Writing: Tell Me A Story 2023

Objective: In this lesson, I can: • Understand the nuances of theme copy writing.

• Define the steps of theme copy writing.

Photo by Adeline Emmerich

Sometimes it feels like theme copy is one part excellent word choice, one part brilliant writing, one part inspired theme, three parts magic and two parts total luck. That’s because theme copy is the toughest copy in the yearbook to write. Why? • It’s the first public airing of your theme. Get it right and everyone loves and identifies with it. Mess it up and nobody likes your theme or even understands it. • Theme copy forces you to take an abstract idea that you came up with over the summer and apply concrete examples from the year that is now unfolding to make it relevant, to bring it to life. Taking the abstract and making it concrete can be a serious challenge. • Finally, it needs to sound like anyone in your school could have written it. It needs to have a universal teenage voice that expresses the experiences and thoughts of the people who attend your school. START WITH A GREAT THEME To write great theme copy, you need to have a great theme. Something that is relevant and appealing to your student body. Something current. For more information on generating a great theme, see the “Finding Your Theme” unit.

38 Lesson 7 THEME COPY