Your novel can benefit from symbolism, but make sure your story includes these other two essential ingredients.

by Roger Leslie

As a child, I was drawn to reading because of solid storytelling. In school, I fell in love with literature. Thanks to the guidance of excellent teachers and librarians, I discovered that great literature works can be filled with symbols that reveal themes. From that moment on, it wasn’t enough for me to be a reader. I wanted to be a writer.

I wrote my first novel while still in high school. I was so enamored of symbolism that I infused every character, action, and description with some deeper meaning. I included biblical and mythological allusions, as well as social and historical references to make my book timeless. Instead, it was spineless.

Plot

While focusing so intently on meaty “literariness,” I failed to build a solid skeleton to give that meat form. Plot is that skeleton. Most every great novel needs a strong plot to hold the story together, and to hold readers’ attention. Without a suspenseful plot that draws in readers and keeps them turning pages, readers will not care about your theme or the adroit efforts you put into conveying it symbolically.

First and foremost, become a captivating storyteller.

Symbols

Once you’ve written an engaging plot, you can add depth and universality to your story by using symbols. Name symbolism is a very effective way to let readers know you have themes and motifs they can explore for a deeper appreciation beyond the surface story. Here’s a simple and effective tip: give one character an obviously symbolic name, and readers will figure out that all (or at least your central) characters’ names symbolically lead readers into deeper understanding of your work.

In my young adult (YA) novel, No Stranger Christmas, I named one joyful and wise character Mary Carroll. Even very young readers can catch the obvious Christmas pun. That was enough to tip off readers to look for deeper Christmas references through other characters. Because the novel’s climax occurs during a live nativity production, I trusted that readers would be able to see that the names of the three brothers in the novel—Gordy, Frankie, and Mason—parallel gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Each gift symbolizes something specific about the characters and my theme.

Play with symbols to convey your theme. Many readers won’t care an ounce about them, but your astute readers will love you for them.

In my first draft, I named the youngest brother Murray. But with Mary Carroll so obviously a pun, Murray was overkill. Once you’ve tipped off readers with an unmistakable symbol, trust their intelligence. Insightful readers will catch on and love how you’ve pulled them into richer territory. Less astute readers sometimes don’t catch such patterns even when they’re pointed out during book club meetings or class discussions. That’s fine. Great writing should be able to work on the surface as good storytelling, and far deeper through symbols and themes.

If you’ve infused your novel with rich symbols, you can direct readers toward them by adding discussion questions at the back of your novel. Book clubs love to use them as guides for their gathering. Because No Stranger Christmas is YA, I included “For Deeper Understanding” questions that teachers could use to lead literary class discussions.

Theme

Ultimately, your readers deserve to get a clear answer to the inevitable question: What was the point? Sometimes that point is a specific message—about life, about the world, about the human experience—that you want readers to glimpse from your perspective.

Other times your point fits your genre. If you write mysteries, your point may simply be to immerse readers into a yarn that drew them in from the start, intrigued them throughout, and satisfied them at the end with a clever resolution they didn’t figure out on their own. For science fiction or fantasy, your point may be to introduce readers to an original universe or have them consider the state of their own world in contrast to your fictitious setting impacted by your unique brand of heroes, justice, and cosmic reward.

I’m always fascinated by how my themes appear in my novels. When I begin writing, I may have a general point I’d like to make. More often, I only know where the story starts and how I want it to end. Invariably, some (often minor) character—who usually shows up unexpectedly as I’m writing the first draft—conveys the theme through action or dialog. When that passage appears, I know it. That’s the point when I discover for myself why my muses inspired me to write that book.

As you start writing a book, focus only on telling an excellent story. Move forward through that first draft uninterrupted. Don’t edit, don’t revise, don’t research. You’ll engage in all those tasks during multiple revisions.

In the revision stages, you will flesh out your story, reorganize details, embellish the more intriguing plot points and flesh out unique characters. Once you’ve made your plot excellent, feel free to play with symbols to convey your theme. Don’t impose them too heavily. Many readers don’t care an ounce about them. But your astute readers will love you for them and love your book even more because of them.

Roger Leslie, PhD, has published books in multiple genres, including historical fiction, inspirational self-help, spirituality, and writing and publishing. He’s won numerous national awards, including ForeWord Book of the Year, The Ben Franklin Award, and Writer’s Digest‘s #1 Inspirational Book of the Year. He is also a sought-after speaker for his lively, entertaining keynotes in which he entertains, inspires, and empowers people to live the life they dream and soar toward their own ideal of success.

Learn more about Roger at his website.