How to Create Subtext In Your Story | Writing Tips

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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - intro
1:57 - give the characters goals/desires
3:10 - give the characters something active to do
4:27 - let images stand on their own
5:19 - keep track of secrets
6:15 - let characters talk about nothing
7:17 - reveal information with future implications
8:48 - allow for on-page reflection
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FAQS
→How old are you? - 25
→How long have you been writing? - Since I was 8
→Where do you live? - I keep that private for safety reasons, but I grew up in Vancouver.
→Where did you go to university and what did you study? - I keep my university information private, but I majored in writing with a concentration in fiction.
→What are your pronouns? - They/them or she/her
→Where can I read your books? - None of my books are published yet, but you can read my published short fiction in my linktree (linked above!)
→So when will your book be published? - I don’t know! I’m in the revision process right now, but I can’t predict exactly when I’ll have a book published. But I’m working on it!
→Do you plan to traditionally publish or self publish? - Traditionally publish
→Will you read my book/story/chapter/mentor me? - Unfortunately I cannot accommodate these requests because editing/critiquing is a labour intensive task that I can’t afford to do for free alongside my job, my own writing, and running this platform. If you would like to hire me for paid editing work, contact me privately on twitter or instagram.
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[@lingerterminus6222]

I feel like I only make it half way through these videos because I think: "Oh yeah, great insight. I should go make those changes now."

[@Huhhuhwhuhuhh]

Shaelin, I wanted to say thank you for your dedication to teaching us what you know. Before I write, I like to watch a few of your videos to put me in the mindset and to welcome new ideas into my craft. You have an authenticity about you that keeps me watching. Blessings to you!

[@alexelizondo7207]

Shaelin, I have read your story How to Slaughter three times now, and in all of my years of reading, there have only been three other works that emotionally provoked me and captivated me this much. I loved everything about it. I loved how there was so much red, coppery, auburny imagery. The whole story felt like the week before Halloween when I was a child and Halloween still thrilled me. And it was so tender. Often I find myself remembering little details like how Ruth kept the leaf in her hair until it fell off or how she traced the crease that Florence’s thumb had made on her paper. Those details are so incredibly subtle but say so much, which is something I hope to improve in my own works when writing romances, instead of being so painfully overt. Phenomenal job, I’m so happy I came across you and your work.

[@ShaelinWrites]

Thank you so much, I'm so happy it resonated with you

[@o_o-lj1ym]

Subtext sells. Sells the emotions, the characters, the themes. And therefore sells the book to publishers.

[@holly_gmTwb]

Out of all the authortube authors i follow, you are the most genuine, helpful, and nuanced. ❤

[@tomlewis4748]

I agree with all of this. The big Qs I have had as I write are 1) 'Is there enough in subtext? Or is what I have in this scene too on-the-nose?', and 2) 'Is there too much subtext here for the reader to find clarity in this scene?' And it's really vexing when both Qs come up about the same scene moment! I imagine a spectrum, with fully on-the-nose at one extreme and fully subtextual at the other extreme. Somewhere in the middle is a sweet spot, the optimum place on the spectrum, and it differs per scene. If I imagine it that way, it cuts the problem down to size. Rather than fretting about the entire spectrum, all I really have to do is make a judgment call on whether I should nudge things a little bit one way, or a little bit the other. It does seem that successive revisions eventually reveal if I have too much or too little, allowing me to tweak things toward the positive. It also seems to work well when I can express both subtext as well as non-subtext in the same scene about the same issue. And this is a part of the classic dilemma that faces us as writers: our subjective view vs. the reader's objective view, which is very difficult to deal with. I find that constantly trying to place myself in the reader's shoes is the best way to handle this.

[@ShaelinWrites]

These are such challenging questions (truly wish I had a better answer for them myself!) but I love how you've broken down your method for determining where the subtext vs. clarity balance needs to be in a given scene!!

[@emmanuelawosusi2365]

@@ShaelinWrites how can I write a autobiographical memoir?

[@emmanuelawosusi2365]

@@ShaelinWrites how can I write a autobiographical memoir?

[@habibadokubo-asari211]

I was just writing a story full of subtext and was struggling with it and decided to take a KZbin break and came across this video. The timing of the universe.

[@76kilosofshade81]

I'm in a writing workshop. Even though we use a book to guide our discussions and writing pieces, I ALWAYS come back to Shaelin's vids for awesome additional content.

[@captainnolan5062]

I just re-watched Game of Thrones (all 8 seasons). This time, I watched with the closed captions on (which really helps a writer to see how the scenes were "written" because you can SEE the words). I was struck by how many times a character asked another character "What do you want?". This is clearly an attempt to find out what their goas are, which will help the asking character manipulate the responding character (i.e. play the Game); but it is also a great way for the audience to understand what the responding character's goals are. However ... the added complexity is that often the 'responding character' would not answer, or would answer untruthfully, or would respond by asking their own question, and often asking what the original 'asking character' wants. It was fascinating to see the many ways that this simple question was responded to and how the subtext emerged during these scenes.

