting around it. My critique group and a few of my beta-readers felt that the story was too subtle to grasp and I needed to elaborate some parts. As I made my edits I ended up putting a little more emphasis on the theme.
So technically, I didn’t write for a theme but instead found the theme within my story. ;D
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