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Welcome to our first week on STORY THEORY! *hands out pizza*

So I was going to do today’s post about plotters vs pantsters, but I’d gotten halfway through and I kept getting hooked up on how to describe something because plot isn’t the beginning foundation that most people consider it to be.

The fact is that theme is the solid core that all elements story theory rest upon.

 

Plot weaves into theme. Characters weave into theme. Worldbuilding…probably weaves into theme. I’m just making things up now. 😂 But my point (kind of) remains. Theme is hugely important.

 

Theme is one of those ‘writerly’ words that people sometimes talk about, and say is important, but don’t actually have that much to share about it. It’s one of the most underrated parts of storytelling.

 

But before we can get into the details of how to write a good theme and what that has to do with anything in your story…what exactly does the word ‘theme’ mean?

There’s a few common misconceptions about theme, and it’s easy to get mixed up if you’ve only got vague hints to go off of.

 

Theme is NOT…

• The moral of your story. The “so kids, that is why you shouldn’t go outside at nighttime” that readers can take away at the end of the novel.
• The actual plot subject of the book. You can have a book about planes, but the theme isn’t ‘planes’ because that’s not an ideal, that’s an object.
• Theme is also not an unimportant thing that happens in some books. Nor is it something you can just tack on to the story as an afterthought.

Theme is the broad ideal you want to address in your story.

 

For example: in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief one of the most obvious themes is friendship.

A theme in Nadine Brandes Out of Time series, is ‘shalom.’ Peace.

In The Lord of the Rings there’s a strong theme of power, among many others.

 

If I was asked what Percy Jackson was about I’d say something along the lines of “contemporary fiction about demigod kids who have to steal back Zeus’s lightning bolt before their godly parents go bananas.” But then, if I delve a little deeper, what is the reason behind the story? How do the characters change? What is a deep topic that is indirectly woven through the book? I picked friendship, though there are also other themes in there too.

Thus can the theme be found.

 

The theme is the deep reason for the book’s existence. Themes could be truth, honour, courage, hope, perseverance, forgiveness, and so many more.

 

Theme is the foundation upon which your entire story should be held up.
If theme is that important, I think it’s time we started to treat it as that important. So that’s why I had to start off our story theory with what I think is one of the most important aspect of storytelling…EVER.

 

 

Being able to identify what the theme of a book is a great step to gasping what theme is. It helps you write better themes, and also helps you appreciate the amazing themes in the literature you read.

 

So pick a book, whether it’s one you’ve read or one you’ve written, and work out what the theme is. What is the broad ideal that it is about? Is there more than one theme? Can you see how the theme of the book sets the whole feel of the novel?

Then come back and share your discoveries on this topic!

 

(Note: sorry that this lesson is more theory than actual practice. I will get to some more practical and applicable lessons about theme in the future.)

 

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