Saturday 12 August 2017

HOW DIFFERENT CHARACTERS CAN AFFECT A STORY'S THEME

A MAN AND A WOMAN, EACH LIVING IN THE DARK. HOW WILL THEIR STORIES DEVELOP?
At my writers' group last month we thought up some ideas for short stories and discussed how a character can affect a theme or how the theme can change the main character(s). Either way, whether you're writing a short story or a novel, there has to be change.

One member suggested a double glazing salesman who lives in a windowless basement flat and longs for a greenhouse. It reminded me of one of the characters in an A to Z of Silly Verse I wrote several years ago. This is U for Ursula
Ursula the usherette worked happily in the dark
Of the cinema (centre aisle) at Upper Tooting.
She lived her life in cellars
And hid behind umbrellas
If she ventured out in daylight to the park.
She'd have liked to be a mole
Or a miner hewing coal
Or a submarine commander out at sea.
But at least she had the leisure
To indulge her greatest pleasure
Of travelling by Underground all day.


Two characters, both living in the dark but with very different desires - opposite, in fact. If they were suddenly transposed to a place of light and sunshine, how would each be affected? How would the story end? Would the character change - or would the character change the theme?