I went out last weekend with my husband, sister and brother-in-law for dinner and to watch the musical “Avenue Q.”
It was a really funny play—sort of a risqué puppet show. As silly as it was, I noticed that it had an underlying theme to it—the search for one’s purpose in life. Actually, this theme wasn’t underlying at all—they put “Purpose” up on two big screens in a Sesame-Street-esque video to draw attention to it and poke a little fun at it.
The fact that a musical puppet show could bring up theme in such a huge way made me think about the element in my own books.
Theme isn’t something I’ve thought about or deliberately planned into my books. But genre fiction has themes, too. I write traditional mysteries, so the big picture idea of my books is good vs. evil set in the form of a puzzle.
Not only that, but I do have underlying themes that I seem to come back to over and over and in different series. Did I mean to do this? Actually, no. Apparently, theme can act like the songs that get stuck in our head all day—we just keep repeating them over and over until our brain makes sense of them.
Do our characters have common problems that they encounter or work to address? My protagonists usually live alone (and enjoy it…usually) and encounter intergenerational stresses. They experience the changing roles and role-reversals that come with age. Neither of these things applies to me, but I’m apparently interested in these topics and see a lot of people dealing with them.
Theme doesn’t have to be on an epic or literary scale. Have you noticed a certain repetition of ideas or problems in your books? Even small ones? Do your characters have the same types of transformations? If so, this might point to an underlying theme in your books. It really can be just an idea we’re exploring…sometimes for more than one book. Heck, sometimes for more than one series.
Theme has an impact on our characters, too, and can make them have more layers. It can affect their view of the world and how they handle different types of conflict. It can provide internal conflict, too. It helps them come alive as they complete a character arc. Because the characters are exploring the themes on the page.
Need help finding your theme or developing one? There was a nice post some time back on the Yingle Yangle blog that featured some helpful questions to ask yourself. Janice Hardy has a nice post on developing theme. And Larry Brooks has a post called Finding – and Leading With — Theme on his StoryFix blog.
As a reader, do you spot theme quickly? Is it something you think about as you write?
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And…thanks so much to the folks at Writer’s Digest for choosing Mystery Writing is Murder as one of their Top 101 Best Sites for Writers for 2011. :) It’s truly an honor.
Great post! And congratulations!
I do find that I have an underlying theme in most of my stories – integrity wins every time.And like you, it’s an accident. I think about the themes that come up in other books that I read, from different genres, and I always find myself wondering if the writers of these books themed their book intentionally. Maybe someday, I’ll ask one.
Thanks for the great post. Your blog is always a pleasure to read.
Congratulations, Elizabeth! It is well deserved! Yours is one of the few blogs that I never miss a post!
I do enjoy using theme in my novels because I feel like it keeps me on track. If I ever start wander or don’t know where the story should go next, I come back to the theme.
Elizabeth – I think themes are an important part of writing. Writing is really telling the human story, and some things are just universally human. Themes explore those things. As a reader, I do pick up on themes, and I like it when they are subtly there. As a writer, I don’t focus overmuch on themes as I’m creating the story. I focus on story and characters. But then, when I look back later, there are themes in my writing, too.
Elizabeth, that’s two years in a row, isn’t it? Congratulations – you so deserve it. As to themes, I don’t recognize them usually. And I saw Avenue Q and felt the same way – adorable.
Karen
But your blog IS a wonderful help for writers – apart from being a really nice place to hang out :)
Elizabeth – Sorry, me again. Just wanted to say “Congratulations” on a very well-deserved award. Your blog is superb!
In thinking about the books I’ve written, they all center around someone discovering himself or herself. Identity seems to be my them. I looked at some of my titles: Finding Sarah. Hidden Fire. What’s in a Name? Nowhere to Hide. Yep – there’s some commonality there.
My Blackthorne titles all revolve around “Danger” but there’s still that self-discover thing going on.
Did I set out to write books with that theme? Nope. Just happened.
And congrats on your award! Definitely well-deserved.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Congrats on the award!
And yes, I do see reoccuring themes in my work. Usually centering on relationships and family. :) That puppet show looked like fun!
It’s always a surprise when I look back over my mysteries to discover underlying themes; I certainly never wrote them in consciously!
Many congratulations on your blog’s recognition from Writer’s Digest. It’s well deserved.
I’m a huge Avenue Q fan. Such creative, humorous, and insightful shows. It’s amazing to me that they can wrap all of those things in one bundle.
Congratulations on the award!
Seems to me SOME of this theme stuff is part of voice (you with your intergenerational stuff, me with my opposition to authority *shifty*) but I will check out those links. The book I’m having trouble writing could probably benefit from a more deliberate approach.
I didn’t set out with a theme in mind, but friendship appears strong in both of my works.
I don’t think about theme as I’m writing. I find that one sort of shows up all on its own during the writing process. It’s cool how that happens!
Thanks for this post, Elizabeth, and congrats on the well-deserved award.
I only really became aware of how useful a theme could be a few years ago at a conference workshop where we had to explain our work in progress to the person next to us in a couple of sentences. I think my version was something like ‘well, it’s about men and how they’ve been getting a bad press lately and…’
Since then I’ve written a novel from which the theme only emerged afterwards, and two where the theme was there from the start, and this second option was much better – I agree with Mallory that knowing the theme while you write keeps you on track.
Jessica–Thanks so much! Oh, that’s a favorite theme of mine. I can’t imagine writing a mystery where the bad guy gets away with it. Not much satisfaction in that.
Mallory–Theme is great for saggy middles of books, too–you’re so right. We can just remember what we were focusing on in the story (either overtly or as a subplot) and pull it back into the novel.
Laura–Sounds like you have a lot of similar themes in your writing, too. :)
Margot–I think we just like to tell a good *story*. But the themes happen along the way.
Stephanie–Fast paced, funny–nice show! I loved the pace of it all.
Karen–Thanks! Wasn’t it a great musical?
Hart–I think theme and voice can go hand in hand. And theme might also be something we consciously or subconsciously think about when we’re writing for a particular audience.
Dorte–Thanks! I like hanging out here, too. :)
Margot–Thanks so much!
Alex–And that’s true for so many SF/F novels, I think. A great theme.
Terry –Isn’t it funny how our mind latches onto an idea?
Elspeth–We’re smarter than we realized! And thanks. :)
Laura–That’s the way mine seem to, too!
Sheila–Oh gosh, summing up a novel in a sentence or 2 is always tough! But definitely easier when there’s a theme, that’s for sure. Good point about it being easier to stay focused and on-track when you are aware of the theme from the start.
You deserve the award. This is truly one of the best blogs out there. Thank you for all the work you put into it. I need to look further into those blogs on theme.