UK/AU/NZ

Yesterday I discussed the mystery and magic of the hidden story — the themes and subtexts that can imbue a work without the author consciously realising they’re there.

I concluded that this phenomenon arose from the evolution of the story, rather than the author’s upfront intention. Which is all well and good — very good even, as I hope some of yesterday’s examples suggest. 🙂

But what about when the author intends to include the hidden story, which can also be known as the subtext or theme of a book? (Note: there can be several subtexts or themes, by the way.)

So harking back to my recent conversation with Mary Victoria: although I may have never tagged “unshakeable moral core” against Myr in Daughter of Blood, it was absolutely my intention to juxtapose her personality with that of the Wall series’ Malian, Asantir, and Jehane Mor, for example, in order to explore different ideas of what constitutes “strength” in a character.

USA

But as I also noted when talking with Mary, The Wall of Night series is heroic fantasy. This means that as the author I’m intentionally focusing on heroes and what makes a hero (whether female or male.) In that sense, Daughter of Blood is absolutely a tale about moral cores and since Myr is one of the book’s main characters, this was always going to affect her development.

Like most things, therefore, the hidden story within the tale being told will in part reflect the author’s conscious intention and partly evolve through the natural development of the book, i.e the subtext and themes that emerge may equally well be from the subconscious as well as the conscious mind.