NaNoWriMo - Day Eight - Themes

[meridian_rose]

I'll probably write a much briefer version of this to go with the polyvore theme image (which I posted a few days ago here) for a Wordpress post, but for this entry I'll talk more in-depth about the scope and themes of the novel and compare them to my novel-in-beta, here referred to as "Juliet".
In "Juliet" the A plot refers to the Juliet sections and her romance, the A2 (or B) plot follows Juliet's daughter and the antagonist's daughter on their travels and includes their romance.
In "Sorceress Apprentice" (SA) the A plot refers to the Bryony sections, and the Bryony/Emeri romance, taking place at the main location. The A2 (or B) plot refers to the storyline focussed on Kerine and her quest to find Sabrina and return her home and involves travel and a major secondary location.

Overview

Genre: Fantasy Romance - Both novels fit this/these genre(s).

Fantasy – magic is real. In SA protagonist begins studying it; Bryony is the sorceress apprentice. In "Juliet", the magic takes a more background role until later in the novel as the specifics are revealed, though the antagonist and several supporting characters all possess and utilise it.

Romance – the major romance is a het romance (male/female). I've maybe got some supporting characters who identify as other than straight but I don't currently have plans for a focus on gay relationships nor bisexual or asexual characters. In Juliet the B plot (or A2 plot) revolves around a female/female romance (bisexual & lesbian characters), with background male/male romance mentioned, and a supporting character is clearly asexual. Less diversity in this area in this novel.

Diversity – the A plot and A2 (or B) plot are both from the POV of female protagonists. (The same applies for Juliet). The two sisters are characters of colour, one darker skinner than the other. The male love interest and his sister are white. Other supporting characters are mostly characters of colour at the village, mostly white at the secondary location occurring in the A2 plot.
In "Juliet", the protagonist Juliet, her close friend, her previous husband, her daughter, and the major antagonist and the antagonist's daughter are white. Juliet's other close friend, her husband & child, and various other supporting characters are white. So slightly more diversity in the new novel in terms of characters of colour.

Themes

Theme: Sibling relationships – where "Juliet" has a focus on close friendships and found family, no-one really had siblings. For "Sorceress Apprentice" the sibling bond is at the heart of the book. This is seen in Emeri's desperate wish to be reunited with his sister, Kerine and Bryony's bond and how Bryony misses Kerine when she goes on her quest, and how Sabrina regrets having left her family behind.

Theme: Hurt/comfort – this is my jam. Or my bread and butter. Hell, it's my favourite sandwich. Give me tales of poisons and amnesia and magical comas and bullet wounds and suicide attempts and drowning and…yeah, you get the idea. Oddly I don't always write specifically to all my kinks both h/c or otherwise, and I think I need to work on that. In the meantime though I manage to hit some of my favourite tropes and kinks within the h/c genre in both novels. It's much more upfront as part of the plot from the start in SA, whereas moments occur as part of the unfolding events in "Juliet" though they're super important when they do.

Theme: Fairy tale motifs – I have an especial love for taking elements from fairy tales including "Red Riding Hood", "Snow White", "Sleeping Beauty" and "Beauty and the Beast" (B&B). In both novels there's the element of being forced to cohabit with a man who's a stranger – Juliet is forced to wed Ames and he lives in her cottage, while Bryony is merely a companion at the sorcerer's dwelling which better reflects the B&B narrative. B&B also has the male-love-interest-in-peril built in, and from the female perspective the threat of losing the man she loves is very real. For SA you could also argue for a "Red Riding Hood" allusion.

Theme: Story Within a Story/metafiction – this is another thing I love. When people in fiction tell stories or act or plays or watch television they're telling us about their culture. It shows a world beyond the characters we're watching, that this is a real place with its own history and folklore.
The Valydorian tale Juliet told to her daughter, and which she then tells to her beloved, contains an important motif that prompts Juliet's actions towards the midpoint of the novel. Stories are warnings and social cues.
Bryony loves to read. She's the dreamer of the family where Kerine is more practical. Naturally she falls in love with the library (B&B again). One of the folktales she reads gives her an idea later to help save the village. Stories are important. Additionally knowledge is important, libraries are magical, and lifelong learning along with practical skills is just as important as a year of official study.

Theme: Reimaging of self – I suppose this is just a way of saying "character development". Cherished beliefs are challenged and the character changes as a result. Maybe they become less arrogant or more authoritative.
In "Juliet" the major development for Juliet herself comes when she has to stop romanticising her past relationship and allow herself to move on. For another character it is about becoming the leader she was born to be. For the love interest it is about letting himself be vulnerable after being burned before.
In SA Bryony doesn't believe she has magic and thinks she isn't "good with people", and she'll learn to become better at both of these. Emeri has strong beliefs and is painted as polite and charming but he needs to be less goddamn stubborn. Kerine, practical and down to earth has to play at being a noble lady for a time, while Sabrina has already fallen foul of her mistaken beliefs.

Theme: Secrets, Lies, and Misunderstandings –Sometimes you just want to smack characters for the lies and lack of communication that is clearly going to lead to tragedy. Still, these are useful tropes.
Certainly there are plenty of all these within "Juliet" but I give good reasons for them, or at least I believe I do. And Juliet herself prizes honesty, and I enjoy writing heartfelt conversations between her and the love interest.
In SA, Sabrina and Emeri have parted because he didn't trust her new love interest and she did, to her cost. There's a "sin of omission", a huge lie told near the end for what one character believes to be a good reason, and another big lie in the form of a family secret that causes more suffering than the truth would have.

Theme: Childfree – Juliet had a daughter, her friend had a young son, one character was childless leaning childfree. While I'm skimping so far on the asexual representation I'm including childfree characters front and centre in SA, because one of the joys of writing is exploring those facets of yourself not often seen in fiction. It's incredibly rare for a character to not want children and ever rarer to have them stick to it once they get a partner (or they're shown as evil; it's okay to be childless and sad but not childfree and happy.)


These are some of the themes and motifs I'm currently aware of. Obviously stories grow and develop in the telling and there might be things appear that I had not originally planned on.

Also I apologise if this isn't fully coherent. For ~reasons I'm not entirely with it today. But despite that I caught up with my wordcount so that's a good thing :)

Comments

[silk_dragon_zen]

As always, I'm reading these posts with great interest. Secretly-not-so-secretly in the back of my heart, I hope that one day in the distant future, reading good fiction mindfully and reading about the writing process (as with your posts) may eventually result in me being able to write something (at least short stories if never a novel), and be happy with the results, even if I never get published.

[meridian_rose]

Then I want that for you too! :D And short stories are a great way to explore writing. Prose poetry can be very helpful too. And if I offer any help or support that assists you in any way, then I'm honoured :D
I enjoy "writing about writing" as I often tag it, because it helps me explore and understand where I'm coming from and note the themes I'm most interested in. I'll add one caveat; Max Kirin (maxkirin.tumblr.com), whose vlogs and inspiration posts are always encouraging, talks about themes as not being set in stone. Often you don't know until you've written the first draft what the themes are. You might have an idea about plot, but trust the characters to tell the story and see what happens. So you don't necessarily need to "know all the things" before you begin to write :)