Now I'm lost. Looks like I'll be researching theme. When I started with poetry, I sucked. Once I researched the technique stuff and using it, my work greatly improved. Well, my ratings greatly improved. I am hoping to repeat that with prose, though. I just have to wrap my mind around these concepts and practice, practice practice them.

I found 'Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Letters" by Hugh Blair, London and Edinburgh Printed for W. Strahan, T. Cadell and W. Creech 1783 in the Microsoft Reader Library. He had something very interesting to say about taste. I'm running out of time so I'll just make this short. He said basically that it would be arrogant for anybody to use his or her taste as a universal standard. Is it not what sells that is important in commercial fiction? I heard about instructors who try to make their students into carbon copies of themselves.

Hey, maybe this old guy wrote something about theme too? Must say, he was very long winded, but made some very good points.