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odd_buttonsThe following is an excerpt from Part III of the book Making Shapely Fiction, by Jerome Stern. The first two parts are very much worth reading as well. The book is available in paperback.
Motif
A motif is a recurring element in a work. It can be your character's tendency to sneak drinks out of the slivovitz bottle, a chair shaped like a kidney, worry about paying the rent, or the slugs on the rose bushes. The more often you mention something, the more important a motif it becomes.
A repeated image grows in meaning. If you have your characters complaining over and over about the croaking of the frogs, not only do readers hear the shrill, nerve-racking sound more intensely and feel its effect on the characters more strongly, but also your readers begin to speculate on the thematic significance of the constant noise.
Motifs play a part in plot. The first time June tells Frank she gets nervous when he leaves the closet door open it's simple information. When Frank leaves the closet door open again, readers aren't surprised that June gets upset. When Frank leaves the closet door open once again, readers feel something more is going on -- perhaps Frank is being deliberately cruel. The next time, it's really frightening. The closet door becomes more ominous, more psychologically suggestive, each time it's left open.
Motifs unify stories. The repetition of images darkens or brightens the atmosphere. Motifs bring ideas forward. If you mention the dead geranium only once, it will be forgotten. If you keep mentioning the dead geranium, by the end of the story it will be memorable.
Don’t' be afraid of repetition. Don't raise an idea and, having raised it, go on to another and another. That doesn't develop a story. If you don't bring ideas forward, they'll just be left behind.
See Character, Description, Flashback, Imagery, Metaphor and Simile, Theme.
Motif
A motif is a recurring element in a work. It can be your character's tendency to sneak drinks out of the slivovitz bottle, a chair shaped like a kidney, worry about paying the rent, or the slugs on the rose bushes. The more often you mention something, the more important a motif it becomes.
A repeated image grows in meaning. If you have your characters complaining over and over about the croaking of the frogs, not only do readers hear the shrill, nerve-racking sound more intensely and feel its effect on the characters more strongly, but also your readers begin to speculate on the thematic significance of the constant noise.
Motifs play a part in plot. The first time June tells Frank she gets nervous when he leaves the closet door open it's simple information. When Frank leaves the closet door open again, readers aren't surprised that June gets upset. When Frank leaves the closet door open once again, readers feel something more is going on -- perhaps Frank is being deliberately cruel. The next time, it's really frightening. The closet door becomes more ominous, more psychologically suggestive, each time it's left open.
Motifs unify stories. The repetition of images darkens or brightens the atmosphere. Motifs bring ideas forward. If you mention the dead geranium only once, it will be forgotten. If you keep mentioning the dead geranium, by the end of the story it will be memorable.
Don’t' be afraid of repetition. Don't raise an idea and, having raised it, go on to another and another. That doesn't develop a story. If you don't bring ideas forward, they'll just be left behind.
See Character, Description, Flashback, Imagery, Metaphor and Simile, Theme.