Okay so I want to talk themes. I don’t know if I’ve done this before, but I feel like saying it again. So here goes.
The first thing you gotta know about themes is: they don’t always come into existence right away. Sometimes you don’t make any at all. Themes are weird and not every book has to be full of earth-shattering stuff. Sometimes your book is just fun. But other times, if you want a theme, I subscribe to the notion that Stephen King brings up in his memoir, On Writing. You can’t... get themes on the first draft. Not most of the time. Most of the time your story is going to be just for fun at first, with you uncovering it or creating it or however you view your creative writing process. Second draft is the theme draft. Reread your book, and look for that tiny little thread. So, for example, my story Patchwork’s first draft is just a fun romp through fantasy land where kids get cool powers. But when I went back for a second draft, I realized that there were other themes running through it: empowerment, mostly. That you can change shit, just because you’re you, and you can do things nobody else does. Another theme I came upon is the danger of being in combat-- how it affects people, and their friends, etc. It was only during the SECOND DRAFT that I realized that there even was a theme to my story. So don’t beat yourself up if you can’t find some overarching “lesson” in your story. If it comes, cool. If not, that’s equally fine.
The second thing you gotta know about themes is that themes are going to be different between people. The “classics” tend to highlight certain types of themes (sacrifice, war, how shitty and hypocritical people are), but that doesn’t make other themes bad. The whole concept of a literary canon is kinda bullshit anyways, because in my opinion it really only perpetuates intellectual elitism and the idea of “good writing” is almost entirely subjective anyways. But that’s a post for another day. Anyways, the point is if your theme is something that isn’t found a lot in the “classics” then it’s still a legit theme. Don’t be afraid to align your themes with how you personally interpret the world. I mean that’s literally art-- creating a work that reflects your view on the world.
Basically, chill. Themes often don’t show up in the first draft, if they show up at all, and those themes are gonna be way different than other people’s themes ‘cause you’re different people.
