Questions

I’m writing a book for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and I got curious as to how big this book would be once it’s published. I have all the Sherrilyn Kenyon books, so any book word count would be a great comparison, with exception to Acheron. (I have the book, but it’s much bigger than what i’ve written.) Thank you!
- Ink

By now, you have a solid grasp of the importance of having a theme for your story, of keeping it personal and hidden (to avoid writing the dreaded Message Book), and of hanging on to the courage of your convictions in writing it the way you need to, knowing that you cannot ever please everyone, nor should you try.

That’s a good, solid foundation for writing a book that people will read, and then re-read, and then recommend to friends, and finally buy as presents for people they really like. Which is, after all, the writer’s ultimate goal—to write a story readers love so much they’ll share it with other people who will love it, too.

But you can still go deeper, and make the work richer and more compelling, by layering in subthemes.

[Brakes screech, and someone mutters, "Wait a minute. You finally sold me on themes. But SUBthemes? C'mon, already."]

Subthemes are one of the best friends novelists have. (They’re far less useful for folks who write short stories, simply because subthemes add to the length and complexity of the story.)

Subthemes do three massively useful things for the writer crafting a novel—things a single theme alone cannot do.

1) They force the world of the story into three dimensions. If the book is focused on one theme—no matter how fascinating and wonderful that theme—and all the characters are focused on that one issue, and all the action revolves around that one issue, then, no matter how skilled the writer may be, the book will feel thin. Step beyond the borders of the main action, and no character has anything to do, or say, or think, or any reason to exist. Their lives are bordered by the main theme. By adding subthemes, you fill out your characters’ lives with needs and events that are important to them outside of and separate from the main story’s focus.

2) Subthemes add length and complexity. (I mentioned this above in the negative sense, but that which is the bane of the short story writer is in this case the boon of the novelist.) I receive the following question at least once a week from beginning and intermediate writers—”How do I make my story longer without padding it (and without trying to figure out more plot, because I’m out of ideas)?”

Subthemes by their very nature give you something extra to work into your plot—the unexpected pregnancy of the heroine adding complications while she is running for her life; the villain who in the midst of working mayhem discovers the mother he truly loves is dying; the harassment of the main character by the practical joker at work whose stupid jokes later become mixed up in the life or death issues already besieging the hero.

3) Subthemes allow you an extra opportunity to…um, for lack of a better word…vent. And get something good out of the bad things that have happened in your life. This is admittedly a strange side benefit, but just about every writer I know has SOME issue that repeatedly makes its way into his (or her) novels. The trick, always, is to keep YOUR issue out of the book, and make the issue really and truly related to the character, with different events and a different resolution.

So where do you find your subthemes?

1) Pick a subtheme that is distantly related to the issue driving your novel. If your theme is “Why do bad things happen to good people?”, and your story is about a father who comes to terms with the lingering death of his oldest kid after the boy contracts some terrible disease, a related theme would be how the father finds ways to bring happiness to the kid’s life (and his own) for whatever time they have left. Or how the kid makes a friend in the middle of his personal tragedy, or learns to do something he’s always wanted to do. Or how the father makes one thing his son has always wanted come true for him.(Man, this would be a grim book.)

2) Pick an unrelated issue, and give it, in disguised form, to primary or secondary characters. Using the example above, an unrelated issue that could become a theme would be how the father hangs on to a job when he’s both the sole provider (say the kid’s mother died, or just left) and his kid’s sole source of care and support; or how the kid sets out to win the science fair before he dies, and wins the respect of a teacher he previously hated.

3) Pick some train wreck in your personal life, THOROUGHLY disguise it, give it to people totally unlike the people who were involved in YOUR train wreck, change names, locales, and events… And then work though it the way you should have, or wish you could have, the first time. Using this method, the father could be going through your horrible divorce, but HE could find the good ending you didn’t get. Or he could give up his fantastic career as a professional poker player to be with his son, and could find something good from that loss, rather than the constant regret you have from a similar situation.

In every case, your priorities in using subthemes are to:

* give yourself more story than what you’d get if you only focused on your theme,

* give your reader something extra, and different, to take away from the book.

You and your story will benefit in more ways than you can imagine.

In BRING YOUR NOVEL TO LIFE, Part VI, Interweaving Your Novel’s Themes And Subthemes, you’ll learn three of my favorite techniques for balancing themes and subthemes while writing your novel.


- Holly Lisle

Im in the middle of my book and i was wondering what do i do when im done writing it.
- Alice

I’m writing a book about a illness that slowly kills you by shutting down your organs. I know it’s highly contagious but i can’t think of how you can get this illness. Anyone have any ideas?
- Megan

I am writing a ****?k, I ****?t to publish soon ****? haven’t finished everything. It will include poetry,a short story,pictures and maybe something else. I couldn’t come up with any ideas yet, if anyone has any ideas please help me out.
- alicemd74

Bio Quote :

“I guess you could say the writing bug bit me at an early age. Shortly after watching the first remake of King Kong, around the age of ten or eleven, I scribbled a few lines about a mutant crab attacking the city, and called it a ****?k. I discovered poetry in my ****?ns and continue to write verse today. However, that kid’s dream of writing a ****?k never went away. Lighting the Dark Side was published in April 2008, and ***?ll length novel will be released in the ***?ll 2009.

Lighting the Dark Side: Six Modern Tales

by William R. Potter

LIGHTING THE DARK SIDE won the 2009 Allbooks Review Editor’s Choice Award for short story collections.

The stories…

LIGHTING THE DARK SIDE is a collection of six stories. Each ***?lection features leading characters that live their lives ***? normally ***? possible and then suddenly find themselves in extraordinary situations.

