Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
A few years ago, I got an email from a middle school student. What was the theme of my book?
At first I was just a little startled that students just wrote authors about this kind of thing. It would never have occurred to me to do that…but then, I guess the internet wasn’t around at that point, either (at least, not to the general public).
And then I was startled when I realized that…hey, the book in question didn’t really have much of a theme. Maybe that’s why the kid was having such a hard time. :) I mean, you could go with a ‘good will triumph over evil’ type of thing. It was basically general crime fiction.
Now my Myrtle Clover series does have a regular theme throughout all the books and aside from any other thematic elements in each separate book. Don’t discount the elderly. If you do, Myrtle might be walloping you with her cane. Or revealing you as the book’s murderer.
After that moment and that email, I started paying a bit more attention to theme in my books. For one thing…heaven forbid I have another student asking me about it. :) For another…it was fun incorporating it in a subtle way.
I do think that subtle is key with themes. Hitting a reader over the head with a theme is almost like author intrusion.
I’ve made interesting discoveries along the way in my efforts to add this literary element to my books. Let’s take my current project…the one that I’ve felt I was behind on since it started a couple of months ago. The one where the teaser was due before the outline. (Ugh.) Now the book has, believe it or not, a cover and back cover copy. And I’m not done with the book yet, although I plan to be basically done in the next 3 weeks…it’s due January 1.
My editor, after reviewing my outline, included some special requests in her feedback. In particular, she wanted me to incorporate some subplots involving some recurring supporting characters that she felt readers were especially fond of.
So I brainstormed updates, conflicts in their lives, growth, some ways that their issues might also intersect with the main plot and the protagonist’s own arc.
And I’m wondering if, with theme, it’s just that the author tends to have something on the brain and it starts coming out in various ways in a book.
For me, it was the question of whether people can change…really change. What chance do we have to really change our personality, our habits, and our tendencies for the better? This is a fun theme to explore because change is such an important element in every story. Every time the protagonist or secondary characters can grow or change in some way, it’s going to add to the story.
So I approached change in a lot of different ways in the book. I have characters question whether the victim in the book had really changed his stripes before he was murdered (as he swore he had). I have a character who fears change and struggles as she tries to adapt to a new relationship. I’ve got a character who feels as if she should change, although she’s comfortable with herself the way she is. What are the reactions of characters to other characters’ changes…do they recognize them for what they are? Are they threatened by them? Are they disbelieving that change can be genuine and successful?
Obviously, writing to a theme is more effective if the theme is integrated into the main plot and impacts the protagonist, too.
Have you ever used exploration of theme as story development or character development? How did it go?
Theme is one of the elements in my story game. (Unfortunately, this week’s post on Titles is a bit long, so I won’t get to it until next week.)
I think theme is not something you have to know consciously, nor does it have to draw a conclusion — it can be really a subject or questions on your mind. So even if the ultimate answer is “don’t discount the elderly” the theme might be how people relate to the elderly (and how the elderly relate back) — and each of your subplots might relate to that.
I think sometimes a genre has a theme (mystery/crime = “justice”) but individual series might have other main themes (don’t discount the elderly) and individual books might have a different theme yet. (Usually relating to the crime itself — maybe the motive, or the victim — but it could relate to the main subplot.) And the little subplots often reflect one or another of these themes.
I kind of think of it as like harmony. The main story strikes a note, and other elements may not be the same, but they will harmonize with it. So you can’t discount Myrtle, but maybe the killer or the victim is an elderly person who was discounted. And maybe a youthful sidekick is being discounted the way the elderly often are.
It all kinda works together to give a fuller picture of the world.
Elizabeth – I love it that young people are interested enough in reading to ask authors questions like that. And I give you credit for really thinking about the question. As to theme, I have to admit I’ve not really started with that in mind (e.g. I want to write a book about changes in family dynamics when the kids grow up). I tell stories. Later, though, I look back and wow – there’s a theme. Maybe it happens when I don’t think about it. I know – hardly a well-thought-out comment, but that’s how it works for me.
I never gave much thought to theme when I was writing Locked Within. It was only afterwards, while working on Silent Oath, that I realised a common theme in the series was sacrifice. Specifically, the sacrifices people make for others.
In Locked Within, Nathan sacrifices his old life and is metaphorically reborn into a new one. In Silent Oath, he is faced with even harder sacrifices to get the job done.
And of course, the tagline on my website summarises the overall theme of all my books, “Monsters can be beaten.”
Camille–Enjoying your story game posts! I’m always looking for new ways to keep things fresh (at this point, games would help).
Very true. Most of my Myrtle theme just presents various reactions to Myrtle and her reactions back (frequently exasperation, but sometimes ways to ‘get back’ at those who underestimate her…especially her son). Nothing is really resolved–occasionally someone learns a lesson. Sometimes *Myrtle* learns a lesson. And you bring up a good point…maybe the fact that a victim was an underestimated older person will motivate Myrtle to investigate a murder. Maybe it provides the motivation for the elderly person to kill. Lots of interesting ways to incorporate it in the story.
