Theme and Strategy

This book is written for the writer who has solid writing skills (description, dialog, tone, etc.) and a solid idea or set of ideas but can't decide how to convey those ideas. In other words, you have a solid feel for the characters, and you know at least your major plot turns, but you have specific, underlying ideas you want to convey, and you're not sure how to effectively express them. Essentially, it's for the author who's trying to write more than a basic thriller or other escapist novel (and he gives some solid recommendations for writers working on those types of stories, as well). Tobias consistently reminds us that everything in a story should support the theme, and 'everything' covers a lot of ground, so he looks at theme as it affects a wide variety of story elements. He clearly states that some types of stories emphasize certain elements and other types emphsize others. In essence, he is giving guidelines for writers to plan their writing and organize a story based on the elements most common to a particular theme. One reviewer was upset that Tobias states there are only five major themes. Actually, Tobias says the pattern of a story will usually take one of five forms, based on the theme of the story. In another book (20 Master Plots), he points out that Aristotle believed there were only two plots, forza and forda, while Tobias describes twenty (I highly recommend that book, as well). Tobias isn't trying to stick every writer in a box, he's trying to help them take the shortest possible path toward writing the story they want to write. This isn't the book to go to when you're learning how to write. Try Damon Knight's Creating Short Fiction or Rust Hills' Writing In General and the Shoft Story In Particular. This is the book you go to when you have something to say, when you finally find a story and characters that are important to you, and you want to make sure you do them justice.