{"id":77,"date":"2009-10-28T10:47:01","date_gmt":"2009-10-28T14:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=77"},"modified":"2016-07-12T12:22:15","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T18:22:15","slug":"exploring-personal-themes-by-tom-piccirilli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/exploring-personal-themes-by-tom-piccirilli\/","title":{"rendered":"“Exploring Personal Themes” by Tom Piccirilli"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Exploring Personal Theme<\/strong>s”
\nby Tom Piccirilli<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let’s talk about ‘theme’ for a bit.<\/p>\n

The concept of themes found in fiction has understandably gotten\u00a0a hard knock in the horror field. After all, it’s the sort of thing you’re supposed\u00a0to hunt around for when you’re reading some dry academic paper on the ‘underlying\u00a0homosexual imagery in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’ or ‘The abstraction of Historical\u00a0Evil found in Stephen King’s The Shining.’ It’s the kind of stuff that steals\u00a0the flavor out of our very favorite pieces of literature.<\/p>\n

By the way, I wrote both of those papers back in college.<\/p>\n

Also, is it actually possible to write about the so-called larger world themes\u00a0in horror? Aren’t we supposed to be dealing with simple entertainment concerning\u00a0fear, suspense and action?<\/p>\n

Well, yes and no. Of course you’re supposed to tell a good story first and\u00a0foremost, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try to explore issues and topics you\u00a0feel are especially important to you. Specific themes and images that recur\u00a0in your stories are there either through personal interest or because you want\u00a0to use them as a memorable signature of sorts, a stamp that marks the work as\u00a0your own.<\/p>\n

You may not even know they’re there.<\/p>\n

Offbeat novelist Harry Crews always features what are proclaimed to be “freaks”\u00a0in his work. Yet he swears that his wife had to point out the fact to him that\u00a0his first three books feature midgets before he realized he was writing so prominently\u00a0about them. Crews himself suffered from childhood paralysis in impoverished\u00a0Bacon County, Georgia and was so emotionally scarred by the experience of having\u00a0strangers staring at his crooked legs as a child that — even though he eventually\u00a0recovered — he’s always felt physically freakish since that time.<\/p>\n

Finding what incites your emotions, your sense of resolve, and weaving them\u00a0into motifs and sub-text can be cathartic for the author. Stephen King once\u00a0said that he felt he was one of the sanest people he knew because he managed\u00a0to put every frustration, anxiety and phobia he had down on the page, and in\u00a0the process managed to exorcise those problems. In our fiction we can address\u00a0whatever personal or social ills we perceive, whatever major arguments and questions\u00a0we might have about the world. We can route out the most significant feelings
\nand apply them time and again.<\/p>\n

But of course, conveying the substance of this through our fiction can be a\u00a0double-edged sword. There’s always a chance you’ll wind up on a soapbox without\u00a0meaning to. There’s also the possibility that you’ll tend to repeat yourself,\u00a0and that the subject matter itself will hamper your imagination and force issues\u00a0to the forefront that aren’t necessarily best for the story you’re trying to\u00a0tell.<\/p>\n

So when are you going too far and why should you worry about it in the first\u00a0place?<\/p>\n

Well, you probably shouldn’t. You should simply be aware of the issues that\u00a0might be hidden between the lines of your work. Thematic plot threads, symbolism,\u00a0and recurring motifs are simply other means to an end: making your fiction as\u00a0strong as it can be.<\/p>\n

To put a personal spin on it: My father died when I was quite young and I’ve\u00a0explored the idea of fathers quite frequently in my writing. Father figures\u00a0are either long dead, forlorn, or tragic personages. This isn’t a reflection
\non my father so much as it has become an odd focus of my storytelling. I find\u00a0value, edge, and atmosphere in investigating that area of my sensibility. That\u00a0particular figure used to that particular purpose holds some resonance for me\u00a0as an author, and inspires me onwards.<\/p>\n

Religion fascinates and disturbs me, and I often impart this in my work through\u00a0the subject matter. I tend to fuse elements of my Catholic upbringing with research\u00a0I’ve done on other religions and the occult. Recurrence of this sort is to be\u00a0expected throughout an author’s career. We gravitate to that which enthralls\u00a0us.<\/p>\n

It’s also true I have what I call my “water stories.” Since I grew\u00a0up on Long Island and spent a lot of time at the beach. The vastness of the\u00a0ocean is a powerful concept, beneath the waves in all that darkness. It sparks\u00a0a great many ideas for me, a lot of primal urges and awe and panic which I can\u00a0use in my writing.<\/p>\n

Almost everyone will find their own natural signature concepts and images that\u00a0provide the themes for their work over the courses of their careers. I think\u00a0it’s important, though not necessary, to have something that you can use as\u00a0a seal or mark to make your fiction stand out. These are underlying messages\u00a0that the reader will pick up on.<\/p>\n

Edgar Allan Poe repeatedly returned to the notion of the premature burial. \u00a0Crime writer Charles Williams’ novels are filled with skippers and boats, based\u00a0on his seaman’s background. Ed Gorman uses the recurring story lines of quaint\u00a0innocent American backwoods towns often hide the darkest, most vicious secrets.\u00a0British horror author Simon Clark often uses the end of the world motif as a\u00a0narrative chiller, exploring mankind’s dissolution and redemption. John Irving\u00a0uses themes that revolve around abnormal families, children in danger, and the\u00a0recurrent symbols of bears, private schools, and wrestling. As mentioned, Harry\u00a0Crews uses the physically grotesque and freakish. These topics and emblems make\u00a0the work immediately identifiable with the author.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Exploring Personal Themes” by Tom Piccirilli Let’s talk about ‘theme’ for a bit. The concept of themes found in fiction has understandably gotten\u00a0a hard knock in the horror field. After all, it’s the sort of thing you’re supposed\u00a0to hunt around for when you’re reading some dry academic paper on the ‘underlying\u00a0homosexual imagery in Mary Shelley’s … Continue Reading! ““Exploring Personal Themes” by Tom Piccirilli”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advice-for-writers"],"yoast_head":"\n"Exploring Personal Themes" by Tom Piccirilli - 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