Writing Decisions/Theme
One of the most demanding elements of writing is decision-making. Writers are constantly challenged to make decisions. Decisions about the way the story should be written. Decisions about individual characters. Decisions about the color of a vehicle. Decisions about how many fingers someone has (the story might work better for a character if she had seven fingers instead of eight fingers). Decisions about letting the story go its own way after you have planned it to go another way. Decisions about characters changing, or not changing, and/or letting them go the way they want to go instead of the way you want them to go. Decisions, etc.
The key to making good decisions is to have a guide before you begin writing. The guide, as I call it, is the theme. And the theme is found by the writer looking inside of themselves to discover their passion for writing the story they have chosen to write. Sometimes, there is more than one theme, but there should be one dominating theme, throughout the story. The theme for your book (do you want me to tell you what it is, or do you want to tell me what it is?)…. So, focus on your theme to help you make decisions as you evolve with the writing of your story. If a character, or a segment in the story, doesn’t include the theme, then that character, and/or that segment in the story should not be used.
“Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” and Nebraska Summers
“Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” and Nebraska Summers
by
Donald L. Vasicek
Augusts in Ord, Nebraska were stifling. Temperatures were in the 90′s and the humidity was also as nearly high back in the 1940′s and 1950′s. When I wasn’t in the swimming pool, or on the golf course, or sitting in the shade with my twin brother eating some of Mom’s canned sauerkraut we filched from a dirt basement under our house and arguing who was a better baseball player, Mickey Mantle or Eddie Mathews (my favorite was Eddie Mathews, a third baseman for the Milwaukee Braves, he played third base, and his swing from the left hand side of the plate was as smooth as marble), I spent my time in the Ord Township Library.
Mrs. Smith was the librarian during those years. A somewhat grumpy woman who said little, but always dressed very professionally with her gray/white hair always up in a bun. I was intimidated by her, but equally, I was very close to her. I guess I got on her nerves because I was the kind of kid who always asked questions, probably too many questions, about books, like the Hardy Boys mysteries, “Is the newest one in yet, Mrs. Smith?” I asked in a wavering voice.
“Donnie,” she’d always say, I’ll call your Mom when it’s in.” She would turn then, and go back to stamping library cards, something which always fascinated me. She’d pound the stamper, an oblong-handled device with a square ink pad on the bottom of it, on staid cards. And what once was a blank space on the cards, now had a date on them.
So, I’d meander through the library, checking out books, until I found one. I remember one, “The Jungle Book” (1894) by Rudyard Kipling. A short story in the book, “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”, about a valiant young mongoose’s adventures, particularly with cobra snakes. I sat down and begin reading it. Before I knew it, Mrs. Smith notified me that it was time for the library to close. So, I tried to check out the book, but she told me I’d have yet to have returned 3 other books that I checked out, and she warned, “You know the rule, you can only check out 3 books at a time.”
I said okay. I put the book back on the shelf and planned to return the next afternoon to check to see if the newest Hardy Boys Mystery book was in, and to read more “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”.
This past August I was in Ord with my brother to check out our roots back there. The temperature was in 90′s, so was the humidity. I stopped in the library. It was the only place in Ord that had WiFi, and I had some emails to attend to. So, I visited with Kristi Hagestrom, the director for a bit. I told her about Mrs. Smith and my visits to the library when I was a boy. She was riveted by the story. And I found it heart-warming to have been blessed with good health to be there and embrace the smell, the sounds, and the sights of a place that will always be cherished by me. For it was in the Ord Township Library that shaped my future for me and where I’m at today.
