Writing Plan: Story Themes

A ‘theme’ is a key moral or message of a story. Your story's theme should be easy to identify because it recurs throughout the story. Consequently, when readers have finished reading your story, they should get that message about life or people. Whether you express it either directly or indirectly, the message should be unambiguous.

• Example: One of the themes in the Last Temptation of Christ, was that, to remain true to oneself, one must follow one's destiny even if this requires difficult sacrifice when more tempting alternate paths exist.

• Example: One of the themes in KM Weiland's novel Dreamlander was about assuming responsibility for one's gifts and believing that God has established a 'destiny' for our lives

Notice that the theme is not simply a concept like ‘destiny’, ‘love’, 'capitalism' and so on. Rather, it is a clear statement about broad concepts.  

-->

As much as possible, avoid preaching. In other words, try to let the theme naturally emerge from your story. Readers are more likely to feel that they have learned the moral of the story for themselves.

How Strong is your Theme?

Strongest themes that do very well are as follows.

• Themes that make people think deeply
• Themes that stir people's emotions

Another way of testing thematic power is by your answer when asked, ‘What is your story about?’ Ideally, your response should NOT simply list events (which leaves their question unanswered). Specifically, your answer should deliver the message(s) that are found within the story events as a whole.

• Bad Example: Set it Off is about a group of underprivileged Afro American women who rob banks after their individual lives suffer setbacks due to discrimination. [NOT ideal: Not thematic] 
• Good Example: Set it Off is about how institutional discrimination (specifically, racism and sexism) can push victims deeper into a vicious cycle of marginalization. [Ideal: Clearly thematic]
• Very Good Example: Both of the above [Optimal & Ideal in some situations]

Ensure that Readers Grasp the Theme

Unfortunately, readers often find unintended, seemingly irrelevant themes from the best-written work. In fact, they might even miss the key point, ie your theme altogether. For this reason, it is very important to clearly establish your theme or themes before you write. Consider your story's theme as a kind of literary mission statement.

In order to clearly deliver the message, find ways of effectively reinforcing your theme throughout the story in what is called thematic resonance.

What's Next?

After this point, consider looking at the following steps in the process of planning a writing project.

1. Build a Character Arc
2. Character Development
3. Write a 1- to 2- line story synopsis
4. Identify your Literary Genre

--> After those points, complete the final steps of the planning stage.

     5. Broad (not detailed) Story Structure

CJ

Once Upon a Writing Block

PS.

• See why I wrote this blog.
• Other example(s) of themes: Bliss (1985) full synopsis and review