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[Nick P]

Originally Posted by solve

I introduce a male character and a female character. They get their jollies from word games, and the female pulls a staff between her thighs, groaning in pleasure. Nothing hardcore, and no use of sexual words or of profanities. Beyond this, I use themed keywords that sit out of context and, as such, are effective means of hitting the reader subconsciously.

I love "Northern Lights". It's clear, inventive and (importantly) utterly unpretentious.

Philip Pulman, I can almost assure you without having met him, never used "keywords that sit out of context." Not knowingly. I wouldn't bother trying to hit the reader subconsciously, if I were you. Tell the story, and let the reader respond accordingly.

[solve]

Thank you Lin and thank you John.
It's a decision that I'm gonna have to make for myself I guess.
Jack Bickham has a few thoughts on the idea.
He agrees that it is important to understand one's chosen genre, but he makes several caveats:

Maybe you can spot a developing hot trend and get your book written in time. But it's a chancy business. Even if you guess perfectly, a lot of other people are probably guessing right along with you. And then it's going to take you a year to write this hot idea ... a year to sell it ... another year to get it through the editing and publishing process.
And how hot is that trend really going to be in three years? ...
... Your business is creating stories. If you do that well enough, the trends will take care of themselves.

Jack adds that it is important to pay attention to the business end of writing.
And I guess this is the point you folks are making, and is something I should give a lot more thought too.

Thanks for your thoughts too Nick. Pullman very definitely does use themes and he uses words to control his themes; however, I would agree that few authors consistently use themed keywords (in fact, only Zadie Smith comes to mind). You might be interested in investigating the means in which we can 'write between the lines' (assuming that you have decided that one of your goals is to elicit emotional responses, which is your call): Margie Lawson is a very interesting first port of call.


Many thanks everyone.

[Nick P]

Thanks, I'll have a look.