What Creates a Storys Theme?

by J AMI GOLD on DECEMBER 18, 2014

in WRI TI NG STU FF

Many stories that stick with us over time resonate with some
aspect of our life, belief, or worldview. Often, the theme of the
story creates that resonance.

If we agree with the theme of the story, were likely to love the
message conveyed between the covers. If we dont agree with
the theme of the story, we might still appreciate the
opportunity to examine our beliefs or enjoy the challenge of
finding something relatable within the pages. Either way,
themes can make us think more deeply about a story.

But theme is also tricky to write. We might have a hard time

defining it and an even more difficult time incorporating
theme into our stories. Worse, its frustratingly easy to include
unintended themes.

So we need some tips to help us understand what creates a

storys theme. With that information, we might be able to
improve the themes of our stories and write something that
will resonate more strongly with readers.

What Is a Theme?
We probably all learned in school that theme is a storys
messagethe ideas that a reader is supposed to take away
from the story. However, one thing that many teachers dont
emphasize is that a story can (and probably will) have
multiple themes. (So those teachers who marked us wrong for
pointing out the theme we saw instead of the theme they saw?
Yeah, they were full of it. *smile*)
Most themes are revealed through subtext, which doesnt help
with our understanding or identification of them. But we can
usually find the main themes by analyzing how things change
over the story. How does the situation change, and how do the
characters change? Lets take a closer look

Theme Element #1: The Storys Premise

As Ive posted about before, themes are often intertwined with
a storys premise. A premise is usually very high level and
somewhat generic. For example, the premise of Finding
Nemo could be stated along the lines of: A fathers love for his
son pushes him past his fears.
The high-level aspect means that even pantsers might have a
basic idea of the premise of their story:
A woman struggles to believe in love.
A boy learns to trust himself.
A team races to save the world.
Now take that same premise for Finding Nemo and make it
even more generic: Love is stronger than fear. Based off just
five wordslove is stronger than fearwed expect a story
where a character has to face their fears (implied conflict) and
win (implied ending).
More importantly for our goals today, that generic line is a
theme. Or we could go even more generic by taking out the
implied conflict and ending: Love is strong.
Similarly, the themes of the other examples above might be:

Love is worth believing in.

Self-confidence is good.
The world is worth saving.
So one aspect of theme is the premise of the story. The story
theme comes from knowing whos supposed to win or lose
and why.

Theme Element #2: The Protagonists Arc

Another major theme element is created by how the character
changes over the course of the story. What does the character
learn?
This type of theme is essentially trying to convince readers to
consider another view of the world: what to value, what to
believe, what to aim for, etc. And we make our case by
presenting a character who learns the lesson for them.

If we show a character whos miserable when they believe

people are awful and they learn that others can help them
become happy and fulfilled, the reader learns right along with
the character. The character theme would be the
lesson: Humanity has the potential to be helpful (and good).
If were writing a positive character arc story, our
protagonist would usually start with a false belief, and over
the course of the story, theyd learn they were wrong, like in
the example above.
 In a flat character arc story, our protagonist would know a
truth that could be simplified into a high-level theme (Hard
work yields results), and theyd work to share that truth
with the world.
In a negative arc story, our protagonist might have a tragic
ending in several ways. For our purposes here, we can
simplify the theme aspect to two possibilities: their negative
belief (People suck) would be proven true, or their positive
belief (People dont suck) would be proven false.
As an example, lets take a look at how a theme involving
trust, such as only through trusting others can we succeed,
could play out over a romance storys turning points:
The Inciting Incident introduces the heroine to the hero,
and boy, she does not trust him, or anyone for that matter.
At the End of the Beginning (First Plot Point), she has to
work with him, and her distrust causes conflict that
prevents them from making progress toward the story goal.
The Pinch Points make her trust him about minor things,
forcing her out of her comfort zone.
At the Midpoint, the hero calls her out on her trust issues
and points out how theyre doomed to fail because of it.
In the Crisis of the Black Moment, she has an epiphany
about her trust issues, but now its too late to fix things.
The stakes of the Climax rip her comfort zone to shreds and
she takes a leap of faith, which involves trust in some way,
to overcome the conflict.
In the Resolution, we see her interacting with the hero (and
maybe with others) with her new-found trust on display.
Note that in stories with multiple protagonists, such as
romances, each main character would have an arc and thus
have a theme.

Theme Element #3: The Plot Events

The first two elements are themes that we often consciously
develop in the story, but now were going to talk about some
elements that are too frequently responsible for unintended
themes, simply because we might not be as aware of how
these aspects create a message.

