My NaNoWriMo Journey-Day 16-Theme and The XFactor USA
I’m following The XFactor USA. I love to watch how the contestants evolve over the series, much like characters do in fiction.
Tonight was rather interesting, in that the theme was rock. Some of the songs were questionable including one (reggae) that was sung by my favourite contestant, Chris Rene. Judge, Simon Cowell’s reaction on Twitter was: “…@la_reid is mad. That’s not rock!”
L.A. Reid’s response was that Bob Marley, the original singer of the reggae song was inducted in Rock’s Hall of Fame, as well as Rolling Stone Magazine had his picture on their magazine cover. Hence, the song fitted into the theme of the night.
You will remember me writing in my blog (My NaNoWriMo Journey-Day 13-Theme) that: “I wanted to see how the theme was shaping. My intent is for the characters to be engaging and the situation compelling enough so the theme surfaces on its own accord, whereby, it will resonate with my readers.
The thing with theme from a fiction stand point is that some stories are theme driven, in that there’s usually a message and, or, a specific point of view for the reader to delve into. Then there are other stories that use the characters and situations to allow the theme to emerge over the course of the story. I tend to use this form in my fiction writing.
Whichever is used, the theme has to be clear. I do know reggae is not rock, irrespective of L.A Reid’s rationale; it was confusing and that wasn’t the only song of the night that had the judges arguing.
Outside of that, the (reggae) performance was great. Everyone who sung outside the theme got away with it. However, I don’t think in fiction writing that confusion would go unnoticed.
