Subtext: Implicit meaning that lies below the surface of the words of any text.
All writing can benefit from subtext so that it is layered with nuance and meaning. Subtext provides weight to your work and the reader feels more satisfied upon discovering this deeper meaning. Subtext asks the reader to engage with the material and provides a bit more work for them to do. Some people call this, reading between the lines and if skillfully used can greatly enhance your writing.
What are some ways to consider the use of subtext in memoir?
Themes and Motifs
It’s important to lay out your themes and motifs present in your memoir. If you were making a story that only relied on symbols what symbols would best capture the message and meaning of your book? Make a list of those symbols and consider how they might be used to imply feeling and tone, directing their reader to a specific kind of experience.
For example: If the character in your memoir is running away from their problems, the theme of being hunted down could be used effectively to create urgency. Your character could have a painting of a fox hunt in progress hanging in their office denoting both his/her ignorance of their dilemma or creating a sense of prey-like fear, that eventually the problems will catch them. A great TV example is an episode of Breaking Bad called “Fly” in which the two main characters spend the entire episode trying to catch a fly that entered the laboratory. It is full of subtext.
Descriptions
Descriptions are great for creating subtext. The way you describe a bedroom can give the reader hints about the underlying issues in a marital relationship. Clothing, or recurring objects also communicate to the reader unspoken information. Nature and weather are great for this and have been used to great effect. Horror stories rarely happen on sunny days with clear visibility for miles, but rather foggy, rainy, stormy nights where shadows lurk make for better scary stories.
Dialogue
Dialogue is another tool for creating subtext. There is a temptation to tell the reader everything through dialogue but consider what might be better communicated through silence or what isn’t said. Also, choosing unexpected moments of dialogue specifically if the reader expects one thing and gets something else entirely. In memoir, you are working with existing information and it can be trickier than fiction. Excerpts of conversations can work well in memoir and conversations that might serve more than one purpose. Body language in dialogue is another powerful form of subtext. Notice certain types of body language your real-life characters exhibit and think of how that can be used to communicate. What did their body language communicate to you in your real life? Use that to effect in memoir. Showing your character saying something they don’t mean or isn’t’ truthful is another way to create subtext with dialogue, perhaps their actions don’t match their words. Limiting your use of dialogue tags also creates subtext. When a tag is used it feels more intentional.
Scenes
Scene work is another great tool. When creating scenes think of every object as potential for subtext and metaphorical meaning. Also using action to denote underlying motives that aren’t stated or made obvious. Action that seems insignificant but becomes significant when the writer angles it to do that. Slowing a scene down tells the reader that everything that is happening is important. Make sure you don’t slow down a scene without giving the reader the something to see. It isn’t just the slow scenes that can have subtext, fast paced scenes can do more than move the plot along, what do these scenes do beyond moving the plot? What else could it do for the reader?
Characterization
How does a character behave when alone? Show emotions without relying on facial cues or body language. For example, after an argument with her spouse the main character begins pulling everything out of the fridge and roughly putting it on the counter. Is she cleaning the fridge because she’s angry? Or is she pulling everything out in her marriage to see what is at “the back of the fridge?” How a character interacts with other characters without dialogue is another way to create subtext. You can also use gestures that mean something i.e. smoothing down hair, fear of judgment, biting nails, anxiety, hair rising on neck, sensing something is off, twitching muscles about to lose temper.
Some of what I am suggesting requires a bit of creativity when working with memoir but it will strengthen the story and give your reader a much more satisfying experience. Make every word and sentence work hard to be permitted to live on the final pages of your manuscript.
