Comments on: The Skill List Project: Theme

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 05:31:00 +0000

The grave danger of trying to write a theme is that it’s a wonderful chance to show off the depths of your shallowness by what you think is a a profound theme. . . .

This is a very serious danger if you want to be original in your theme. Some writers seem to believe that they really have come up with a novel solution to problems that people have broken their hearts over for millenia.

By: James Alan Gardner

James Alan Gardner — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 03:36:04 +0000

Theme isn’t just atmosphere, it’s the oxygen the story breathes and the soil in which it grows. For example, in a love story, love affects who the characters are, and everything they do. Sure, they’ll probably talk about love, but that’s not nearly as powerful as *acting* from love.

But perhaps love is too obvious. Take something like the theme of loyalty in “The Lord of the Rings”. Loyalty is damned near everywhere: noble loyalty, misplaced loyalty, disloyalty, fatal-unto-death loyalty, save-you-when-nothing-else-will loyalty, etc., etc. I can’t remember if anyone ever actually makes a speech about loyalty, but many characters and scenes are *completely* about loyalty in all its many facets. It’s integral to the plot in all kinds of ways; at various points, the action totally hinges on different types of loyalty or lack thereof. No one ever *preaches* about loyalty, but the book comes back to it again and again, not just atmospherically but deep in the marrow of everything that happens.

Your theme(s) should inform all aspects of your story, over and over. That doesn’t mean beating the reader over the head with some message, but it does mean making the theme(s) inextricable from the story. —Jim

By: Rocky

Rocky — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:58:15 +0000

Is the primary way to evoke theme through atmosphere, with it occasionally also indirectly or directly addressed via dialogue, characterization, exposition, etc.

By: Elf M. Sternberg

Elf M. Sternberg — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 19:39:57 +0000

I started out writing bad fanfic and smut, and realized that even those stories are fairly meaningless if you don’t have something to say. I went through a tragic didactic period, but I grew out of that, too. I’m happy to say that my worked has morphed into something I find fun and meaningful.

(If you want to read really bad didactic writing, Iain M. Banks is letting his inner didact run free in “Transition”, and it’s really sad to see.)

The odd thing is, when you read “literature” literature the meaning is often explicit and laid out by some Voice of the Author. To take two examples I’ve read recently, Tom Wolfe’s “A Man in Full” is pretty explicit about finding happiness by not chasing it too hard, and James Salter’s short story collection is blatant “life sucks” and his characters frequently say so.

No all literature is like that, to be fair. Nicholson Baker’s work is so deep into metaphor his characters not only don’t have to say anything, but if they did it would ruin his often surrealistic point.

By: Shakatany

Shakatany — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:44:02 +0000

I tend to keep in mind what Louis B Mayer supposedly said, “If you want to send a message, use Western Union!”

It’s just that I hate being hit over the head with the message; subtlety is much preferred though it requires a far more delicate touch.

By: T.L. Bodine

T.L. Bodine — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 16:56:47 +0000

I’ve found that I am much more theme-oriented than most of the people in my writing circles, I suspect because of my “lit major” heritage. But I can’t finish a book without knowing what it’s “about,” and sometimes I agonize over “what does this passage SAY!” if the plot goes in a direction that makes a statement I did not intend.

But in my opinion, you’re right — all good books should be about *something*. Otherwise they just feel hollow. The stories that stand the test of time are those that speak to us about universal experiences, lived by loveable and deeply flawed people.