How I discovered the Theme of my Novel (and how you can too)

Alright so Theme can sometimes be a hard thing to quantify when it comes to storytelling.

Largely because it can be subjective in terms of importance or variety. Essentially your Theme is the central idea, concept or lesson that your audience takes away from the story, whether the Theme was deliberately chosen or if it’s left up to the audience/reader/viewer to decide.

Your plot, settings, characters all in some way may (but should) lean towards the Theme you’re trying to convey.

I’ve seen many stories, movies and books that have a heavy Theme that stands at centre stage, while others have very subtle Themes in favour of the story being the focus.

Some writers encourage you to find your Theme before you’ve even written anything at all, some say you may find it melding together halfway through the writing process and some say you should wait until the very end of your writing to see if a Theme has arisen while your back was turned.

When I wrote “The Starlight Symphony: The Kindling” I simply had a clear idea for a story and I knew it would be a coming-of-age tale. But I was in the latter category in which a few themes arose in the narrative. However, one strong Theme stood tall above all of them. It was a Theme that resonated a lot with me (which makes sense since it spawned from my own writing) so I tweaked the next few drafts to accommodate that Theme more.

At the end of the day, despite my personal experience, I would say that it doesn’t matter when you find your Theme, as long as you find it eventually. And perhaps there are some that could argue that a story doesn’t always need a Theme or lesson but surely your story has to be about something. Surely?

The quintessential parts of storytelling throughout history are the lessons and topics they teach, so to make a story without these critical parts seems to me contradictory.

In any case, if and when you do have a Theme, the best way you can make it work and become part of your narrative is having your most major characters represent different perspectives on that Theme. Because no entire group of peoples ever agree unanimously on some of the deepest most important subjects of human existence. There’s far too much personal bias, experience and variables that make each human experience and each philosophy unique.

If each character has a different view or opinion on the key Theme while the plot explores the Theme as well, it will create a more complete and believable story that tells its lessons and Themes effectively. Watch any movie or read any book that very clearly has a Key Theme and watch how it conveys it through its story.

In my novel, perhaps one day you’ll see how the Themes that are important to me are expressed in Marcus’s journey as he goes on his first adventure. His step-sister Theresa and disavowed mercenary Ronin, will thicken the plot evermore

Thank you for reading and have a beautiful day!

• Daniel

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