Hadn’t thought about it, but you’re absolutely right–frequently easy to see a theme in the murders themselves. Now in that book in question, again, not so much of a theme in the murder (sigh…that book). Don’t be obnoxious? Bleh. But frequently there’s a real study there in crime fic: how greed motivates behavior, etc.
Paul–So not only did you discover the theme, but you upped the stakes with the story and gave him harder choices related to the theme. Very cool! And I do like that tagline. :)
Thanks! :-)
I’m not sure how well the series’ theme of sacrifice holds up in Final Hope, but that’s what edits are for.
Although I do have a pretty high body count…
Paul–Oh, it all gets better in the edits! Thank goodness for them. They’ve saved many a story of mine…
Hi Elizabeth
Interesting post, I often wonder whether, and to what extent, many of the classic novelists were aware of the theme within their works. I remember being beaten over the head (metaphorically) with the themes within The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at school, and being hugely doubtful of them. At the time, it felt like the teacher was finding things that weren’t there.
I think the reason I struggled with it was the implication, possibly put there by my de-motivated 15 year self :), that the theme was the most important thing in the book, rather than the plot, or characters.
Whereas I agree entirely with the daring novelist, that theme is often unconscious, and sometimes not directly linked to one’s book, but rather comes out in various ways, that can be strengthened in the edit, should you so desire.
Are you, or anyone else, aware of a novelist who begins with the theme and works from there?
cheers
Mike
Margot–Oh, I should have mentioned that he was doing a school assignment…ha! I was a bit confused as to why my book might qualify as something to be studied. :)
I’m with you–I think sometimes theme comes in a very organic way. We’ve got something on our brain and it starts coming out through our characters and plot.
Elizabeth–
Theme has always caused me concern, and I’ve come to think of it in terms of “pantsers” and “outliners.” I’m a seat-of-the-pants writer, which means that if a theme or themes are going develop, they have to emerge as the novel unfolds. I would think outliners are in a better position to create stories that consciously develop themes. But this is idle speculation: I’ve never been able to outline anything. Not a birthday card, not a short-short, zip.
Michael–I’m not aware of any writer who starts with theme, no. It sounds like an English assignment, doesn’t it? “Write a story using ___as a theme.” :)
Once I was at a book club meeting and this particular reader found all this symbolism and hidden meanings in my book. Well, I was stunned. :) Unless I’m such a genius that I accidentally wrote them in there without realizing it…ha! I just nodded my head and smiled. No reason to burst their bubble, right?
I’m with you…would much rather use theme to fill out a novel than to plan a novel. Although, as I was reading articles on theme recently, one writer pointed out that the themes themselves have changed in modern times. So now we might see more themes on the hazards of isolation or technology in society. It’s evolving, which keeps it relevant.
I don’t give theme a thought at first, but it usually pops out at some point.
BTW, I LOVE Myrtle. I would definitely be her friend in real life.
There is an overall theme to my series, although it wasn’t intentional. And each book has a subtle second theme.
It amuses me that so many think my third book’s theme is anti-prejudice, especially after one reviewer complained the ‘theme’ was too strong, because that really isn’t the theme.
Themes should emerge from the story, not be the basis. When someone says “I’m going to write a novel about powerlessness” it will turn into preaching or whining.
But write a story about a woman in the 1800s who wants to be a surgeon, and her apparent powerlessness against the system and championing of others who lack power emerges as a part of the story.
Once the theme emerges, you can go back and amplify it.
I’d finished the entire first draft of anodyne and when I re-read it I realized it was my reaction to some painful disloyalty in my life. I also noticed how much I talked about locks and keys in the book. So I’m checking all the characters for attitude about loyalty, making the primary conflict be Jake’s choosing loyalty, and amping up the locks and keys.
Barry –I don’t think you have to, no. I don’t put theme in outlines at all and seem incapable of thinking about theme until about halfway through a book. I’m putting the theme in during the rest of my first draft (and it just occurred to me last week, so in my second draft, I have to insert the theme into scenes at the beginning of the book. Think of it as a layered approach. My setting and character description gets added in a second draft, the theme can, too.
Teresa—Thank you! I love her, too.
Alex–Isn’t it funny how readers can project themselves into a series like that and pick up on themes and symbols that aren’t even there? And, having read your book three, I agree…that has nothing to do with it.
Joel–That’s what I think, too. Who picks up a book to be preached to? I want to be entertained.
So you’ve also experienced that things on your brain, in general, can feed theme in your fiction. Love the locks and keys. And I like the way you’re going back through and tweaking the characters’ attitudes around a theme.