The catch, of course? Developing that list of questions can be HARD. Even if you’ve worked on your book for years and know it inside out, you may wonder which ideas or questions will prompt deep and insightful conversation among readers . . . or where to even start with making your list.

But here’s the good news. You already have an excellent place to start: your book’s literary themes.

Yes, knowing your book’s big ideas is key to creating a fantastic list of thought-provoking questions. Don’t worry if you haven’t thought about the themes before, though. In this post, we’ll offer suggestions on which storytelling elements (a.k.a. sources) to review and what questions you can ask yourself so you can identify the themes and figure out what, in your opinion, is most important for your audience to talk about.

Review Your Book’s Plot or Structure

With fiction books and some memoirs, the plot can be a treasure trove of discussion question possibilities. The big events that move the story forward are often the juiciest ones to analyze, especially if the protagonist’s choices or actions cause those events to happen. But sometimes, other plot points that seem less significant are just as noteworthy because of the themes they unearth. Chances are those themes will be the same ones that are explored in the more major events.

How you tackle your review of the plot for discussion question ideas is up to you. You can start with the main plot points, such as the inciting incident, the end of Act I, or the dark night of the soul. Or you can focus on your favorite moments of the story, including game-changing revelations or meaningful exchanges of dialogue or interactions between characters. However you approach this process, use the suggestions below to brainstorm potential discussion questions based on the plot (thought don’t feel obligated to create a question for each of these):

• How is this event significant or meaningful to the overall story? What theme(s) is demonstrated in this event?
• What do the protagonist, the antagonist (if one exists), and supporting characters do during this event? How does this tie into the theme(s) explored?
• What scene(s) may draw conflicting opinions from readers? Could readers have different thoughts on the theme(s) emerging from this event?
• What events may shock or surprise the reader? If so, how and why? How does this impact the way in which any theme(s) is explored?
• How might the reader be able to relate to certain plot events based on their own experiences with the theme(s) explored?
• What else is interesting or important for the reader to consider regarding this event?

Now, what if you’re writing nonfiction that has a clear structure but no plot, so to speak? (A great example of this is Susan Cain’s Quiet.) Instead of looking for plot events, choose the most salient moments in the book—arguments you make, examples or anecdotes you share, notable facts or quotes from other sources—and see what themes emerge. Then determine which of the above questions you can reframe for your purposes. At the same time, remember that your discussion questions aren’t meant to quiz your audience about the details of your book. Rather, invite them to consider how the information you share impacts them and the world at large, as well as why it’s worth discussing in the first place.

Revisit Your Characters

If there’s one storytelling element that readers LOVE talking about most, it’s the characters they “meet.” We can’t help but gush about who our favorite characters are and why, or share memorable snippets of that character’s dialogue. So why not encourage your readership to talk about your characters by means of your discussion questions?

Just as the plot’s events illustrate your book’s themes, your characters—especially the protagonist—will be moving, breathing examples of those big ideas. Each character’s actions, decisions, motivations, thoughts and speech, and lessons learned don’t just reveal the themes. They influence those overarching concepts from the very beginning. So as you look to your characters for possible discussion questions, ask yourself—or maybe the even the characters themselves—any of the following:

• What is the protagonist’s motivation or goal? What theme(s) does it demonstrate?
• What kind of journey does this character take (externally and internally) during the book? How does the character change between Page One and The End? What theme(s) emerge from this arc?
• How do the protagonist’s relationships with other characters (e.g., love interest, mentors, family members, friends, the antagonist) influence the book’s themes? What about these relationships or interactions is critical for your readers to talk about?
• What attributes, actions, or choices from the protagonist or other major characters could draw conflicting opinions from readers? How could this create an in-depth group discussion, regardless of whether it reflects a specific theme?
• What character revelations may shock or surprise readers? If so, how and why? Do they reflect any of the story’s themes? Regardless, how could this foster an interesting discussion between readers?
• What are the most important pieces of dialogue from the book? Why is each quote significant? What theme(s) does each quote reflect?

Other Storytelling Elements

Plot and characters aren’t the only sources of theme in your book. Nor are they the only seeds that can inspire discussion questions. Other crucial elements can reflect the themes and lead to engaging discussions among your readers. So as you review your book for possible questions, consider what else influences your story’s themes besides the first two elements we covered. Here are a few suggestions:

• Setting: How does the book’s setting (location, time period, etc.) influence the themes? What events, characters, etc. are featured specifically because of the setting? (If you’re writing fiction or nonfiction that’s historical in nature, setting-related questions are a must for your questionnaire.)
• Worldbuilding: If you’re working on speculative fiction, what aspects of the story world (e.g., government/power structures, religion, magic system, culture) influence the story’s themes? How do these aspects play a pivotal role in the story? What will readers remember most about this world when they finish reading your book?
• Symbolism: What objects act as symbols? What theme(s) does each one represent?
• Title: Why did you choose your book’s title? Does it hint at any of the themes?
• Other Repeating Elements: What ideas or elements appear repeatedly throughout the book? Why are they important? Which theme(s) do they influence?