For the first of these, we want to look at the plot

events, especially the turning points. What things do the
characters attemptdo they succeed or fail? More
importantly, why do they succeed or fail?
For example, lets say were trying to develop a story theme
of: Friends help us through tough situations. Wed want to
look at the difficult plot events the protagonist faces.
When they succeed, is it due to their friends help? When they
fail, is it because their friends werent there to help them?

If our story included plot events where the character failed,

even with their friends help, we might be creating an
unintentional theme of: Luck helps us more than friends. So
the success or failure during plot events can create a plot
theme.
A plot theme should reinforce the story theme, either by being
identical to the story theme or by playing nicely with the story
theme. If these themes conflict, well often create problems in
our story theme.

Theme Element #4: The Protagonists Choices

Similar to above, we want to look at the choices the character
makes and whether those choices lead to good or bad things
for them.
 Are they making choices that disagree with the story or
character theme? Do they succeed anyway? Why?
Are they making choices that agree with the story or
character theme? Do they fail anyway? Why?
We sometimes need characters to make choices that are the
right thing to do, but that lead to failure despite their efforts.
Thats often part of the definition of the Black Moment.
Characters are trying to improve and learn, and then the rug is
pulled out from under them.
If were not careful, that issue can create an unintended
theme. Instead, we could ensure that the character wasnt
doing the right thing completely enough yet, or they were
doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, or we could
show how theyve lost faith. After all, they still have 25% of
the book left to learn more and get ready for the big
demonstration of the lesson in the Climax. *smile*

So the choices they make during the story create a choices

theme. Like the plot theme, this theme should reinforce the
character and/or story theme, either by being identical or by
playing nicely together. If the themes conflict, thats when
well run into trouble.
For example, our character theme might be embracing
responsibility. The choices the character faces might create a
theme of rising to our potential. Those can work
together: Taking responsibility allows us to rise to our
potential.
On the other hand, if the choices the character makes have
them guilting others into doing things for themand the
other characters never call them out on this, force them to
change, or they never realize this is wrong and change their
wayswed create an unintentional theme of: A good way to
take responsibility is to get others to do our work for us.
Theme Element #5: The Villain
Just like with our protagonist, if our antagonist is a person
(rather than a force of nature, a cultures rules, etc.), theyll
also have beliefs and might go through a positive, negative, or
flat arc. How their beliefs are reinforced or disproved by the
plot events create a villain theme.
Do they believe the opposite of the protagonist? Or is their
belief a twisted version of the protagonists beliefs (Love can
be forced)? Do their beliefs bring them success before they
fail? Why?
We might create an unintentional theme by showing that the
villains beliefs work for them up until the end. Why would
their beliefs work earlier and not later? Just luck? If so, were
creating an unintended theme of luck being more important
than our beliefs.

A safer way to use the villain when developing themes is to

create more evidence related to the protagonists belief.
Sometimes the antagonist is the antagonist simply because
they dont learn the lesson, and their failure can demonstrate
the perils of false beliefs. Other times the villain can find
redemption by learning the lesson too, which bolsters the
protagonists experience. Either possibility reinforces the
theme.

Fixing a Broken Theme

All together, these elements (and probably more that I cant
think of off the top of my head) build themes in our readers
impressions. If we build our themes well, our whole story will
resonate with our message. If we dont, readers might be left
with the opposite impression than we intended.
Broken themes are fixable. First, we need to discover whats
creating that wrong impression:
Do we have plot events developing the wrong theme?
Is the climax (or other emotional turning points) the source
of the problem (often the case)?
Is a plot event itself a problem, or just the results/decisions
for the event or scene?
Would changing earlier scenes improve the theme arc by
showing a trying and failing approach until they learn to
do it right?
Is it a characterization problem (how theyre shown) or a
word choice problem (too harsh of words)?
Do our themes conflict?
Do minor characters tell one theme but character
actions show another?
Etc., etc.
Then, we need to clarify what theme we want and what needs
to change to get our story there. Broken themes can seem
overwhelming to fix. Themes lurk in the subtext, and they
emerge from the big picture, the way plot events and character
reactions add up over the entire book. So a broken theme
implies that the whole story might be off.
But more often than not, we simply need to identify whats
creating the wrong impression. It might even be just one
scene, one reaction, one description. And if we find that one
thing, tweaking it can be enough to fix the theme for the whole
story.

This is yet another area where beta readers, critique partners,

or editors are invaluable. They can help us find those details
creating the wrong impression. Just like plot events, reader
impressions are based on cause and effect, so if we find and
change the cause, we change and fix the effect.
The better we can make our themes play together, the
stronger our message will be. And as stronger themes often
resonate more with readers, theyll remember our story and
be eagerly awaiting our next book. *smile*

Do you have trouble identifying your stories themes? Will this

list help know where to look for them? Can you think of other
elements that create themes? Have you ever accidentally
created an unintended theme? How did you fix it?