Subtext

According to my dissertation supervisor, short stories should be all about subtext. In other words, all of the real action, all of the important themes, should be beneath the surface of the story rather than explained and spelled out in, what my supervisor calls, clunky exposition.

Of course, it depends on the story and what the themes are and many other factors, but for the most part I agree with her. Ernest Hemingway wrote about his theory that “…you could omit anything if you knew that you omitted and the omitted part would strengthen the story and make people feel something more than they understood.”

The trouble is, subtext is really hard to write. A lot of the time subtext can be too obvious or sometimes too subtle. It’s also very easy to end up clarifying something, that was originally only ever implied, later on in the story. For instance, my dissertation is told from the perspective of five different characters. When I first started writing it I thought I was writing the subtext quite well. But after reading my first draft I realised that the subtext I had hinted at in one perspective had been explained in another.

The best way to write subtext is to know the world you’re writing about and the characters in it inside and out. If you know everything that is upsetting your characters, subconsciously bugging them, stressing them out etc. etc. then subtext usually occurs on its own. If you know your characters well enough you won’t need to orchestrate the subtext because it’ll come across in the way that you write your characters, their actions, what they never say.

Subtext is all about what is never said. If, like me, your writing tends to be very rooted in your characters’ thought processes, have them thinking about things that seem irrelevant. Make your characters totally preoccupied with something pointless. You could have your character thinking about a song that is stuck in her head. Maybe that song could be symbolic of what is really bothering her but never have her overtly thinking about what’s really on her mind.

Dialogue is also another great way of writing subtext. If your character doesn’t answer a question, changes the subject or just lies in conversation then they are hinting at the subtext. Action is also a very useful tool. If a character purses her lips instead of answering a question or avoids eye contact with someone, that is hinting at something deeper. A lot of the time, subtext is completely routed in ambiguity.

The last tip I will give you, if you’re finding subtext hard to write, is to read a lot of short stories because most of them are really good at conveying really subtle subtext. The Stone Diaries by Ali Smith is a novel that is also very good at conveying subtext whilst also being very routed in the minds and thoughts of the characters.

Good luck and thanks for reading.