This week: Are You Controlling Your Idea? Edited by: Jayngle Bells  
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| The controlling idea of a story is tightly knit with the story theme. In fact, many will argue they are the same. Your theme is woven from the fabric that makes up the core value of your story. |
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The concept of a controlling idea as it relates to theme hinges on the basis that every genre convention and story beat should be driven by a basic concept. Not one or two instances where you hit the reader over the head with a blatant “this is what my story is really about” line, but a more nuanced approach to ensuring that your theme permeates the entirety of your work.
Therein lies the problem for many writers. Bogged down by thematic choices, many writers ‘lose the plot’ by forcing examinations of key themes in places they don’t belong. They also risk heavy-handed writing that leaves the reader rolling their eyes at the absurdity of the repetitive message.
Good plotting can help with much of this wading through weeds approach, but even that can be an exercise in frustration when you’re struggling to determine your theme.
You can save yourself some headaches by treating the controlling idea a bit differently. Instead of working directly on the value statement you’re trying to make, consider the most basic needs of the genre.
Every genre has these basic points. Love stories have, well, love. They may have love-hate, love-unrequited love, or love-love-love (the ever popular love-triangle, which also technically falls under love-hate in many, but not all, instances). Crime is straightforward: justice-injustice. How you handle the opposing sides is where your themes come into play. Can someone only cure injustice through vigilantism? What are the repercussions of that?
How you work your themes in matters little at the embryonic stage of your story and may matter only a slight bit more during your first draft.
Action’s baseline controlling idea is life and death. That’s it. That drives every other decision and plot point in the book. Your character will grow, or regress, based on the choices they make. Are they racing to save many lives, or only their own? Do they care about other lives, or are the people in the way nothing more than collateral damage? How your character develops depends on where your character starts from. Finally, your character will face a final choice. They will risk everything for their desired outcome. Will they choose to sacrifice themselves? They may not. But their reasoning precedes those final decisions.
You may not fully recognize the ultimate theme of your story until well after you complete the first draft. It’s a mistake to think you won’t be going back and forth between sections to plant the seeds of your character’s growth or regression, and to home in on your underlying message. Professional writers do this all the time. R. L. Stine admits he flips back and forth during the first draft as he thinks of new directions to take. The thematic finessing takes place in the second draft.
The first draft is for you. Your second draft is most likely for editors/feedback. Your third draft should resemble something that looks like a powerful story.
The key is to let yourself tell the story as it presents itself in that first draft. Don’t try to shoehorn in every undercurrent you can think of. Allow the story to develop and don’t be afraid to explore what your character is telling you comes next. An outline can be revised just like a story draft can.
Once you have a draft, you’ll be able to better see the thematic point(s) you brought up, and very often they are values you hold close and subconsciously translate to the page. It’s at that point you can clean up the copy to make sure they don’t appear out of nowhere.
Focusing on the genre’s basic controlling idea will shape the story and can prevent confusion (or even inertia) in the early stages. Remember, at its core, action is life and death. Everything else is a bonus.
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Action/Adventure: August 10, 2022 Issue [#11503]
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