by Kayme Moon

Created on: March 05, 2009

When I think of symbolism, the first thing that happens is a transportation back into my middle school and high school English classes where I was first learning exactly was symbolism was and how it was used in stories. As a younger kid I remember hating it. Endless, older novels written by dead people whose only goal in life seemed to be lacing their written works with symbols in order to torture students of the future! However, a writer I find myself now, and I've found that the use of symbolism, if executed correctly, can be quite rewarding for both the reader and the writer.

It must be noted that, apart from actually coming up with a solid and original plot and all the rest, symbols are difficult to come up with and implement in a way that doesn't confuse things. There is always the possibility that a writer can try too hard to add in a symbol, and it shows. Other times, symbols might be too vague, or not noticeable enough.

One of the most important things to think about when writing and implementing symbols is that your goal is not to throw them out in the open. You don't want people to say, 'Oh look, it's a symbol. How clever.' That's something that comes as one of the underlying messages while the reader makes his or her way through the story, which is one of the things that makes implementing symbols so difficult. Essentially you are giving the readers pieces of information and connections without actually giving any specifics.

For an example, I'll use a common symbols, purity and goodness. Now, the subject of this symbol can be anything - a person, an object, an action, anything that exists can technically be used as a symbol. Again, a common symbol is using a person to symbolize purity and goodness, and if it helps at all, think about Mary Sues and Gary Stues (characters of perfection who have no flaws). If you're going to take a person and have them symbolize something like this, then putting it in the story is the hard part. Many writers will make the mistake of having their characters free of blemish, perfect in every way, and put in no thought towards anything more creative. Something more clever might be the person you'd expect the very least: a minor character, or a character who seems just as ordinary as everyone else, for example. It is what you do with these symbolic objects, not what they actually are, that is the most thing to remember. Almost anything can be made into a good symbol!

Of course, there are plenty of opportunities for using symbols. In a story about good and evil, using a person can definitely work. There are openings for symbols in very many places, and while generally symbols are reserved for those sections of plot that go on for awhile, get deep and complicated or just seem to require something out of the ordinary, symbols can even be put into simpler stories. There's a good chance that they can be used for brightening up what would otherwise be mundane.

Writing and implementing symbols can be very challenging and difficult, especially if you find yourself trying too hard. However, if you get the hang of letting them flow and sometimes creating themselves, you'll find that using symbols can be very rewarding.

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