Writing from Your Core Message - How to Create Fantastic Fiction or Nonfiction that Reaches the Heart of Your Audience

I recently wrote a "new" story that is getting some great attention. I put "new" in quotations because in reality the story isn't a new one for me in the sense that I've been developing this story for around ten years. But I only recently wrote it. When I did actually write it, I've been pleased with the positive attention it has been getting. By that I mean the kind of attention that may result in bringing it to a large audience. But I wanted to stop to evaluate why this story is getting this attention. Obviously I'd like to repeat the experience and create another story or two (or ten) that get positive attention. (Tweetable) So why do I think this story is receiving such attention? I'm so sure in my gut this is the answer: Because this story comes from the core of my being, the core of what I know to be true. In other words, this story required me to write from my core message.

There are stories that are created just for the sake of telling a story, to entertain. But a story from your core message goes deeper.  (Tweetable)

Defining What I Mean by "Core Message"

I so remember where and when this idea became solid for me. The idea of it floated in the back of my mind, and I think that's true for every writer. But it was when I attended the Act One Writing for Film & Television Program* in 2010 that co-founder Barbara Nicolosi put it into words. She not only presented the idea to us but also challenged us to create a story from our core truth -- a credo from our life -- and present that story to the class before we left that program.

Act One trains Christians for write for film and TV
in order to influence film and television
for Jesus Christ.

Barbara called it our "Credo story." I'm calling it a "core message." You may have another name for it. I can't remember much more about how Barbara explained this, so from here on this idea is filtered through my own thoughts and understanding.

But I do remember that I knew immediately what mine would be because I had the "credo" or core message in my heart. I already knew it. I was working to build a story to express it. I just was still learning how to structure a story to work out expressing it.

What Barbara called a "credo" I'm calling a "core message." It is a deep truth from your life that you know in the depths of your heart to be true. (Tweetable) I'd say it's most likely something you've learned through the hard knocks in life. It didn't come easy. (If it did, it's more a cliche everybody already knows.)

Mine was a lesson I learned, a truth that came from hard places and tragedies in my life. I lived it. I learned from it. I grew from it. And I found a truth that helped me when I lived it. That truth has become part of my core being. And I believe that our core messages can help others in the same way they help us -- if we'll share them.

Our core messages may be hard to share because they are so deeply personal. They are hard-fought and hard-won. But they are truths of life. (Tweetable) And that means they apply to others, not just to us.

Core messages are also positive in nature. At least I demand mine to be, because there's no sense in taking an audience to a negative place and leaving them there. If a core message is negative, then you haven't lived through to the positive outcome yet and it's too soon to try to share the message. (Tweetable)

So the question is, how do you come to your core message?

*If you apply to attend Act One, please note on your application that you heard it from me, Dianne E. Butts. Act One would want to know. Thank you for remember me when you contact them.

How to Discover Your Core Message

You may know yours immediately. You may already have lived it and discovered it and stated it in words that you know and remember in your heart. Now is the time to write it down.

If you aren't to the place where you can write it down, then I'll warn you it may be harder than you think. (Tweetable) But you can:

• Brainstorm. Collect words that express your core message. Work until you can form a sentence. Don't stop there, but massage and tweak the message until you know that you know that you know it is hitting the target exactly. 

• Mind Map it. Use a large piece of newsprint. Write your collected words you brainstormed on it and then group other ideas around each word. The purpose is to get to the point where you can articulate your core message in a sentence.

• Articulate it. Write it down. Make it a statement. A Credo statement. This is much like writing a Thesis Statement which I wrote about in my December 2014 article. A Thesis Statement is any core message (even an assigned message) you want to express in an article or story. A Core Message statement is a truth or deeply held belief from your own life.

• Give yourself permission to own more than one Core Message. (Tweetable) I find if I limit myself to the core message, or one core message, I then have this battle raging about which one is most important. As if I only get one! No, you can have more than one. Just pick one for each story. Articulate it. Write about it, whether in fictional story or in nonfiction memoir or other. To write another story, pick another core message.

Develop Your Core Message Into a Story

Whether you're writing fiction or nonfiction, short pieces or long, you can develop a meaningful piece of writing out of your Core Message. (Tweetable) Please understand when I use the word "story" here, it could mean either fiction or nonfiction.

