SIGNATURE TUNES - YOUR THEME IS SHOWING!
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We’ve all seen films where one or more of the
characters has a signature tune, a piece of music which heralds or accompanies
their appearances in key scenes. One which comes to my mind is the lovely
rippling ‘LARA’S THEME’ (by Maurice Jarre) from the film DR ZHIVAGO. Then there
is the five note theme which heralds the entrance of a Music Hall villain,
which can be rendered this way: Dum, dum-dum-dum DUM! Signature tunes heighten
interest and sway emotions, but of course we don’t have them in books. Yet.
Writers have their own signature tunes,
well-loved themes or subjects or situations to which they return over and over.
This is not necessarily either a good or a bad thing; it depends on the writer,
the readers and the situation. It does pay to be aware of your own signature
tunes as a writer, and to use them consciously rather than by mistake.
Barbara Michaels writes paranormal thrillers
and her alter-ego, Elizabeth Peters, writes romantic suspense and comedy
whodunits. Michaels/Peters has several signatures that crop up in much of her
work. The one that springs immediately to my mind is dogs and cats. Many
Michaels/Peters characters either own or find themselves living with large
numbers of pets. One specific example is ‘The Cat, Bastet’, which belongs to
Amelia Peabody Emerson and her family (THE APE THAT GUARDS THE BALANCE and many
other titles). Then there is ‘Miss Matilda’ the little deaf white cat which
Diana finds herself looking after in VANISH WITH THE ROSE. Miss Matilda isn’t
the only animal in this book; Andy, the man Diana will eventually marry, has a
vast collection including a huge St Bernard called ‘Baby’ which likes to
protect Diana by knocking her down and lying on her. Another white cat plays an
important part in WITCH. In DEVIL MAY CARE, Ellie’s eccentric Aunt Kate has a
huge collection of creatures, including ‘Frederick’, the Pekinese, ‘Simbel’ the
Abyssinian and his protégé ‘George’. Vicky Bliss (NIGHT TRAIN TO MEMPHIS etc)
has a large, sloppy sort of dog, and Pat MacDougal has a very lazy large dog in
AMMIE COME HOME. Some of these animals play active roles in the books they
inhabit, helping to solve or to complicate the various mysteries, but often
they’re just there, in a kind of furry chorus. They are generally loving,
undisciplined and inclined to slobber and/or shed hairs on the furniture, but a
few of them bite. Another signature tune of Michaels/Peters is her obvious
fascination with archaeology. This is at its most marked in the Amelia books,
but it shows up in other titles as well. Yet another is her habit of running
two romances at the same time, with a young couple balanced with an older pair.
This happens in AMMIE COME HOME, DEVIL MAY CARE, WALKER IN THE SHADOWS and
VANISH WITH THE ROSE.
Dick Francis’s signature might be thought to be
horseracing, but I think he has another one which is even more marked. His
heroes, though they have different names and different occupations, are
essentially the same person. So the Francis signature, to me, is the wry, self-deprecating
narrator of the books. Mary Stewart also has a signature character; in her case
it’s her heroine. Again, the names, ages and occupations vary from book to
book, but the essential character tends to remain very much the same. It may be
the first-person narrative-style of these two authors that keeps their
signature characters so stable; but it would be assuming too much to believe
that the Francis hero and Stewart heroine speak in the voice of their creators.
After all, Madeleine Brent had a signature heroine, but she couldn’t have been
‘Ms Brent’, because ‘Ms Brent’ was a man.
Another writer who has a signature character is
Betty Neels, who has been writing romances for Harlequin Mills & Boon for decades.
Ms Neels’ signature hero doesn’t appear in all her books, but when he does show
up he’s unmistakable. He’s a Dutch doctor of around forty years old. He has
greying fair hair and a reserved, autocratic manner. He is often brusque with
his heroine, but can be very kind to the young, ill and elderly.
Anne McCaffrey’s signature is music, which is
important in a great many of her books. In THE CRYSTAL SINGER series,
Killashandra Ree and her colleagues use their perfect musical pitch to tune
crystals. In the DRAGONSONG cycle, Menolly becomes a harper despite opposition
from her family. In THE KILTERNAN LEGACY, Rene shares a love of Gilbert &
Sullivan with her late relative, Irene and with several of the people who made
up Irene’s ‘court’. And of course, THE SHIP WHO SANG also features music.
These kinds of signature themes, repeating
characters and interests, are very easy to spot by anyone familiar with the
body of the authors’ work. Since all five authors mentioned are prolific and
highly popular, it’s obvious that their signature themes have struck
sympathetic chords with a great many readers. However, I do wonder how much of
their use of these signatures is deliberate. It’s easy to say they *must* know
what they’re doing, but it’s equally easy to be blind about your own work.
