March 2026 …
In February’s blog I presented the ‘What If’ question, used by Stephen King as a technique to reveal interesting story ideas. I have also been watching the MasterClass lessons by David Mamet – an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. His lessons focus on developing storylines as a ‘hero’s journey’, proceeding from a starting point to an end point. Mamet is dismissive of conventional wisdom around stories requiring character development, or even an underlying theme. This contention is jarring to the point that I feel the need to state my disagreement. In my experience, my stories become strongest when there has been a strong clear underlying theme, and a shift in the mindset of the main characters.
In constructing most of my stories, I struggle most not with finding the start, but identifying the end – usually expressed as ‘how will the main character have changed by the end?’ Once that endpoint is identified, the path in between is relatively easy to write. Often, the original endpoint shifts, but having an idea about the endpoint allows at least the first draft to be written.
Trying to identify and write to a particular theme is too hard. The story becomes tortured, convoluted and implausible. Writing a first draft is my initial attempt to generate something vaguely resembling a story; throwing thousands of words about characters and their actions onto a page is hard enough without feeling constrained by a pre-defined theme. Characters only truly begin to emerge from the milieu of words and scattered ideas around the completion of the first draft. Their voices and behaviours are distinctive enough to allow revisions in the second draft to commence immediately because I know what I want them to say and do.
‘Theme’ and ‘endpoint’ go hand-in-hand. An example is my current major project; a script for a musical, drawing on music written by my wife, Monique Lisbon. I had produced an outline but there was no strong theme and the finale was conventional and uninspiring. (Monique had no qualms in telling me so!) I knew her assessment was true, but I had to have at least an outline to allow my thoughts to coalesce. It was only much later, when I was directly asked by someone else about the theme, that I felt put on the spot in the need to state this. When I did articulate a theme, the positive response I received provided me with a clear theme and endpoint to guide me as I turned to writing the first draft of the script. Even as I wrote it, the specifics of the theme became more distinct. When I finished the draft, I knew what revisions were required to ensure the theme was emerging consistently throughout the whole play, ensuring the endpoint would be satisfying and interesting.
Whether I write a 100 word micro-fiction story, or a 100,000 word epic novel, I have discovered that theme and endpoint are inextricably linked. Writing the first draft requires an intended endpoint, and assumes a theme, which allows the hero’s journey to be followed. Subsequent revisions enhance the emerging theme, leading to a unique endpoint.
The process of writing stories is not linear, but evolves through reflection and experimentation. Only after multiple iterations are the interesting theme and endpoint revealed. That’s creativity at work.