In last week’s Village Writing School newsletter, I shared an article by Dan Blank in which, I believe, he really nails what it means to be a writer.
Be the Gateway. Be the gateway through which people access experiences, characters, and the inspiration for their own lives that comes from those experiences and characters.
If this seems a little vague and murky, stay with me.
He actually uses the word “theme.” Now theme has become passé in our postmodern literary world. Don’t worry about a theme, we are told. Just find the story. When I felt intrigued by the 13th-century Italian writer Boccaccio, and I was trying to articulate what the book might be “about,” I was advised: “Stop thinking about themes. Just go sit with Boccaccio and let him tell you his story.” But when I consider the book of the writer who gave me this advice, I can point out several themes, and I dare say she had those in mind as she began to write, even though she was focused on the characters and their unique stories.
A theme does not mean a lecture or a sermon or a heavy-handed treatment of an issue or a pat answer. It’s fine to explore a theme and leave the question open at the end. But to recognize one’s theme is to recognize the juncture at which your readers connect to your story. If readers don’t find a juncture (a gateway), then they don’t care and your story bores them.
Look at the popular movies in theaters right now. How many are about good vs. evil? How many are about overcoming obstacles? How many are about the redemptive power of love?
So you want to identify your themes. And then figure out how your story—but beyond that, how you as an author, as a person—can be the gateway into interesting or inspirational discussions about those themes. And these discussions can take place in a blog, in a newsletter, on social media, at speaking engagements, or in person, one on one.
Dan Blank gives some great examples. Memoirs are often about overcoming obstacles and outliving toxic pasts. Novels, even the most entertaining ones, usually tap into some universal theme. So even if you didn’t articulate your theme as you wrote your book, you need to do that before you begin to define and design your platform.
Study Dan’s article HERE and ask yourself these questions:
- What theme in my book is the juncture at which my readers connect to the story? That is where you are the gateway.
- How can I expand that gateway into meaningful further discussion through the elements in my platform? Or which elements (newsletter, blog, social media, public speaking) will give me the best opportunities to bring that gateway to the lives of others?
To be a gateway is a high and holy calling. Work it, Baby.
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