Writing To A Theme

I've been getting my entries ready for our annual state contest. There are several categories in both poetry and prose. Each year, there is also a theme category which reflects the theme for the annual convention held in early October. This year's theme is Imagine.  It's the one category I have not entered. Yet! 

It's not that I haven't given it much thought. I have. I've considered this and that but none of the topics seemed to be of interest to me. Yesterday, I asked myself some questions. Many contests ask you to write to a theme and even some magazines ask that you write to whatever theme they have chosen for a specific month. So, it's something we all need to give thought to. 

Questions To Help When Writing To A Theme

• What is the theme?
• Do I have any experience with whatever it is?
• What are the most common approaches to this theme?
• How can I find a different perspective on the theme?
• What can I write that might be unexpected?
• What kind of surprise can I incorporate in my entry?
• How strong a piece can I write?
• Should it be prose or poetry?
• Should it be way off the beaten path?
• Should it strike a familiar chord instead?
• Should it be fantasy?
• Shold it be true?

An exercise to try

Take a piece of paper, 8 x 11, and a pencil or pen. Write the theme word(s) in the center. Then concentrate on that word you've written. What comes to mind? Draw a line from the word anywhere else on the paper and write a word that came to you. Continue doing this as long as you can, as long as you have room on your paper. Then, take a good look at the words you came up with. Do you see a pattern of any kind? Do any of the words give you inspiration? There is no guarantee that you'll come up with a story to write using this method but it is definitely possible to do so.

What will a winning entry written to a theme consist of?

• It will avoid cliches.
• It will be filled with awe and wonder.
• It will not be predictable.
• It will have emotion throughout--sad, mad or glad--doesn't matter, emotion does.
• It will be filled with sensory details.
• It will speak to the judge who reads it.
• It will fit the theme well, not in a roundabout way.
• It will sparkle.
• It will be a satisfying read.

I wrote this post today to help myself come up with something for the Theme category. I hope you can use it, too, whenever you are asked to write to a theme. 

IMAGINE--that's my theme and that's what I have to do!