Here’s a great example of repeating elements: When I was editing Julie Jacky’s memoir On the Other Side, one aspect of the book that moved me was how Julie’s journey of healing and forgiveness after childhood sexual abuse was full of mentors, from mindset coaches and therapists to spiritual mediums and even her chiropractor. Sometimes Julie had sought out their help and guidance. Other times, she had serendipitously received what she needed at the time. So when Julie later asked me to develop book club questions for On the Other Side, I included a question about mentors, asking readers to talk about the impact Julie’s mentors had on her and to consider the mentors in their own lives.

Meaningful Questions Lead to Meaningful Discussions

Obviously there’s more to consider than the book’s themes when creating discussion questions. For example, how should you phrase your questions? And how many should you include? No matter what, it’s a good idea to check the books you own (especially ones in the same genre as yours or that explore similar topics and themes) to see how the author or publisher handled their questionnaires. This can help you gauge how long you’d like your list to be and how to write your questions in a way that sparks the reader’s curiosity.

Above all, remember that your goal with discussion questions is to get your audience thinking about your book in deeper ways than a simple reading would. So how many questions you ask and how you word them isn’t as crucial as what you ask your readers to think about. Using the book’s themes to help you craft your questions will help you ensure that they touch on topics or ideas that are meaningful to you and your characters. And by doing this, you’ll increase the chances of nurturing equally meaningful conversations among your readers.

Have you created discussion questions for your book(s)? If you have, how did you develop those questions? If you haven’t, what plot point(s), character(s), etc. would you ask your readers to talk or think about? What themes would they discuss as a result? 

Sara Letourneau is a freelance editor and writing coach who lives in Massachusetts. She’s also a poet whose work has appeared in Mass Poetry’s Poem of the Moment, The Aurorean, The Avocet, The Bookends Review, Golden Walkman Magazine, Soul-Lit, and other journals and anthologies. She can often be found performing her poems at local open mic nights, reading good books, roaming the shores of Cape Cod, and enjoying a cup of tea. Learn more about how Sara can help you with your writing at Heart of the Story Editorial & Coaching Services. You can also connect with her at her writer website, Twitter, Goodreads, or Instagram.

The post Creating Discussion Questions Using Your Book’s Themes appeared first on DIY MFA.

Today, we’ll look at symbolism as part of the return of our Developing Themes In Your Stories series. This post will also feature activities you can use during any point in the writing process.

Five Keys to Connecting Symbolism with Theme

We rarely know what a story’s symbols will be when we start writing a story. Once we do, our challenge is how to effectively express that symbolism. If it’s too obvious or frequent, it can annoy readers or give the story a preachy tone. However, if it’s too abstract or thrown in haphazardly, it won’t hold much meaning.

As a result, the thought of connecting symbolism to a story’s themes might intimidate some writers. However, what if we consult our working definition of “theme”? It starts off with the words, “An idea, concept, or lesson….” If themes are ideas or concepts, then symbolism is a vessel for delivering those ideas and concepts. In other words, symbols should accurately reflect a story’s themes, and therefore must be chosen carefully.

To ensure our symbols connect with appropriate themes, let’s use these five keys based on our working definition of “theme”:

1. Theme Expressed: What theme does the symbol represent?
2. Medium: What form(s) does this symbol take (e.g., objects, dialogue, names)?
3. Significance: How is the symbol important to the story? Is its importance limited to the protagonist (e.g., Tris’s bird tattoos in Divergent)? Or, does it impact the story world at large (e.g., The One Ring in Lord of the Rings)?
4. Frequency: Does the symbol recur on an as-needed basis?
5. Timing: Does the symbol appear at appropriate moments that link it to its respective theme?

So, what kinds of symbols can we use in our stories? Let’s look at two types and see how they’re handled in different stories.

Using Symbols from the Real World

We see symbols every day, from traffic lights and road signs to cultural images like the Celtic cross and the Chinese yin yang. Even colors, numbers, and names mean something. These everyday items are often a source of inspiration for literary symbolism that ties in with theme.

Using real-world symbols means understanding what those symbols reflect. A heart shape for death won’t work, since readers might be confused by the conflicting ideas at play. Instead, take some time to research the symbols you’re considering. Find out which ideas and concepts they represent, and see if they fit the story’s themes. That way, readers will be better able to link the tangible (the symbol) with the abstract (idea / concept) after multiple readings.

Maria V. Snyder’s Poison Study is a great example of butterflies as a symbol. When the novel begins, the protagonist Yelena must choose between being executed for murder, or accepting a job as the military commander’s food-taster. She chooses the latter and is immediately given a lethal dose of a poison called Butterfly’s Dust. Only a daily antidote from her boss Valek will keep her alive, rendering Yelena completely dependent on him. (20) This loss of independence conflicts with the perception of butterflies, which can fly freely from place to place. Then again, wouldn’t a name “Butterfly’s Dust” crush one’s hope of escape?

