Meaning if found in relationship. In other words, meaning is nothing more than the relationship of the foreground figure to the background.
-Bruce Lee
“Using lies to expose the truth” is a cute description of a writer’s purpose, but since it’s pretty spot-on, I’m going to try to elaborate on it.
Here’s one of my favorite of Aesop’s Fables: The Rose and the Amaranth.
An amaranth planted in a garden near a Rose-Tree, thus addressed it: “What a lovely flower is the Rose, a favorite alike with Gods and with men. I envy you your beauty and your perfume.” The Rose replied, “I indeed, dear Amaranth, flourish but for a brief season! If no cruel hand pluck me from my stem, yet I must perish by an early doom. But thou art immortal and dost never fade, but bloomest for ever in renewed youth.”
So, what’s this fable about? On the surface, two talking flowers. It’s pretty short as stories go, isn’t it? Also, there’s no conflict resolution here, no stunning conclusion, no climax. So what’s the point?
Well, a handful of morals could apply here. Greatness has its penalties, perhaps. Or that which shines twice as bright will extinguish twice as fast. The grass is always greener, etc.
The story has very little foreground, none of which is meant to be taken literally. How about the story’s morals, the background? Can’t get any more real in my opinion.
Story writing begins with imagination. Your mind finds an interesting idea and runs with it. Characters are created, scenes are painted, and before you know it you have yourself a story.
Before you pat yourself on the back, however, ask yourself: what’s the point of your story? What are you trying to say here? What might a reader infer from the story’s action and consequences?
Developing a story’s lies is the easy part of composition, once practiced. The theme is another matter. Many stories are weak in this area, either because they’re underdeveloped, they’re cliché or the writer has no sense of subtlety. Please, consider your theme. Don’t settle for one so overdone or as watered down as “revenge for its own sake isn’t good,” “broken hearts are sad things” or “pirates are nasty, but strangely likeable people.”
How does one pick a potent theme? Well, that comes with time well spent: reading a lot, and living a lot. Become familiar with the themes of various stories, from shorts to novels, and try to extract meaning from the events of your own life. What are the underlying principles and philosophies you believe in? Which do you understand but disagree with? Keep them in mind when you write, and when it comes time for revision, try to see which one applies to your story. Then, try to further extract it using your words, as thoughtfully and as elegantly as possible. This is the hard part of story-writing, but remember, without a theme, your writing is at best a sequence of events. It becomes a story when the foreground takes the reader not only to the plot’s conclusion, but to one of life’s understandings as interpreted by the writer.
