This is the first in our three-week series about what theme is and how to find this abstract bugger and even develop it in your own stories. And to start things off, we have to define theme. Turns out there are a lot of different takes on this bad boy, but for today we’re going with LitCharts.
According to LitCharts,
A theme is a universal idea, lesson, or message explored throughout a work of literature. One key characteristic of literary themes is their universality, which is to say that themes are ideas that not only apply to the specific characters and events of a book or play, but also express broader truths about human experience that readers can apply to their own lives. For instance, John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (about a family of tenant farmers who are displaced from their land in Oklahoma) is a book whose themes might be said to include the inhumanity of capitalism, as well as the vitality and necessity of family and friendship.
And you can have more than one theme in your story, but we’re just going to be focusing in on one right now.
The theme is something you have to develop in your story and it has a significant impact on your main character.
Your book will have a plot – the things that happen in the story.
Your book will have character development – how your character evolves or doesn’t in a story.
Your book will have a theme – the more abstract concepts that your story involves.
Themes can be broken into concepts and statements.
Love
Grief
Human love is imperfect.
Living with grief is permanent.
And your work as the author is to embody those themes in your character as they navigate the plot and world of the story.
Hey, thanks for listening to Write Better Now. These podcasts and more writing tips are at Carrie’s website, carriejonesbooks.blog. There’s also a donation button there. Even a dollar inspires a happy dance in us, so thank you for your support. The music you hear is made available through the creative commons and it’s a bit of a shortened track from the fantastic Mr.ruiz and the track is Arctic Air and the album is Winter Haze Summer Daze.
