Post #188 October 14 2019

“Story Themes”

Every work of fiction has some kind of theme.  The author may not know what it is and it may be muddled or it may be crystal clear and well thought out.  This post considers what themes are, why they’re important and what they mean to a hard-working writer on a day to day basis.

Wikipedia says this about themes: The most common contemporary understanding of theme is an idea or point that is central to a story, which can often be summed in a single word (for example, love, death, betrayal). Typical examples of themes of this type are conflict between the individual and society; coming of age; humans in conflict with technology; nostalgia; and the dangers of unchecked ambition.^] A theme may be exemplified by the actions, utterances, or thoughts of a character in a novel. An example of this would be the thematic idea of loneliness in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, wherein many of the characters seem to be lonely.

I write a lot of science fiction.  Beyond what Wikipedia says above, there are certain continuing themes that are common to many sf stories and more or less unique to the genre.  Again, from Wikipedia, examples are first contact, time travel, AI and robotics, space war, alternate histories, parallel universes and so on.  I have often written stories with these themes and ideas and I still do.

To me, a story theme is what the story is about.  It’s the point of the story.  It’s why the author is writing this story.  Most themes should be able to be stated simply: unchecked ambition can lead to ruin…there are limits to everything but sometimes they should be pushed (a recent story of mine had this one)…what might an aging parent do for a loved child if time travel were available.

What does all this mean to the working writer on a daily basis?  I have several thoughts on this.

1. The theme of your story is like the spinal column in your body.  It supports everything and helps invigorate and gives meaning to what you’re doing.  Sometimes, I write down my theme as clearly and simply as I can and post it at my desk while writing a story.  This reminds why I’m doing the story. 
2. Ask yourself this: what’s the point of the story?  Why am I writing this?  What am I trying to get across to readers?  Every story has a theme, sometimes implicit and unsuspected but lurking in the background nonetheless.  Writers should be explicit about their themes, at least to themselves, to avoid writing scenes or whole chapters at cross-purposes.  This only confuses readers.  Recently, I’ve been reading an sf novel by a very well known and respected sf author.  The individual scenes are pretty well done but there’s no obvious story line, no obvious narrative being carried forward.  Let’s not confuse narrative or story line with theme.  However, I have the impression that the scenes are written in and of themselves without any thought as to how they support the narrative line.
3. Ask yourself this: does any one change or grow or learn anything during this story?  If your characters can be seen to change or grow as a result of what happens, your readers will be able to empathize better with them.  Your characters will be memorable.  Part of what I am talking about is being able to draw realistic characters and carry a strong narrative line, but theme is what informs all of this.  Theme is the framing and the characters are the drywall and the plumbing and wiring, to use a familiar analogy.  If you were a plumber without schematics, you might wind up running your piping in all kinds of directions.  That happens to stories without a strong theme as well.
    
   In future posts, I want to go back to basics.  Let’s explore how good storytellers carry their stories forward in engaging and memorable ways.  The basics of storytelling really haven’t changed in 10,000 years, from the time of Og and Grog around the campfire.  In fact, it’s no secret that real stories began as oral traditions. 
    
   Look for more on these critical basics in upcoming posts.
    
   The next post to The Word Shed comes on October 21, 2019.
    
   See you then.