Elizabeth Lyon - Writing Subtext: How to Craft Subtext that Develops Characters, Boosts Suspense, and Reinforces Theme

WRITING SUBTEXT

How to craft subtext that develops characters, boosts suspense, and reinforces theme

Booklet #1 in a series by

Elizabeth Lyon

2013

Writing Subtext

Copyright 2013

www.elizabethlyon.com

All rights reserved. No part of this booklet may be used or reproduced by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, and recording or in any way that facilitates use or sharing, without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations used in articles and reviews. Please do not encourage electronic piracy. Support author rights.

Cover image by Marilyn Mills, TwinWillows Design

Dedication

For Carolyn J. Rose

who suggested this series

a friend through thick and thin

a person who inspires me

a writer who proves that it pays to never give up

With gratitude for the patience, pondering, and encouragement of my brilliant critique group friends: Barbara Corrado Pope, Faris Cassell, Mabel Armstrong, Kari Davidson, and Geraldine Moreno Black

With special thanks to

Sarah Cypher, The Threepenny Editor

Marilyn Mills, TwinWillows Design

and to the Redditt Foundation

Table of Contents

Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you.

Roger Ebert, movie critic

WRITING SUBTEXT

Subtext is one of the most elusive and powerful elements of craft. Literally meaning what lies beneath the text, it is an undercurrent, a hidden agenda, a vibe, a reinforcement of themeand it exists in what is implied but not explicitly spelled out. It has impact because what you dont say is often more powerful than what you do say.

No wonder its hard to wrap our minds around subtext, much less know how to apply it in our writing. But the pay-offs for learning how to write subtext are great: believable characters with hidden, sometimes complex motivations; increased suspense created by pressurized undercurrents; and a strengthened and unifying theme permeating the fabric of your story.

Hans Christian Andersens The Emperors New Clothes is a fitting example, pun intended. In case you havent read this childrens story lately, heres a summary: Thieves masquerading as master weavers offer the emperor a litmus test to rout out slacker employees: the unworthy will not be able to see the fine new suit. The subterfuge is that while pretending to weave, the thieves stash the expensive gold threads and fine fabrics. First the emperors ministers cannot see the glorious suit on the weavers looms. Theyre incompetent! Their jobs are in peril. Then the emperor himself is shocked when he cannot see it. Is his Highness undeserving of his throne? Like a lot of people currying favor, all of his advisors lie: they pretend they see his suit and launch a cover-up (so to speak), everybody raving about the colors, fabrics, patterns, and beauty of the suit. Not daring to reveal that he is among the dolts who cannot see the suit, the in-the-buff emperor parades before his subjects. A child finally speaks the truth: But the emperor has no clothes!

As The Emperors New Clothes unfolds, readers wonder when someone will say this truth, and bring the obvious into the open. Subtext suggests that the emperor is not only gullible, he is a fool. In the face of the naked truth the emperor doubts himself. Thematically, subtext suggests that it is human nature to go along and hide our vulnerabilities. We are all fools because we can all be fooled.

Although subtext may be new to some writers, human experience is permeated with multiple layers of innuendo, interpretation, and meaning. Toddlers and young children take everything at face value. They must learn how to recognize the signs and symbols of hidden meanings. Im sure some people catch on to subtext early while a small percentage never does figure it out. Others have an acute ability to read peopletheir body language, shifts in tone of voice, and the insinuations behind their words.

All of us have likely experienced stepping into a room of people where we sensed an unusual moodsomething said that we werent privy to. Perhaps we took a moment and noticed that no one was smiling; heads were bowed. We asked or thought, Whats wrong? What happened? We decode the nonverbal messages enough to be alerted to the existence of subtext, even if it takes longer to decipher the meaning behind the body language.

In close friendships and marriages, we send cues that escape the notice of outsiders. A shift in tone of voice, the lift of an eyebrow, a shrug of a shoulder. At some time or another, all of us have withheld what we were really thinking when talking with others, but we may not have been polished actors in hiding our true feelings. Oh how beautiful! Its lovely. Thank you! we say, but think Ive never seen such a hideous knick - knack . Then the gifter, picking up some vibe, sees through the guise and says, If you dont like it, you can exchange it for something else. So often what we think were hiding is in plain sight. We humans run around making assumptions based on subtext we incorrectly or correctly interpret, while at the same time giving out covert messages. And so should our characters.

A QUICK REVIEW OF CRAFT

To navigate the instructions for writing subtext, we all have to be on the same page with the terminology of the craft. If you feel on solid ground with your understanding of the basics, feel free to jump to the next section. Otherwise, here is a quick review of five primary elements of craft: characterization , plot , story , narration , and theme .

Characterization applies to major and minor characters, who must be developed in varying detail, with the most attention paid to characterization of the hero or heroine, i.e., the protagonist. It includes physical description, emotions, thoughts, and actions.

Plot provides forward motion through action toward resolving an important problem introduced in the beginning of a novel or short story.

Story is different from plot. Some teachers define story as synonymous with plot . In casual use it is. But it has a specific function in craft. Every work of fiction has (or should have) an external storyline, the plot, and an internal, psychological storyline, which I am calling story . Plot springs from story, and story reveals why the protagonist takes particular actions in the plot. The answer to why supports theme. For example: An unmarried woman becomes obsessed with adopting a Bulgarian orphan she fell in love with even though the country finds her marital status unacceptable. That outlines the plot. However, the same woman, whose mother abandoned her as a youngster, will stop at nothing to adopt the child who fulfills her own need for being taken care of. That explains her actions by supplying the internal, psychological story. Notice how the sentence describing the plot creates visual pictures; you can begin to conjure scenes. The sentence describing story is thematic; it conveys the underlying psychological need that drives the mother.

Narration , simply put, includes all forms of telling, not to be confused with the word narrative, which means the story. Narration is a whopper category that includes information, description of characters and setting, flashback summaries, thought, and the sad, mad, glad emotions as well as the fight, flight, excite reactions. You may have heard the writers mantra show dont tell. Show means plot action and tell means narration. All together, you have produced the narrative of your story, told by narratorsthe protagonist, other viewpoint characters, and sometimes the author. When used well, narration adds depth, but when overused, telling tempts the reader to skip portions of your book.

Theme is meaning, the message that readers contemplate before and after they finish the last word. Theme may be expressed in one word such as love or justice, or it may be expressed in a line such as Redemption is only possible by forgiving oneself, or in the biggest clich of all, Love conquers all.