For mine, I wanted to express my "Credo Story" in a long story, meaning a novel, a feature-length screenplay, or both.

So I wanted to build a fictional story around my Core Message to express that message. This is where learning about story structure really helped me. In order to build your story around your core message, think about these points:

• Create a story that expresses all sides of the issue involved. (Tweetable) Doing so allows you to show what happens when life is lived in contradiction to your core truth.

• Develop story lines that look at the issue from all sides. This gives your story conflict in different views.

• Use these different views to create "B stories," which are subplots.

In my opinion, as writers we don't just write a story. We have to build a story. We build brick upon brick. We journey through life step after step. We build or develop a story in the same way. (Tweetable)

• Let it percolate. Let your story cook long enough to be fully cooked. You can't rush this anymore than you can rush growing up. You can only "rush" the expression of it by forcing yourself to do the hard part of articulating a fully-cooked core truth. If you never sit down to do this hard work of putting it into words, it can cook forever and you still won't have your core message in a concrete form. It will be there, but it will be in the mush that's cooking.

Tips for Developing Your Core Message Story

Along the way of my own writing journey, I've picked up some tips I've learned from mentors. Let me share some with you:

• Don't be afraid to say it out loud in your story. I've often heard or been taught in workshops or writing articles that we should not start with a message. I think that's nonsense. (Tweetable) If we want our writing to be meaningful where else would we start? (For contrast, I've heard over and over in workshops and such we should start with an interesting character. Fewer teachers allow us to start with an interesting plot.) I say, start with something you really want to say. A core message.

• Don't be so subtle no one "gets it." Again, we are told to keep it subtle, but from what I've seen subtlety often means the message is either missed or misunderstood. (Tweetable) I'd rather we simply state our message outright. Done well, it works.

• Don't be preachy. The above cautions are so we don't come off as "preachy." Of course we don't want to be preachy. That turns off an audience. I'm sure you can figure out for yourself what preachy is. You already know not to do that. Sometimes we have to start preachy and then work through it to find a way to work out of it while leaving the message. It can be done. Take careful steps to make sure your final product is not preachy. (Some will call you preachy even when you're not.)

• Let a character state your core message at the beginning.  Besides Act One, I've attended many other screenwriting and story-building workshops. I remember in a screenwriting class taught by Dr. Ted Baehr that he encouraged us to go ahead and state the theme (I consider that our core message) outright and up front. That is the direct opposite of what I've been taught elsewhere, but I agree with this! Ted taught that in movies, a character (often not the main character) states the theme of the movie or story in the beginning of the story. (Tweetable) I'd never notices that. But when I did, I then saw that the story develops and "lives out" that theme, and at the end we come back around to that core message, which is now a "truth." Watch for this the next time you watch a well-written movie.

• Don't be afraid to have an agenda. Again, this is from Ted Baehr. Again, this is the opposite of what we usual are taught. However I remember him encouraging Christian writers to go ahead and have an agenda. He reminded us that everyone else in Hollywood has an agenda! Christians can too. (Tweetable) Others are not afraid to let their agenda be known. Christians can too. So go ahead and have an agenda...and let it be known in your story. This is not wrong. This is, instead, freeing.

Core Messages Reach the Heart of Your Audience

I believe writing from my core message produced a story that is reaching hearts on a deep level, and that is why it is gaining positive attention from people of influence. (Tweetable) There are stories that are written solely to entertain. But stories from our core, from the deepest part of our heart, that speak the deep truths we've learned from the hardest places in our lives, hold truth and meaning that connects with other people in a way that is far beyond just entertainment.

Stories from our Core not only reach hearts and minds, they change hearts and minds. While an audience may not be able to understand why some stories stick with them, hold onto them, and will not let them go, it is because that story is burrowing deep into their souls. (Tweetable) That causes change. That is what story, in its true purpose, is for.

That's the kind of story I want to write. Again and again.

Please Note...

• New E-Book! Check out my newest e-book coming soon. If you have a book out, or plan to, you'll want to find ways to let people know your book exists. One great way to do that is to hold a book signing at a book store. That can be intimidating...until you do a few. In this new e-book I share what I've learned, what I've done right and wrong, and how to make a book signing work for you.

