Writing subtext is not easy. Newbie writers—and even seasoned writers—need many hours of practice to get subtext written correctly. There’s a great benefit to subtext in your novel. Readers will recognize your talent for it. You should study great writers like Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway. This article will go over several ways to put subtext in your story and why it’s important not to preach the theme in your novel.
Why Subtext is Important
If you want your writing to improve, then you should learn what subtext is and why it’s important to properly place it in your novel. Basically, subtext is just a simple, indirect way to imply something without directly stating it.
The keyword here is indirect.
Knowing how to incorporate indirectly takes practice. A writer must have an arsenal of methods to use like metaphors, symbolism, and a massive vocabulary. Using these will make the subtext easier for you, allowing your story to have the prestige to its narrative that most pieces of fiction just don’t have. When a writer puts an important situation in a story or discusses a theme without subtext, they will likely overdo it by outright stating the theme or situation, which is the worst thing a writer can do. It will turn a reader off from continuing your novel because they likely won’t agree with whatever opinion have decided to directly state. Preaching unifies the ones who already agree with you. It divides everyone else.
For important themes, such as abortion or capital punishment, I suggest that you don’t blatantly state a character’s opinion in dialogue or in prose. It becomes too on the nose and will force the reader to think about his or her own opinions on that subject. It’s good if they agree with it. And it’s very bad if they disagree with it. Readers have no problem whatsoever stopping a book, even if they got halfway through, because the author didn’t know how to properly write subtext. If you preach, they will abandon it. That’s why it’s important for you to cleverly weave in those themes with subtext. Subtext hides those themes behind a nearly transparent curtain. When a reader decides to think critically about your story, only then will they understand what you were implying. That’s what you should be striving for in your novel.
In most recent films, for example, the subtext has become the text, meaning that the story’s message has become too noticeable. The quality of talent has diminished and doesn’t require the audience to study the messages of the story. Just as there should be a level of intelligence a person must have to discover what the writer was saying within a story, the writer should have the same intelligence to create subtext. Fortunately, literature hasn’t become plagued with poor decisions. Readers of literary and commercial fiction tend to appreciate the work it takes to analyze a story. There could be several reasons for this, one being the amount of time it takes to read a novel, as compared to a film. With a film, it’s over in a few hours. A book, however, takes days and sometimes weeks to finish. Therefore, there is a forced effort to understand the plot, characters, and themes.
Subtext interpretation isn’t the same for everyone. What one person discovers in a piece of fiction, may not be the same for another. People are already aware of various messages before they engage with your work. Therefore, they will be subconsciously analyzing your fiction to look for certain messages. This is fine. The more theories, the better. It means that the writer did his or her job of placing subtext in their story correctly. The subtext is subjective and relative to each person.
How to Write Subtext
The best way is to plan subtext. Knowing which methods you will use and what you want to imply beforehand is always a good way to start. That doesn’t mean that you can’t write subtext on the spot. Many writers do. However, there should be a certain level of practice before you do it. Poorly written subtext threatens the story the same way preaching does. It may bore the reader or maybe so insignificant that a reader will not be able to discover it. Good subtext should be noticeable but not obvious.
For subtext to work, the reader must already be primed to understand it. This is about the build-up to the subtext scene or moment. Spontaneously creating a moment without the buildup won’t work. Think of it like the rungs on a ladder. To reach the roof, you need to take the first steps up a ladder.
We use subtext every day. When we speak indirectly about a topic we don’t want another person to understand—that is subtext. We are implying something without specifically saying it. As an inside joke between you and a friend, it works the same. Only you and your friend know the joke, but another person doesn’t. The joke represents an implied meaning to a scenario.
Certain keywords and phrases are great to use for subtext. This is when having a diverse vocabulary comes in handy. You should visit thesaurus.com to get different synonyms for specific words. When the time comes to place subtext into a scene, you can use that word to imply something. The reader may not get it at first until they go back and understand the word.
Also, body language is another way to use subtext. The way a character folds his arms or sits or stands are all great ways to display how a character feels at the moment. And it’s a good way to present different emotions during a scene. For example, if a character is speaking about how great the business is doing but his actions don’t match the conversation, then he is likely feeling a different way about the topic. Maybe although the business is doing well, he didn’t see any profit. The subtext is implying the character’s inner resentment or jealousy.
The cliché phrase “show, don’t tell” is ideal for making subtext. Once a writer begins to tell, the story falls apart. The subtext is meant to be viewed as a sprawling theme throughout the novel. The only way to do this successfully is to reveal it slightly at certain key moments.
Subtext works well in dialogue or in prose. Neither is exclusive. I suggest you study as much literature and film as you can to master subtext. It isn’t easy. But it is learnable. Literary fiction novels, like To the Lighthouse and The Old Man in the Sea are great examples of properly written subtext. And movies like The Matrix and 2001: A Space Odyssey have greatly written subtext.
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