Both the symbol and the theme of freedom return throughout Poison Study. At one point, Valek gives Yelena a butterfly pendant and tells her, “When I carved this statue, I was thinking of you. Delicate in appearance, but with a strength unnoticed at first glance.” (336) It’s Valek’s way of acknowledging that not only Yelena has grown tremendously during their time together (just as butterflies undergo metamorphosis), but that she also deserves the freedom he had taken from her. This idea comes back at the end of the novel, when Valek encourages Yelena to start a new life: “You need to learn, you need to find your family, you need to spread your wings and see how far you can fly.” (407)

Activity #1:

Review some of the names, tokens, and other objects in your WIP that are also found in the real world, and research their potential symbolism. Do the represented ideas and concepts match those explored in your story? It not, what other names, tokens, or objects might be a better fit?

Using Symbols Specific to the Story

Symbolism can also be drawn from within the story. Some symbols can be personal to a character, such as a tattoo chosen for a specific reason or a necklace, coin, or other token that elicits certain memories. Others come from aspects of the story world’s history or culture that are significant to both the protagonist and the overall plot.

With a story-specific symbol, it’s crucial to share relevant history or backstory so readers can draw accurate conclusions about its meaning. Be careful not to “info-dump” when introducing the symbol, though. Include the necessary details, then treat the symbol’s later appearances in the story as echoes to that introduction and hints to its respective theme.

One recent example is the mockingjay in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. Before leaving for the Capitol, Katniss Everdeen receives a mockingjay pin and briefly recalls the bird’s origins. In her world, mockingjays are the offspring of mockingbirds and jabberjays, a spy-bird species created by the Capitol to memorize and repeat human conversation (43). When the jabberjay project was shut down, the birds were left to die in the wild. Yet they didn’t, making their mockingjay descendants – which can replicate bird calls and human vocal melodies – a “slap in the face to the Capitol” (42), a product of the Capitol’s inability to impose its power on everyone.

As The Hunger Games continues, both the bird and its symbolism reappear. When Katniss’s stylist Cinna fastens the mockingjay pin to her Games outfit, he mentions how the pin “barely cleared the review board” (145) as a potential weapon. Later, Katniss sings a lullaby to comfort her dying ally Rue, and a flock of mockingjays repeat her song (235). From that point on, Katniss ensures her choices have a clear purpose: She wants to win the Hunger Games and prove she’s not the Capitol’s pawn. She becomes a metaphorical mockingjay, a symbol of resistance and rebellion against her government that carries on for the rest of the series.

Activity #2:

Revisit your story world and character backstories. Do any names, tokens, and other objects bear a personal, cultural, or historical significance? How does this significance relate to the story’s themes?

So, How Do Symbols Tie In With Theme?

Let’s evaluate both examples using our Five Keys to Connecting Symbolism with Theme:

1. Theme Expressed: Poison Study’s butterfly conveys the theme of freedom. The Hunger Games’ mockingjay serves as a counterpoint to the theme of power.
2. Medium: The butterfly appears in names (Butterfly’s Dust poison), the butterfly pendant, and dialogue (Valek comparing Yelena to the insect). The mockingjay appears as a pin as well as its natural bird form.
3. Significance: Both symbols grow in importance during their stories. The butterfly in Poison Study bears personal significance to Yelena, while the mockingjay in The Hunger Games evolves from a personal symbol for Katniss to Panem’s emblem for revolution in the later books.
4. Frequency: As shown in the examples above, both symbols recur throughout their respective stories.
5. Timing: The butterfly appears in Poison Study whenever Yelena faces an event that threatens or presents her with a chance for escape. The mockingjay returns in The Hunger Games to show how Katniss’s character mirrors the bird’s history and abilities, and to remind Katniss to play the Games by her rules and not the Capitol’s.

See how both symbols check off all of our criteria? Ensuring the same with the symbols in our stories will allow us to illustrate literary themes in the same, subtle manner. Of course, finding the right symbols and using them appropriately will take patience, practice, and creative thinking. But if we use the five keys presented here, we’ll be better able to nurture themes through symbolism and write richer, more resonant stories for our readers.

Activity #3:

Answer the questions posed in the Five Keys to Connecting Symbols with Theme with the symbols you examined in Activities #1 and #2. Based on your answers, how effective are these symbols in the story? If needed, what changes could you make to improve the symbolism (e.g., increase or decrease the number of appearances in the text, raise its significance)?

Just as symbolism is a way of reflecting a story’s themes, so is the inciting incident. This plot point will be the subject of May’s installment of Developing Themes In Your Stories.

Sara Letourneau is a Massachusetts-based writer who practices joy and versatility in her work. In addition to writing for DIY MFA, she’s revising a YA fantasy novel and reviewing tea for A Bibliophile’s Reverie. Her poetry has appeared in The Curry Arts Journal, Soul-Lit, The Eunoia Review, Underground Voices, and two anthologies. Learn more about Sara at her personal blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

The post Developing Themes In Your Stories: Part 5 – Symbolism appeared first on DIY MFA.