Releasing soon. Pre-Order yours now here:

Book Signings: 

How to Set Up Your In-Store Author Event and 

What do Do While Your're There!

• Colorado Christian Writer's Conference. It's coming soon! May 13 - 16. Sign up now!

Keep Your Eye on the Ball: One Sentence that Can Elevate Your Writing to New Heights

I'm a football fan. Are you? For this analogy, pretty much any sport will do. I love to watch professional and college football in the fall and winter. My husband is a big baseball fan. One thing I've notice over and over again is that if a ball player does not keep his or her eye on the ball (or puck or whatever), they are not going to catch that pass or hit that ball out of the park.

You've got to keep your eye on the ball. Look it all the way in – to your arms to catch that pass, or to your mitt to catch that ball, or to your bat to get that hit.

When a player misses a catch or swings and misses, watch the replay. Watch his or her eyes. Most of the time, their eyes leave the ball before it gets there. They are already thinking about what they are going to do once they get the ball and their eyes betray that thought. They begin to take that action, but… They don't actually have the ball yet. And so they drop the ball, or don't catch it, or don't make contact. Consequently they never get to make the move they had planned out in their head.

It's all about focus.

How do you fix it? Sometimes it's a great idea to go back to basics. In fact, I don't think we get back to basics nearly often enough. If we could remind ourselves of lessons learned in the past more often, we'd probably do much better in the now.

All of this applies to writing. One of the best things I learned about writing very early in my career in a writing class I took was about "Thesis Statements." (Tweet that!) I don't hear much about thesis statements any more. But they have not lost their importance, so let's talk about a good thesis sentence.

It might be a common thought (I'm not sure. You can check me on this one.) that thesis statements are most often thought of for nonfiction writing, especially, for example, the essay. But I think writers who create a thesis statement for whatever they are writing, whether it's for a nonfiction book, or even if it's for fiction whether short stories, books, or screenplays, come out with a much stronger piece of writing. (Tweet that!)

Because the term "thesis statement" often causes people's eyes to glaze over, I sometimes call them "focus statements." More recently the term "a one-sentence" has cropped up with the advent of "one-pages." (Tweet that!)

What is a Thesis Statement?

A thesis or focus statement is stating the single main idea that you want to communicate through your nonfiction article, book, or fictional story in one sentence.

It is a specific sentence, not a vague one. It is a complete sentence, not a word or phrase.

Not: We should all create a thesis statement.

But: When writers created a thesis statement or focus sentence, their writing becomes more focused, better communicates what they set out to say, and leaves concrete thoughts for their audience.

A good thesis statement limits your content to communicating only what is relevant in this piece of writing. A thesis statement not only gives the idea of what you're going to write about, but also hints at your position on the topic as well as your purpose in writing.

Nailing Down a Thesis Statement

Sometimes a writer knows exactly what he or she wants to say and can state it right off the bat (pun intended). I think this is a talent, and for writers who have that talent I think it is one many writers don't know they possess.

For me, more often than not I have to write and rewrite and brainstorm and toss out and re-do a thesis or focus statement before I find it. This, for me, is pure agony. (Tweet that!) But when I finally find it, it's that sweet feeling just like you get when you hit the ball with the sweet spot on the bat and you know you just knocked it out of the park. (Tweet that!)

For some of you reading this I suspect you think that's crazy. What do you mean you don't know what your thesis statement is? Don't you know what you want to write about?!

I know. It sounds crazy to me too. Writing a thesis statement has always been a bit of a mystery for me. (Tweet that!) I should know what I want to write about, shouldn't I? I should know what I want to say. I guess the way I'd try to explain it would be to say that ideas are vague. They float around in the air and refuse to be captured. They are elusive. And so I can't capture a solid idea until I nail it down. And I can't nail it down until I get it on paper.

It's a struggle for me. So if this comes easy to you, you're one of the lucky ones.

What To Do With a Thesis Statement 

Thesis Statements for Nonfiction Writers

When I'm writing nonfiction, especially a short piece like an article, most of the time the thesis statement will fit into the article somewhere close to the beginning. It's part of introducing the idea of the article.

It's possible for a thesis statement to come more toward the end of an article, probably as part of the wrap-up, but that's rare. I can't think of a time that worked for me.