I have one kind of signature theme which is
conscious and deliberate, but it wasn’t until I had cause to re-read several of
my own novels in one short period that I realised I had another kind as well.
In the case of the deliberate signature, I have developed a habit of including
certain things in almost every major book I write. I usually mention cockatoos,
and I often choose names for characters and places which mean something extra
to me and, perhaps, to alert readers. The cockatoo theme is partly because I
live with four live examples, and partly to reflect my Australian identity. The
naming notion is another reflection of private interest. For example, in one
book I used titles from some of my other novels as place names. Thus the novel
titles SHADOWDANCERS and TRANSLATIONS IN CELADON appear in the guises of
‘Shadowdancer Hill’ and ‘Celadon Falls’, while TRINITY STREET and AMY AMARYLLIS
pop up as ‘Trinity Towers’, ‘Amy Street’ and ‘Amaryllis Hall’. Games like this
are really for my own entertainment and make no intrinsic difference to my
writing. It’s the unconscious repetition of situations that can be more
alarming. It wasn’t until many months after the publication of AURORA and
TAKING A CHANCE that I realised that each had a character who ‘painted dreams’.
In one case it was the heroine, in the other the hero’s mother. One character
was an alien girl, the other a faerie woman, but I had unconsciously given them
the same unusual trait. In another peculiar situation, I had three novels with
the same publisher, all of which dealt with broken engagements and inter-family
relationships. The plots were quite different, but believe it or not I didn’t
notice the signature theme until I had cause to re-read all three heel-and-toe.
You don’t believe that? Well, I might point out that I offered ten plots to the
publisher concerned and that none of the other seven dealt with broken
engagements! It seems that this theme pleased this particular editor more than
any other and led to a marked concentration of bouncing diamond rings. Finally,
I have written three novels, over several years, in which distant cousins
marry. In every case the book’s plot would fall apart if the characters were
not slightly related. Fortunately the genres, settings and other circumstances
are all different. I suppose three sets of unconscious signature tunes aren’t
too bad if you consider the number and variety of books I have written, but it
has taught me to be very careful next time I plot a novel.
So, what should you do about signature tunes? First, I’d suggest that you examine your body of work in some detail to find out if you have one or more already. Do all your heroines have a waspish elder sister? Are all your heroes only children? Do you often use the same kind of house for a setting? Do many key scenes take place at the office, the beach or on top of a snowy mountain? Do you have a penchant for winter books? Do your heroines take a great many bus trips? Does a small, apparently frivolous mystery often lead to something much more serious? Have you had more than two kidnappings? More then two divorced protagonists? More than two heroines who have just lost a job in similar circumstances? Do several of your heroines have gay friends? Are more than two of your protagonists amnesiacs? Do many of your characters have cute or obnoxious kid siblings or worldly-wise aunts or widowed fathers? Do your heroines head for the sea like lemmings when they get upset? Do your heroes tend to drink Scotch? Do you find too many major characters sharing an initial or even a complete forename?
If the answer to many of these questions is
yes, then you need to write a list of major characters and their situations so
you can avoid too many repetitions in future. Of course, you may decide to turn
a signature tune to your advantage. In Simon Brett’s books about actor Charles
Paris (SO MUCH BLOOD, NOT DEAD, MERELY RESTING etc) we all know Charles will
stumble on a murder, solve a mystery, get drunk at least twice and make a hash
of any acting or family opportunity that comes his way. Of course we do. He
does it in every single book. Whether this knowledge endows us with comfortable
familiarity or a deep desire to tip a bucket of ice over Charles is a matter
for individual taste. Similarly, in the old television series MURDER SHE WROTE,
we viewers knew Jessica Fletcher would happen on a murder every week. We knew
she would solve it, but that in the last reel the villain would probably
confess in a flashback scene providing us, too late, with the information we
needed to solve the murder. As my husband used to say; “Why does anyone ever
invite that woman anywhere? And why doesn’t she get arrested? Anyone who just
happens to be present at so many murders just has to be a suspect.” Quite so, but
this was Jessica’s signature tune. She was always there and she always solved
the mystery. Another puzzle was how she actually managed to get much writing
done, but again, viewers just accepted that she did.
These kinds of signature tunes are suitable for
long-running series, but should probably be avoided in single title novels. Of
course, some genres have their own ‘givens’, but you, as writers, should choose
your own givens consciously. If you fancy using a signature tune, why
not call on a major interest or hobby? Perhaps you could use stamp collecting,
lapidary, gardening, horses, roses or spiders as your signature. I believe this
is better than reusing too many characters or situations. You might choose a
very small signature. Perhaps all your books will have a walk-on appearance by
a character named ‘Billy’. Perhaps the same tune will be mentioned once in
every book. Or perhaps you’d prefer to avoid the use of signature tunes
altogether? You might be able to do it, now you know exactly what they are.
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