[@clint_oreilly]

As iron sharpens iron, so is Shaelin to writers :) Great tips on subtext

[@jackhaggerty1066]

Iron sharpens iron : an apt saying. Metalwork videos on KZbin are a useful way of looking at the craft of writing.

[@leolightfellow]

This is great advice. I hadn't thought of some of these before.

[@coreyh1956]

As soon as I finished your video, I applied subtext to my book. It adds an interesting element to my story. Thank you. Kind regards, Corey

[@kokoro_flow]

Thank you for this helpful video, Shaelin! I like how you explained that subtext should be used like seasoning, like that "Je ne sais quoi". :D

[@ExtremeNeoclassical]

I was looking for this subject recently, thanks so much!

[@Casca1997Berserk]

Thanks for the writing tips, Shaelin. I hope you'll consider doing a Live show soon?

[@heatherhaigh]

Just the tips I needed to pull together what I've been trying to do. Thank you.

[@lesliemoiseauthor]

Thank you for dealing with such a subtle topic.

[@kimberbites]

Wow, these are good tips. It must've been a brain workout to figure them all out. I think I'd have only come up with the first two. Using actions is a favorite of mine. I like that you always point out that often being overt isn't a bad thing too. In some cases, it does work. For me it's also the story and with each book, that I often adjust everything I do. Not all stories are the same. So I judge a lot of what I do based on each individual story, and even that current time of where I'm at as a writer. Years down the road, I may favor a different version. Why I love writing. It's not just individualistic, but it's never boring. So many different things we can do, to have a different way a reader takes the story in. Endless fun for me.

[@SOLIDSNAKE.]

Such a fountain of knowledge you are! Excellent!

[@Lolz4249]

Loved this video, you always have such helpful tips that make sense. Unrelated but your skin is glowing!

[@lakeshagadson357]

Some of the tips you use I wish my teacher could use some of them

[@mackenzielouise3872]

I look forward to reading that treehouse story next

[@Lara_Ameen]

This is wonderful! Also, some of these tips work really well for screenwriting/TV writing, especially the first two tips. So many of us love those scenes in TV shows or movies where two characters are doing a thing and they’re talking about something else, but they’re really talking about their relationship with each other. Just something I was thinking about as I was watching your video since I write TV drama pilots, short stories, novellas, and novels! 💜

[@evilgenius97]

I love watching a video and learning im good on what im doing so far

[@PhoenixCrown]

Great usage of the phrase "je ne sais quoi."

[@rachelthompson9324]

Good work. Subtext can also be external, IE the social or physical environment in which the story takes place that the MC has no control over. Think love story during WWII. The war hovers over everything but it is not a war story per se. The war is an obstacle or even functions as the protag but that is laced together in layers of subtext.

[@danielloosjr396]

I make up a lot of my stories as I go, I even abandon my ideas of the way of how I stories go (I have ideas as I write and I end up working towards the ideas I have at times) if a scene fulfills what another scene was planned of doing. I write in the way I prefer. I add subtext as I write scenes at times, implying something which the story doesn't just come out and say but is still part of a scene, but just not that important at the time. I know that telling is important, in fact, the reason I don't like show don't tell is the don't part. Telling is important it would be better to say show or tell because in my experience, you rarely need to do both with something. Telling can be used to help set up tension, like with what Albert Hitchcock said about telling the viewer about the bomb ahead of time instead of it being a surprise or if you are trying to tell a cosmic horror story showing can be extremely detrimental depending on how it is used. You can show the impact of the monsters if you see them or what is left behind by them after they left an area, but actually showing the monster is not so good of an idea a lot of times due to the genre using the fear of the unknown (my stories tend to be cosmic horror). There is an episode of Ed Edd n Eddy that had edd dress in a monster costume that, to my memory, could be used as an example of showing impact without directly showing what was responsible for most of the episode.

[@nadeeml9276]

Excellent video

[@dianajflora]

So helpful. Thank you!

[@mom2many166]

Your skin looks amazing!

[@skerr3773]

thank you

[@PaulRWorthington]

None of my characters care to be subtle! Before writing a scene, I make notes of what they are actually saying out loud, what they were trying to say, and what they refuse to say... Almost every time, everything comes out as Marie characters refused to keep their needs and motivations hidden. Maybe someday I'll write less tense situations or more subtle or even strategic characters, instead of 'let's blurt it all out' types,

[@tylibrary5849]

subtext can essentially be thought of as the montage section of a movie. Even in cinema the plot isn't limited to being conveyed through scenes, and dialog. Anything dialog of fiction can be converted to a subtext format. In creative fiction well written dialog can be exploited to boost word count. However if the dialog is of mediocre quality, or if the author is experiencing repetitive creative grooves where there isn't much variety to writing it could be worth writing condensed dialog as a subtext format which is writing the story in summary instead of detail which could boost word count yet be generic

[@TheKayPitt]

Hi! I love this video! You are definitely giving me some ideas as far as how to create underlying tension between my characters. I have a very shallow question lolol how do you format a character’s thoughts? For example, I don’t want to write “thinks Anna” after every one of Anna’s thoughts in my book so I’ve just been italicizing the character’s thoughts with no quotes. The problem is that I’m concerned that’s not super clear to the reader. Help!