For nonfiction book writers, the thesis of the book most probably fits at the beginning of the book as the subject is introduced. But the nonfiction book writer then has much more work to do, because there would also be a thesis statement for each chapter in the book. That's one thesis statement for the overall book and a separate thesis statement for each chapter.

Even though I've been writing for over twenty-five years now, I have to confess that to this day at times I still forget to write a thesis statement. I blame part of this on the fact that it is not a natural thing for me to do. That's because I still think I should know what I'm writing about and what I want to say when I start writing, right? So for me to have to stop and figure out what it is I really want to say or what I'm really trying to say still feel crazy to me. But I can tell you this: If I will remember, and stop, and go back to basics, and write a thesis statement, then my writing becomes much easier! Then I know what I'm trying to say. I've nailed it down. And I can say it. In words. On paper.

After that agonizing exercise, I can then spend my time writing and fleshing out and explaining to the reader why that statement is important and relevant to them.

So what do you do with your thesis statement? After figuring it out, after writing it down, then print it out and tape it to your computer monitor so it is right there in front of you all the time. Keep your eye on your thesis. This will help you focus. It will help you stay on track. You'll instinctively know when you're headed down a rabbit trail and you can get back on track. This will save you writing time, effort, and many unusable words. (Tweet that!)

When the time and place is appropriate, you can stick your thesis statement into your writing so that your reader will know exactly what you're saying, what you're doing, and where you're going. That's a great place to be, and after that you'll most likely knock it out of the park!

Thesis Statements for Fiction Writers

Most of the time I've heard thesis statements discussed (which is pretty rare, actually), the discussion has been for or about nonfiction writers. But I believe this same principal applies to fictions writers also, whether you're writing a short story, a novel, or a screenplay.

Every story has a thesis. (Or it should.) Even though it's fiction, it's still going somewhere. It still has a message. A story without a message is just a bunch of happenings with no meaning.

And if you try to put too much into your story, then you're trying to cover too much and the true meaning of what you want to communicate gets muddled and lost.

So if you're a fiction writer, I would still encourage you to perform this exercise of writing a thesis or focus statement for your story. (Unlike for nonfiction writers, I don't believe you need a separate thesis statement for every chapter because your story is one cohesive whole, unlike a nonfiction book where each chapter speaks to a different aspect of the whole.)

Here, I think we can take a lesson from screenwriters. When writing a screenplay, screenwriters are often required to also write a "logline." In my mind, this is pretty much the same thing as a thesis or focus statement.

A logline is a one-sentence summary of the story. It's what you see on your TV guide that describes the movie or episode.

It is a complete sentence. It doesn't need to name your characters but it does need to give an idea of who the main character is, the journey she is on, the story problem that needs solved, and hint at the resolution. (That's probably not a comprehensive idea of how to write a logline. But it's a start.) Here's my attempt at an example. See if you can figure out what story it is for:

A lonely Kansas farm girl is whisked away by a twister to a fantasy land and must find her way back home.

Again, for you fiction writers, write your focus statement out and tape it to your monitor as your work. Unlike nonfiction writers who would include it in their written piece, your focus statement may never actually appear in words. However it will keep you on track to tell your story. It will keep you from chasing rabbits. It will help you focus on the story you're trying to tell and will keep all other thoughts from creeping in and muddling your main, focused idea. You'll come out with a much more cohesive story.

Thesis Statements are Different from Topics, Themes, and Tag Lines

To help define a thesis statement, it's helpful to know it is not a "topic," a "theme," or a "tag line."

A topic and a theme are most often a single word or a simple phrase.

These are topics:

• Homelessness
• Domestic Abuse

These are themes:

• Love conquers all.
• Hope never dies.

A tag line for screenwriters is not the same as a logline. A logline is the term used for a one-sentence summary of the story that an employee at a production company used to log in a script when it arrived in the mail. (Not sure that's done much anymore because we don't mail scripts much anymore, but that's where the term came from.) A "tag line" is what goes on the movie poster.

This is a tag line:

• Every man dies. Not every man truly lives. (Braveheart)

Again, a thesis statement or a focus sentence, like a logline, is always a complete sentence.

What To Do With Those Rabbit Trails

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking about all those wonderful thoughts, ideas, story threads, characters, etc. that you discover along the way of writing that don't fit within your thesis statement. What about those? What should we do with those? Surely we don't just take all those wonderful ideas and throw them away! No, of course not.

