How to Write Themes Into Your Book
HelloOoOo everybody!
Welcome to the fourth episode of my course, How Writers Become Authors: A Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Your Novel. Today we're talking about theme. This video is dedicated to one of my patrons over on Patreon, Lefty. She has been asking for this video for ages, and now we're finally talking about it today. If you'd like a chance to have a video dedicated to you, or if you want access to tons of other rewards, check me out on Patreon. Onto today's topic!
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Step 1: Definition
Theme is a tricky one to learn about because whenever people bring up the topic, they try way too hard to be deep and philosophical. "Theme is a vessel. It's an invisible current, an abstract truth." I'm not saying any of this is false, but if people are asking what a theme is in the first place, then the metaphors are not going to help.
So let's keep things simple. A theme is a message that a story is trying to communicate. It's the idea behind the plot of your story. It may not be explicitly communicated, but the author is hoping you'll read between the lines and figure it out.
Step 2: Why Should You Include Theme?
A lot of people read for entertainment. They're not scoping out hidden messages, and that's fine. But themes add purpose beyond entertainment value, and they can take a book from entertaining to being memorable and even meaningful to readers. Some common themes are coming of age, good versus evil, and of course, love.
But a lot of authors dive deeper than that. They're not just talking about coming of age; they're sharing an opinion on it. That's the full definition of a theme. It's an idea plus an opinion. That's where it switches from an overall concept to a specific message. For example, love could be the idea of the theme, but the opinion the author is trying to convey is that love conquers all.
Step 3: How To Include Theme
Now that we know what a theme is, how do we weave one into our writing? You don't want to explicitly state it in the narrative. That's pretty cheesy and kind of a cop out. So here are some ways that writers can include themes into their work without smacking readers on the head with their opinions.
Please note that theme is a complicated discussion. I could easily make an entire course on this topic alone. We're just covering the basics here, and if you'd like a deep dive, let me know in the comments below.
Step 4: Via Character Arc
A character arc is the internal transformation of a character due to the events within the plot of the story. There are a million ways a character arc can illustrate a theme. That could be its own post. But a lot of it comes down to the lie and the truth that the author is trying to convey.
A lot of talk around character arcs revolves around the concept of a lie. Some falsehood that the main character believes at the start of the novel. Everything they experience through the plot changes them, which leads them to believe the truth. And in this case, the truth would be whatever the author is trying to convey through the theme.
In other words, if your theme is that lying is bad, then the character may start off as a huge liar. But by the end of the book, through their character arc, they transform into someone who believes that lying is bad.
Step 5: Via Character Experience
Another way to use a character arc to illustrate a theme is to have the character literally experience the theme throughout the story. If your theme is learning to grow through grief, then maybe your character grows through grief. It's that easy.
Step 6: Via the Plot
Often, the plot itself is representative of the author's theme. The trials, plot points, and overall story mirror a specific idea, and the resolution drives home this message. This is usually referred to as an allegory, which is a story that reveals a hidden meaning. Your entire story acts as a device to deliver a message.
A great example of this is the book Ashes by Iona Wayland, which is an allegory for trauma. We see a woman make her way through a dangerous haunted forest, all in the pursuit of being able to sprinkle her deceased brother's ashes. The trials she comes across during her travels represent the hardship of working through trauma. And then once she sprinkles her brother's ashes, this represents healing from trauma, or at the very least, moving on from it.
Communicating a message through an allegory is the most obvious option for conveying a theme. Zillions of books are allegories. The Savior's Champion and The Savior's Sister are allegories. This is usually the first place readers turn to when trying to decipher what an author is intending to say.
Step 7: Via Symbolism
Symbolism is the use of characters, colors, or objects to convey an idea. And usually the idea that the symbol represents is directly tied to the theme of the novel. Say you're writing a novel, and the theme revolves around the complexity of relationships. Maybe your opinion is that it's okay for friendships to come to an end if they've run their course, so you decide to use a ticking clock as a symbol in your novel. This symbol represents time winding down, and when the friendship finally ends, the clock chimes. You could use yellow roses in your novel, since yellow roses are symbolic of friendship. Maybe in the same scene that the friendship ends, the character sees that the roses have wilted.
Step 8: Via Dialogue
We already discussed that it's not a great idea for the narrative to explicitly state a theme. That said, it's incredibly common for characters to discuss topics that are related to the theme. How many young adult novels have you read where the characters discuss the challenges of growing up? That's an example of the characters indirectly discussing the theme.
Again, the key here is indirectly. You don't want the characters to break the fourth wall and explicitly state the theme to the readers, but you can have them muse over the topic as they're experiencing it firsthand. One of the themes in my book, The Savior's Champion, is the importance of independent critical thought, and we see the dangers of abandoning independent thought throughout the novel. The characters indirectly discuss this at one point, particularly in regard to a dangerous tournament, and one of the characters says:
“People don't kill one another for claim or sport anymore. We're supposed to have evolved. But the tournament continues, because it's tradition. And sheep never question tradition. They just follow the flock, same as always.”
Step 9: Via The Ending
Typically, the climax and the resolution of your novel will prove the point of whatever theme you're trying to communicate. If the theme is love conquers all, then at the climax we're going to see the character’s love conquer whatever their obstacle is. Then the ending will show the characters living happily ever after, which proves that indeed, love does conquer all.
Say you want to communicate the idea that prejudice is wrong without flat-out stating this. You could write a story about a war between humans and elves, where one group is discriminated against because the other doesn't understand their way of life. The story could end with the two groups unifying, thus showcasing the positive effects of acceptance. Or the story could end with tragedy, showing how prejudice can lead to incredible pain. This is obviously a very heavy-handed allegory. Many aren't quite so overt, and yours doesn't have to be.
But the point is, just because you're exploring a theme doesn't mean you're obligated to end your story in one specific way. The end can be positive, or it could be a cautionary tale, and either direction can still bring your theme home.
So that's all I've got for you today!
Those are the basics of exploring theme in fiction. Everyone likes to make themes super complicated, but really it doesn't have to be. But if you still need help, I've got a worksheet linked right here just for you.
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Got recommended Arena King by a coworker and the strategy games on there are pretty engaging. You can sink a surprising amount of time into the kingdom-building ones. Runs well in the browser without needing to download anything.
The procedural track increases in speed and hazard density the further you ride snowrider , testing reaction times and precision.
Theme is such an important part of storytelling, and this sounds like a useful guide for writers. It’s interesting how even simple ideas can become engaging when they’re developed well, much like the straightforward concept behind Slope Game.