Suppose you choose the theme of love. There are various
angles to this and you have to zero in on one. You could write a story on the
unhappy turn of events in the life of a young couple who are very7 much in
love, you could tackle the first stirrings of love in the bosom of a young man
who admires his elderly aunt, highlight the bonds of love between a young child
and its nurse.. Different angles which could be the core of the story.
Having decided on the theme, your next problem will be of
collecting material for the story. For this, you have two alternatives. Either
you have original material or borrowed material. In the former case, you have
to depend on your imagination and your creativity, draw from your own fund of
experience and blend it with your inventive powers to dramatise it enough to
grip the reader’s attention.
But the question arises as how original can an idea be as
over the years, almost all facets of life have been played up by one or the
other writer. To that extent, you originality will be restricted to how
effectively you can make it should unusual without becoming improbable.
Most stories are based on borrowed material. You will find
that when you read works of other writers, their thoughts kindle some related
ones in your mind and this could very well be the theme of your story. This is
perfectly acceptable as long as you take only the skeletal idea and flesh it
out with your own. For example, you read Snowwhite and the Seven Dwarfs or
Cinderella and you are inspired to write a story on the heartlessness of
step-mothers. How you will weave the story will be an exercise of your
ingenuity, though your theme is borrowed.
This brings us to a very crucial start to writing—reading.
It helps to read the works of great authors like O.Henry, Somerset Maugham and
Oscar Wilder whose short stories will inspire you with ideas of different
themes and the ways to tackle them, your next step is top choose the right
‘aspect’.
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