How Literary Theory Strengthens Your Storytelling
The lessons we learn from reading and analyzing literature can help our writing in unexpected ways
Writers typically want depth when it comes to their writing; the ability to pull their readers into the story with just a few words.
But when we write with the intention of providing the reader with a deeper experience of the story, we tend to make the prose heavier than necessary. This comes in the form of information dumping or heavy explanation. And there is the chance to state the themes within the story rather than doing so through dramatization.
Literary theory teaches writers about how to practice restraint instead of adding excessive details that can overwhelm the reader.
Theory Teaches You to Trust Subtext
When we think of subtext, we think of the deeper meaning behind a gesture, a quip of dialogue, or even a moment between two people.
When we search for how to make our readers connect with our writing on a deeper level, we need to trust that the reader will be able to catch on to what isn’t obvious. This often means creating an atmosphere to help them do this through context clues.
For example, instead of explaining a character’s motives or intentions, you allow this to be revealed through power dynamics, dialogue, and action.
We have to remember that our readers deserve more credit and will value your writing more if they find a deeper meaning behind your words. When we overwrite, overexplain, and add too much, it bogs the story down. The depth in your story comes from what is unsaid.
Theory Makes Conflict Ideological, Not Just Situational
When showing conflict in your story, we need to remember that, like with subtext, there are layers for the reader to see.
Let’s take a look at the variations of conflict:
Surface Conflict- Two characters argue
Deeper Conflict- They believe different things about authority, freedom, and justice pertaining to their situation.
Using the elements we derive from literary theory, we can see:
What each character represents
What worldview is colliding
What belief system is under pressure
Considering these allows you to add depth to your writing without adding over-explanation.
Theory Helps You Control Reader Perception
Think of the information we ensure is passed on to the reader.
What happens when we share information through a limited point of view, only providing the viewpoint from the perspective of the protagonist?
An example of this is “Brownies” by Z. Z. Packer. In this story, a Girl Scout Brownie troop of African Americans goes to camp for a week. They see a new troop come off the buses on the first day of camp, Troop 909. The entire story takes place from the point of view of the African American Girl Scout Brownie troop, allowing the reader only their perspective of the situation when we are provided the information that Troop 909 called the protagonist’s troop a terrible name. This leads the reader to believe this all the way until the end that troop 909 is racist, when the final twist tells the reader that with the limited point of view, we believed one version of the story until we had the whole picture. Therefore, our perspective has changed.
In cases like this, depth doesn’t mean adding more information, but strategically limiting what is provided. When we withhold perspectives, we can provide a deeper understanding.
Theory Encourages Precision Instead of Expansion
When we explore works of literature through literary theory, we begin to ask these questions of our writing:
What assumption is operating here?
Who holds power?
What’s implied but unstated?
What cultural or psychological lens is shaping this moment?
When we ask these questions, we allow ourselves to revise smarter. By doing so, we look at our work through a new lens and ask how we can make less mean more.
In Retrospect
In the past, I approached depth in my stories by adding intermittent clumps of information to lead the reader along so they could slowly unravel the story. And never before had I truly understood the power writers can wield through the use of subtext.
However, as I have worked to learn the different literary devices and tools at my disposal, I found it time to experiment.
For example, I wrote a short story about a homeless teen who left her last foster home and chose it was safer to live on the streets. In a recurring nightmare she has about her past, she remembers her foster mom’s words all too well.
My previous draft had the foster mom’s dialogue as: “Do you know how many ungrateful children I’ve housed? How many of those children knew their part?”
Here is an example of my finished dialogue: “Do you know how many children I’ve housed? How many of those children knew their place?”
The newest version shows the foster mom knows she has authority, creating a power imbalance between her and the protagonist, and is trying to impress this upon the protagonist without outright telling her she will make her listen.
Writers want depth, but they often confuse depth with dense text.
By reading and studying the literary devices and techniques used in literature, we enable our writing to:
Use subtext over explanation
Use ideological conflict over surface conflict
Have controlled perspective over information overload
Theory doesn’t make writing academic; it makes writing more intentional.