The heart of your story: working with themes

CC via Jurvetson

I see more pathetic writerly wails on the subject of themes than I do on any other topic.  “What is a theme? How do I find my theme?  How do I incorporate it into my work?”

Themes are the subliminal part of writing, the underlying message or idea that the writer wants to convey.  Themes speak of a story deeper than words.  They are a powerful tool to bring more depth and focus to your work.

Themes are not that difficult to work with.  I suspect that it’s the very nature of themes that worries writers.  You can’t measure them.  There are no simple rules on how to develop and use themes.  There are no step-by-step instructions.  And more often than not, you don’t even know what your theme is until you finish the story.

What is a theme?

Simply put, a theme is the deeper meaning to a story.  And now I can hear the wails of “that doesn’t help!”

Let me give you some examples.  Your PLOT is boy meets girl.  Your STORY is “a young man returns to his home village after the war and struggles to reintegrate into civilian life”.  Your THEME is forgiveness.

Here’s another.  Your PLOT is girl risks all to save boy.  Your STORY is “a young woman finds her fiancee has been kidnapped and must join forces with a mysterious circus to retrieve him”.  Your THEME is the nature of humanity.

What do those themes have to do with the story and the plot?  Well, this is where themes get tricky.  Because they don’t usually develop from the plot, or the story. Themes develop from the writer.  The theme is what YOU want to say.

This is why they are so hard to pin down, and why writers often struggle to write to a theme, if the theme is not one that matters, personally, to the writer.  I can write about humanity and our existence all day, but ask me to write to the theme “love conquers all” and I’m floundering.

The first and most important thing you need to know is that:

Themes develop from the writer’s treatment of the story, not from the story itself.

Finding your theme

If you look back over the stories you have written, you are likely to find a particular theme or themes coming up over and over in your work.

You might find you write a lot of relationship stories.  What are you trying to explore?  What meaning are you looking for?  Do your stories have a lot of bitter breakups?  Then maybe your theme is inconstancy, or the fickle nature of love.

Or perhaps you have a lot of happy endings and conquering heroes?  You might be writing to a brighter theme, perhaps perseverance wins out or you can do anything if you just believe.

The problem is pinning that theme down into words, and this is where writers get all tied up in knots.  Themes are broad.  Don’t try to narrow them down into particulars.  Big concepts, small stories.

Using themes to strengthen your work

Some people can write to a theme.  I have mixed success.  Sometimes a story idea will develop naturally from a theme, but most of the time, the theme just leaves me drowning in a lot of unfocussed ideas.

So I rarely think about the theme when I throw down my first draft.  But at the editing stage, if you can identify your theme, you can use it as a tool to tighten and strengthen your story.

Lets say I wrote that story about the girl whose fiance was kidnapped.  She joins the circus, which is full of queer folk of all shapes and sizes.  My theme is the nature of humanity.  That’s pretty broad.  What am I trying to say?  What’s my message?  I might read through and find that I have unconsciously said that humanity is defined by actions, not by appearances.  So now I go through my draft, looking at each character, finding places where I can strengthen that subtle message by tweaking the interactions of the characters to reflect it.

But you have to be subtle.  No-one likes being moralised at.  Don’t speak to the reader with your message.  Ever.  (The only cardinal writing rule that I endorse.)  Show, don’t tell.  A theme is a mirror.  Hold it up and your message will be reflected back to the reader through the image of the story.

I don’t have a theme!

Every story has a theme, even simple action stories.  Can’t find it?  Look again.  Think about what the outcome of the story is saying.  Themes relate to emotions, those “truths” that we know.  And those stories with a deeper message will appeal to readers, because they connect with the the “truth” in the story.

Take Twilight, for example.  It’s not exactly the pinnacle of literary achievement, but it resonated with an enormous number of people due to its simple message: you can be loved by someone amazing.  Readers will be attracted to works that speak the message they want to hear.

You DO have a theme, or themes, that you write about again and again.  Sometimes it’s a conscious act, more often than not, the theme is inserted subconsciously as you explore situation and character.

The more you look for your theme, the easier it is to identify and work with.  You won’t always write with a strong theme, but you’ll know when you do, because the story will resonate with you more than your other work.

Exercises

1. Finding your themes

Read through the last story/poem you wrote and see if you can identify the theme.  If you struggle with this, try and pick the dominant emotion (joy/sadness/despair/courage?) and then work back to your theme from there.

When you’ve identified the theme, try and write it down.  Use broad strokes first, then narrow it down until it feels right.

2. Using the theme

Once you’ve identified the theme, read back over the story and see if you can find places where you can strengthen the message without hitting the reader over the head with it.

So, do you have a theme or themes that you return to in your writing?  Have you ever written to a particular theme?  Are you still struggling with the concept of themes in writing?