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@wonderland7 @kb-writer

Interesting topic! I guess, like many things, it depends on the situation. If, say, you were inspired to start your writing project because of a bible verse or because there is a certain truth you want to share with the world, you can deliberately weave your theme in your decisions about your plot, characters, setting etc. That would constitute using writing themes more “intentionally”, I suppose. Though I can see that doing things this way might run the risk of the writing getting “preachy”.

But if you went the other way and began your story with ideas about the plot, characters, setting etc. you would need to find the heart of your story and what theme to explore with your character arcs (i.e. what is the moral lesson?). I don’t think the “don’t intentionally add a theme into the first draft” is a strict rule, especially in cases where the appropriate theme is obvious. For example, my WIP is still in its first draft and my plot touches on things like celebrity culture so the theme of “people may not be what they seem to be on the outside” and “true love/beauty is not based on appearances” is kind of expected.