Timeline for Can I use the same message over a series of novels?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
16 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 30, 2017 at 21:44 | comment | added | Erk | @ThomasMyron: Come to think of it. You pretty much have two scenarios: 1) your message is one no one has ever thought of before and most likely no one will want to hear (because it's a too strange, unfamiliar or otherwise a hard to identify with message), or 2) your message is one people will want to hear/debate/think about/etc and then it's been covered in books and other art long before you came around... ;) | |
| Aug 27, 2017 at 1:33 | answer | added | Erk | timeline score: 0 | |
| Aug 25, 2017 at 17:07 | answer | added | Chris Sunami | timeline score: 2 | |
| Aug 24, 2017 at 21:37 | comment | added | saluk | Harry Potter uses a similar structure in each book, however the actual plot and what is revealed about the characters changes considerably. Moreover, Harry Potter is a series of connected novels. The series itself has a "message", so it would be surprising if some of the books were to go against that message. I sort of work from a theme first myself, but you might want to make your theme more specific so you aren't writing the same thing over and over. Instead of "Love triumphs over those without it", think of how each Harry Potter demonstrates the larger theme in their own unique ways. | |
| Aug 24, 2017 at 15:39 | answer | added | Amadeus | timeline score: 0 | |
| Nov 3, 2016 at 12:15 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackWriters/status/794150913745289218 | ||
| Nov 1, 2016 at 21:30 | comment | added | Thomas Reinstate Monica Myron | @KenMohnkern I would say we are dealing with two completely different definitions of theme then. | |
| Nov 1, 2016 at 20:37 | comment | added | Ken Mohnkern | For what it's worth, I've been taught that theme is not the writer's job; it's the reader's. The writer's job is, instead, to just tell a good story. Get characters into and out of the room. Get them into and out of trouble. Theme will emerge from that without the writer worrying about it at all. | |
| Nov 1, 2016 at 16:31 | comment | added | Lew | I do not understand, how a message (such as "power of love") can restrict your creativity in developing a new plot for every novel you are writing. There is an infinite number of ways to convey any given message, whether it is something you repeat over and over, or invent anew every time you start writing a new piece. | |
| Nov 1, 2016 at 15:25 | answer | added | SC for reinstatement of Monica | timeline score: 2 | |
| Jan 3, 2016 at 17:10 | history | edited | Thomas Reinstate Monica Myron | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Added note to avoid confusion.
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| Jan 3, 2016 at 14:35 | comment | added | Filip | Intuitively, I would subjectively answer your question with: No, you should not do that. The reason is that - in my understanding - your message is equivalent to James N. Frey's premise (cf. amazon.com/Write-Damn-Novel-Step---Step/dp/0312010443/…). The premise, on the other hand, is the shortest form your story can take. Hence, when using the same premise, you basically tell the same story. You can do that. The question is: Would you want to? And more importantly: Would your readers care to read a repition? | |
| Jan 3, 2016 at 12:57 | comment | added | Lostinfrance | I think you can successfully use a message or moral as general as "the power of love" in an almost infinite number of stories - as, indeed, it has been so used by thousands of authors in thousands of stories. But the more specific your message, the harder you are going to need to work at making the plots different. Note how cleverly JK Rowling does differentiate her plots to overcome their basic similarity. For instance in The Chamber of Secrets the villain is ...; trying to avoid spoilers here ... not quite who you think it is. | |
| Jan 3, 2016 at 9:08 | answer | added | Kitsune | timeline score: 3 | |
| Jan 3, 2016 at 1:12 | comment | added | Stu W | Good points. I stopped reading/watching/caring anything Harry Potter after the second installment for that reason. Have you tried going outside of fantasy to see what your message looks like with commercial fiction? Perhaps a short story? | |
| Jan 2, 2016 at 23:50 | history | asked | Thomas Reinstate Monica Myron | CC BY-SA 3.0 |