Leitmotif

LEITMOTIF – A Leitmotif starts with a beautiful melody that represents a character, a feeling, an object, or an emotion.

Should we begin all our writing with a Leitmotif?

In a sense, yes, I guess we should. Your reader needs to see, hear, feel, and touch your main character, the heart of your story-worth-telling, as soon as possible. He needs to feel the trauma, the story-worth-telling desire of your main character or your premise/theme.

We are dealing with dynamite when we deal with words – whether they are printed words or verbal. Words carry the subconscious interpretation of what we’ve written or said.

A reader interprets the page, a listener interprets the sound –conflict is story – make it count. Don’t let the fuse be dampened and the dynamite a mere fizzle. “Conflict is the music of story,” says Robert McKee.

If we use the balloon analogy that Robert McKee uses in Story, we think of the balloon as holding in the content of what you have to say, the content doesn’t change just because you apply pressure (conflict in story)it only shifts to another spot.

If you can keep this in mind, and use it to corral the dynamite of your words—creating a Leitmotif of character, setting, conflict – your story will explode in the readers mind with accuracy, emotion and a pleasurable reading experience that he/she is sure to pass along to others.

Remember, words are power – dynamite. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising for your works be they fiction, non-fiction, article, poem or prayers.