--Celli raises her hand--

(Okay, besides that.)

Have you noticed that some stories seem to fall flat, no matter how much
care the author paid to spelling and grammar and sparkling dialogue?  And
other tales, with more noticeable flaws, lure you back for a second
reading, or even a third?

Three key ingredients to a memorable story--theme, symbolism, and
resonance--can help you cook up a tale that will have readers begging for a
second helping.  But first, you've got to know what they are.

Theme and symbolism are two terms your high school English teachers
probably threw around a lot.  And, like me, you probably learned to sleep
with your eyes open during those classes.  (Don't worry!  This won't be on
the final exam!)  So let's have a quick review.

I'd define theme as the underlying idea behind the story, the point you're
trying to make that's larger than the characters or the circumstances in
which they find themselves.  For instance, the theme of an Alias fanfic
about Jack and Sydney might be the tensions and misunderstandings between
parents and children, or forgiveness, or self-sacrifice.  Or some
combination of the three. 

An Enterprise fic might have a theme about human curiosity, or tolerance,
or courage in the face of death.

An Angel fic could have an underlying theme about redemption, or the power
of friendship. 

It's more than just 'my favorite characters have an adventure'--you're
trying to sneak some deeper issues past your reader.  But you've got to be
subtle.  If you find yourself writing something like, '"Well, we sure have
learned a lot about the power of friendship," said Cordelia', then you've
gotten a bit heavy-handed.

Exercise:
1.  Read through your favorite fanfic again.  (No, not the smut, Celli!
One with a plot.)  See if you can spot a theme, and then write it down.
Limit yourself to one sentence.

2.  Outline a story using that same theme (in the same or a different
fandom).  What scenes will you need in order to build your chosen theme
into the story?  Is there one particular character who'd be good for POV? 

Moving right along, we come to another high school bugaboo:  symbolism.
Yeah, that's right, the green light at the end of the dock.  The white
whale.  Jack Bristow's enormous black car.  (Okay, so I'm obsessing.
What's your point?) 

Some objects have a cultural symbolism, while others are more personal.  In
fanfic, you can assume your audience has seen the same show as you, though
someone else's take on it is bound to be a bit different than yours.  Even
so, you have a common ground on which to build, and using some object from
the show as a symbol can actually work.

As an example of a symbol actually used in a show, those of you who watch
Buffy and Angel will remember the infamous leather pants, which became a
symbol of Angel's slide into the dark side.  It's kind of a joke now, but
the principle is the same.

And don't forget that setting can be symbolic, too.  For Alias fans, that
abandoned warehouse where Sydney and Vaughn meet is probably symbolic of
something--

--Celli raises her hand--

--though I don't want to start thinking about what's up with those
two.  And the merry-go-round where Jack and Sydney talked about her mother,
and her future--also highly symbolic.  Lost innocence, childhood dreams . .
.  Good stuff.

Exercise:
3.  Get out your embryonic fanfic.  Think of a place or object linked to
your POV character and try to think how it could tie in with your theme.
How might the character use/view that object or setting to show the theme?
What might happen there?

My third cool term, resonance, may be a new one for you.  It's new for me,
but my writing group had an interesting discussion about it last week, and
I thought I'd pass along some of the tricks I learned.

Building resonance into a story means using imagery, epigraphs, allusions
and other neat writing tricks to add depth to a story.  For instance, the
quote from monkee at the top of my essay is an epigraph--a snippet of
someone else's words that help set the tone.  Hopefully it made you laugh,
but maybe it made you wonder what I was up to, as well.  I keep a notebook
on the shelf by my desk where I write down all the funny or intriguing
quotes I read.  Using one at the beginning of a story, or between scenes,
can be a way to set the tone or bring up the theme without hitting your
reader between the eyes with a ball-peen hammer.

Using song lyrics is example of this kind of resonance that turns up
frequently in fanfic (which in my curmudgeonly opinion tends to be
overused, but that's just me).  It can be effective--see Celli's essay on
music in fanfic--but you could always branch out and try something new.

Hopefully if you're writing fanfic, you know what imagery is.  For
resonance, you want to try to create images using words that echo the theme
in some way.  Resonant imagery can mean the difference between "Sydney
walked into the big, empty warehouse" and "The door slipped out of her
hands.  When it slammed closed, the boom echoed through the warehouse.  She
looked up, to where light glowed faintly behind dirty windows.  It reminded
her of a church, an abandoned church which even God had left behind."
Okay, it's a bit heavy-handed, but hopefully you get the point.

An allusion, for those of you who were sleeping that day in class, is a
reference to an older and more famous piece of literature, such as the
Bible, mythology, or Shakespeare.  (Or Moby Dick or The Great Gatsby,
such as I used earlier in this essay.)  You can even use references to
movies or TV shows, if you think your readers will get the point.  Whatever
works.

Exercise:
4.  Before you do anything else, finish the rough draft (or at least a
solid outline) of your story.  In each scene, think of a way to add
resonance in your descriptions.  You get bonus points if you come up with
an epigraph that's never been used in a song.

Once you've done that, polish it up and send it to your beta-readers.  See
if they notice anything different.  (Hey!  Did you get a haircut or
something?)  And let me know how it works out.  If you need to find me,
I'll be lurking in the back seat of Jack's car.

Back to Fanfic 101
Email the Professors