You are likely to have many "left overs" (post Thanksgiving Day pun intended). Don't dismiss or throw those away. They are so wonderful and useful. Just because they don't fit (according to your thesis statement) into what you're currently writing doesn't mean you can't use them.

Here are some ideas of what you can do with what doesn't fit:

For nonfiction writers: 

• Use them for a sidebar to accompany your main article. 
• Use them for an additional article. 
• Possibly make a series of related articles.

For fiction writers: 

• Use those ideas for a sequel* or a prequel.* 
• Use them for another story in a series.* 
• Or use them in another story all together. As I was developing one story I want to write, I had one scene in my head that I loved but it just didn't seem to fit. I lifted that scene out of my story and guess what? I built a completely different, unrelated story out of that scene.

*A sequel follows a story. A prequel predates a story. A series is the same related story with the same characters but doesn't require following the first story; stories in a series can be read in any order.

More Help

If you're able to write what you believe is your thesis statement right off the bat, that's great. But don't be afraid to work with it, massage it, refine it. You might come out with a deeper thesis that takes your writing to another level.

If you're like me and struggle to nail down that thesis statement, then understand that often it emerges with the writing, thinking, and brainstorming. This means I might be constantly rewriting and refining my thesis statement well into the writing process. Still, I push to nail my thesis as early as possible because having that statement clearly expressed in concrete terms guides everything else. So having my statement nailed down can save me a lot of wasted work of writing what is not on target.

As with your larger writing of articles, chapters, books, and screenplays, when it comes to your thesis statement: Rewrite. Revise. Repeat.

When you finally hit that thesis statement that is what you're really trying to say, you'll know it when you nail it.

Now, if I could just remember to write a thesis statement or focus sentence every time I begin developing an article, book, or story. I'd rather forget about it and avoid it, because for me it's such hard work. But when I do it, everything after is so much easier. I guess I need to type out "Write a Thesis Statement!" and tape that to my monitor. Or perhaps tattoo it on my forehead.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: 

Another Helpful Back-To-Basics Technique

I'm very excited to let you know that I have a new e-book coming out on Kindle! It is titled Cutting the Passive Voice: How to Convert Passive Voice to Active Voice to Improve and Add Power to Your Writing.

Book 2 in the
"Getting Published" series

If you remember my article “Cutting the Passive Voice,” which was originally published in 1996 and was reprinted several times and that I used as a handout in some of my workshops, that is the basis for this little e-book. I added to it and fleshed it about a bit more. I added a few more exercises.

I wanted to make this information accessible to many more people, so I'm making it into a small e-book that costs only $ .99. I can reach a much larger audience and get this helpful information to many more writers with an e-book on platforms like Amazon.com. However I'm keeping it inexpensive so there will be absolutely no barrier for anyone who needs it to get it.

As we're talking about "back to basics," this is a great technique to use as you edit, revise, and refine your writing (both fiction and nonfiction). I go through my manuscripts searching out the passive voice as one of my final revisions. I can't tell you how much this will improve your writing.

Using passive voice is a natural way most writers write. I see it over and over again in beginning and advanced writers. If you don't recognize passive voice, you won't know how to change it. But I can testify from personal experience that if you cut most of the passive voice in your writing, people will notice! They won't know what you have done, but they will notice your writing is more lively, fun, and exciting.

Cutting the Passive Voice e-book is not for English majors who already know what passive voice is and what to do about it. This is a guide for the rest of us.

This little e-book not only explains in easy-to-understand layman's terms what passive voice is, it gives you several easy ways to change it into active voice that brings your writing alive.

Trust me. This will be the best .99 cents you every spent on your writing.

Cutting the Passive Voice is scheduled to release on December 17, 2014, but you can pre-order it right now. It will then be delivered to your Kindle device (or computer with the free Kindle reader) as soon as it releases. So order now! And please invite your writing friends to check it out as well. (Tweet that!)

"Getting Published" series:

• How to Get Published by Magazines & Book Publishers: Find Markets, Submit Your Manuscripts, and More (Getting Published 1)
• Cutting the Passive Voice: How to Convert Passive Voice to Active Voice to Improve and Add Power to Your Writing (Getting Published Book 2)