Building Theme in Your Story
Think of the concept of something being greater than the sum of its parts. All the events in your story build to tell the story itself, but more often than not they circle one central idea. This can be something simply said, like love or death or loneliness, or it can also be a more complex idea that takes a few more words to describe.
Let’s build a quick story for this post, about a surgeon working in a hospital. If our story’s theme is something like “accepting things out of one’s control,” then the focus on this story can be the way she might make attempts on several severe cases and not quite making it. At its core, despite doing her best, this surgeon is dealing with things out of her control.
Of course, there are many, many more ways to go about building theme, but at it’s simplest these are some ways to establish a basic idea of a story’s theme.
Do all of my story points need to convey theme?
Longer answer: no, but they should be related - at least tangentially.
Let’s return to this surgeon’s story, shall we? Here are a couple of things that may happen in his story:
Surgeon comes to terms with the separation of his parents.
Surgeon’s husband has to go on a trip for their job for a month.
Notice that not all of these things are directly tied to the surgeon’s job in the hospital, but they’re all things at least somewhat out of her control. She can’t control the separation of her parents, and she can’t control her partner’s job, and so these tie to the theme.
Can my themes be accidental?
The answer is probably no. While your story should have a theme, it’s often something that has to be planned out in advance for it to have meaning and impact within the story. As you develop, think about your theme and how you can weave it into your story.
However, if you’re writing your story and you happen to notice a theme developing, make note of it so that you can develop it further in your editing process.
Can I have more than one theme?
Yes! Especially if your story is longer, you have more room and more time to cover multiple topics. If our surgeon story is a short story or even a novella, we may want to keep it to this initial theme of “accepting things out of one’s control.” However, if it’s a longer work, you can work in “love” like we mentioned before, and maybe one other one.
How complex should my theme be?
The complexity of your theme is completely up to you. Let’s take “love,” for example; it’s a pretty broad possibility. Here are just some of the ways you can describe this theme:
falling in and out of love.
the danger of obsessive love, and learning to love others in a healthy way.
coping with unrequited love.
And this is just a small list of ways to develop this theme. It all depends on how you want to portray the theme in your story, and from there it’s up to you.
That’s all I have on theme today! If you have any follow-ups or other questions for me, my askbox is always open! Until next time, happy writing! <3
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