October Novel Prep Challenge

As a preschool teacher, I love pinterest.

Need an apple themed math activity? Pinterest has 1,274 suggestions to choose from. Want to find a few ideas for Christmas crafts and Thanksgiving place mats? Pinterest has them! Bored? My pinterest is a pleasant mix of teaching ideas and video game funnies (specifically, my Bioware RPG obsessions...)

And, if you search "story themes", lots of helpful little images show up. Which led me in turn to this article: https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/storys-theme/

I'll let you read it if you're interested, but if you'd rather refer to my cliffnotes (no promises they'll be what the test covers), here's how to sum it up:

The Thing Your Character Wants–the main story goal–is your story’s plot.
The Thing Your Character Needs is your story’s theme.

If you want to know more, read the article. I loved it. If that wasn't enough to pique your interest, I'll include this great advice the author gives:

"Don’t settle for safe themes. Look for dangerous, controversial ones. You want to make readers think. You want to ask hard questions–not the same old questions that are asked over and over again. True originality is always found in theme. The braver and more honest your theme, the more original and true your story will be."

So, yeah, if you thought picking your theme for day 4 was an easy assignment... it's not. Really take the time to consider your theme. It's pretty darn important.