[@Spark_is_right_here]

Anyone else ever feel like the, “Have your characters talk about nothing” strategy actually makes their writing *more* on-the-nose? I feel like it’s a genuinely good writing tip, but I can never seem to do it right. For example, let’s say I was writing the tree house building scene with the fighting couple. For the sake of this example, the couple’s previous argument before the tree house scene would be about how much freedom they should allow their child to have. I would probably end up writing something like this: Partner 1 (holding up a wooden plank): Well, what if this plank of wood wants to see the world? It can’t stay here forever. Partner 2: But it’s a dangerous place out there. The plank of wood could get broken. Yikes…see what I mean? I’m not sure how to use this advice without it seeming like I’m screaming, “HEY GUYS GUESS WHAT I’M USING SUBTEXT!”

[@ulla7378]

I think the issue that you are noticing but not realizing is, that in your example the characters are not actually talking about the treehouse. Planks don't want to see world, so it's clear they are talking about something else. But what if they are arguing if the treehouse entrance should be a rope to climb or railed stairs. This is still relatively on the nose, the freedom and danger of the rope is clear compared to controlled stairs. But it's still about the treehouse and its construction.

[@Spark_is_right_here]

@@ulla7378 Oh my gosh, thank you. That clears things up so much.

[@keepwriteon2169]

Partner 2: We need the tree house to be as solid and stable as possible. Partner 1: We should decorate it with flags of the world! They are talking specifically about the tree house, but also adding their worldview thoughts - Partner 2 solid and stable, and Partner 1 opening their child's eyes to the big wide world

[@Spark_is_right_here]

@@keepwriteon2169 Thanks for the help! I like that example.

[@OrlandoOrtiz570]

Example from Stephen King's It: The Losers Club's first bonding experience is building a dam in The Barrens. After which, Bill is compelled to disclose a secret- a monster that lives in Derry's sewers killed his brother.

[@MicaEditour]

The video I've been waiting for 😄 tysm for always giving such invaluable craft advice ❤ Also: I miss your line editing videos... any chance we could get one in the near future? 👀

[@ShaelinWrites]

I would love to do more! Unfortunately they just take so long to film/edit and I very rarely have the time, but in the future I would love to make them again.

[@tubby1366]

Can you do a video on research as a pantser

[@tianzeli6809]

Can we talk about how we can't focus on the content of the video because too we're too fascinated by Shaelin's sweater?

[@rizzypizzy]

Saw the massive B and E and X and T in the thumbnail and thought Shaelin was about to give us their opinions on Brexit! But SUBTEXT is cool, too, I guess? 😂😂😂😂

[@AdamFishkin]

Tips to create subtext ... but don't focus on subtext, or you'll kill subtext. LOL. You're right though, first drafts are terrible when it comes to subtext. I would rather let the characters' thoughts occur naturally the way you're describing, then add subtextual things here and there during the revisions. Contradictions are ALSO a natural strength when taking a character through an arc, because people are complicated. Other techniques would depend on what a specific story needs. By the way I like your cowlick. It's stylish.

[@jackhaggerty1066]

Resist the urge to explain : A good night's sleep will help you see why. The image will pull its weight : Read aloud and you will see why. Arthur C Clarke's story The Sentinel featured a transparent pyramid built by unseen ETs known as the Firstborn. Kubrick changed it to The Monolith, a black cuboid machine. Subtext : We may be incapable of understanding or learning from Aliens. *2001 : A Space Odyssey. The Monolith on the Moon.* KZbin. *Most Beautiful Shots/ Michelangelo Antonioni/ Visconti/ Truffaut/ Fellini/ Kurosawa.* KZbin. You can extend yourself by reading Sci-Fi even if you don't write it. *Quinn's Ideas* (KZbin) will haunt your dreams. Keep a Dream Journal.

[@jackhaggerty1066]

*These Are Films That Influenced The Master.* KZbin. An analysis of the 2012 movie The Master directed & written by Paul Thomas Anderson : Joaquin Phoenix & Philip Seymour Hoffman. Anderson's film while wholly original is in dialogue with earlier black & white films. Interplay of images, revelation, symbolism, subtext. See *The Written World and the Unwritten World : Collected Non-fiction* by the late Italo Calvino. 2023 Penguin Modern Classics.