Bent, Not Broken. Dwayne Johnson knows he is different. He lives in a world that can always be depended on to remind him of his strangeness. Despite his social awkwardness, Dwayne meets a beautiful woman at a bus stop and soon his entire life transforms. Unfortunately his obsessions work against him, keeping the couple apart pushing Dwayne to the point of alcoholism and insanity.

In the Gray. Michael Connor is estranged from his entire ***?mily and for ****?d reason. His ***?ther is wife beating ******. his brother a corrupt politician, and his mother is all too willing look the other way. Unfortunately his loving Mum won’t stop calling…insisting that he become more like his sibling and ***?ttle down and take a wife.

Blessing or ***?rse? When Brad Stewart won eleven million dollars in the lottery he would never have guessed a group of extortionists would kidnap his son for ransom. His decision to follow the kidnapper’s demands and not involve the police is a choice that will threaten his marriage and his life with the violence of vigilantism.

May 18th Trevor Woodward just ****?ts to go home after a long day at work. He is ***?red of all the talk about the approaching “comet” that may or may not strike the earth. However, he can’t shake the feeling that he has lived through the events of the historic day before. Or is it many ***?mes?

Prominent Couple Slain. Detective Jack Staal of the Hanson Police Major Crime ***?ction has recently transferred from the Vancouver Police departments MCS. Burnt out, ***?red and weary of Homicide, he’s looking forward to the lower profile cases of a small town. That wish is dashed when a former Mayor candidate and his wife are found murdered.

Surviving the ***?ll. Since childhood, James ****?dal has had a soft spot for stray creatures offering ***? many ***? possible a ****?d home. Now James is ***?parated from his wife, depressed and alone. Then one afternoon, a few days before Christmas, he meets a young street girl named ***?hley. Days after taking her in, his simple life is turned into a nightmare of violence and death ***? ***?hley’s past catches up to her at ****?dal’s home.

Product Details:

Paperback: 260 pages

Publisher: Xlibris (April 29, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1436312531

ISBN-13: 978-1436312530

$19.99 online *****?e at Amazon and Barnes and Nobles

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1436312531/ref=s9_ri_wizard

http://search.barnesandnoble.com//e/9781436312530

E-Book Version ISBN 978-1-906806-79-8, 9781906806644 

$10.95 online at E-Book Sale Publishing

http://www.theebooksale.com/zen-cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=89&products_id=431

Praise for William Potter and LIGHTING THE DARK SIDE:

“These novellas and short stories are definitely page-turners. I shouldn’t think it’d be long before a major publishing house snaps Mr. Potter up because he belongs on the ****?kshelves with the likes of Jeffery Deaver and ***?ter Abrahams.”

Highly recommended by reviewer: Jan Evan Whitford, Allbooks Reviews

“Potter ****?nes a little light on the darker side of humanity. ***?ns of modern fiction will enjoy Lighting The Dark Side.”

Debra ***?ynor, Review Your ****?k.com

“This ****?k, Lighting the Dark Side, by William R. Potter, will definitely be enjoyed by all ***?ns of fiction. I think that it would make an excellent ***?lection for a reader’s group or for a college course.”

Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (7/08)

“Potter’s writing skills ****?ne ***? a storyteller throughout his collection. I highly recommend Lighting the Dark Side to all readers. His stories captivate the mind in all respects. I hope to ***?e more works from William Potter soon!

Reviewed by Mona Lisa Safai for TCM Reviews

“Lighting the Dark Side consists of six short stories, all of which are very different and unique, *****?ning the ***?ll ***?mut of fictional genres. After reading all three of the novellas and all three of the shorter works, I can honestly say that I enjoyed each and every one of them.”

Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads.com (9/08)

“A remarkably well-written collection of six ironic tales. Each story touches on reality ***? you’re guided through the lives of characters that are not too much different from ourselves. Captivating storytelling, drawing the reader in and keeping them enthralled.”

Reviewed by TJ Jenkins for PremierBookReviews.com

Coming Soon!

DEAD of KNIGHT-A Jack Staal Mystery

by William R. Potter (author of LIGHTING THE DARK SIDE)

Your next birthday could be murder! Believing he is a soldier of justice, a misguided young man begins a callous campaign of terror murdering women on their birthdays. Convinced of his righteousness he continues his brutal crusade forcing the citizens of Hanson B.C. to acknowledge a ***?rial killer active in their rural community.

The Mounties always get their man…but not if Jack Staal gets him first! The Royal Canadian Mounted Police put their Integrated Homicide Investigation Teams into action. Detective Jack Staal and the rest of Hanson PD are invited to support the RCMP. However, Staal, the once elite major-crime investigator reduced to small-town detective is desperate for redemption. He ignores protocol to work a case that is not his to solve.

Told from the ***?rspective of both killer and cop DEAD of KNIGHT is a cat and mouse thriller sure to delight ***?ns of Patricia Cornwell’s Kay ****?rpetta or Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch.

Author Contact:

wrpotter@booksinsync.com

Please visit William R. Potter’s Author’s Web Page: 

http://www.booksinsync.com/multibookauthors/potterwilliam.html


- William

I’m writing a book; I keep getting stuck on certain parts. I try to write outside of the one chapter but it doesn’t help. People say to work on other writing projects. I keep a journal and write in it daily, but is that not enough? And do you have more tips?
- tiffinilea18

Im writing a book. Im in the middle of it, when wow! i get stuck. I need some ideas to get my brain start brainstorming!! i REALLY need ur help!
- NevermoreFairy

I’m working on writing a book and I didn’t get that far. Help!
- The official Taylor Swift

I’m writing a book, on spoiled rich teens that need a reality check. Anyways, I really want to continue writing, but I need some more inspiration to get started again.. Any Ideas?
- Sasha C