Themes

Writers, if you’re like me, you probably didn’t give the theme of your novel much though through the pre-writing or writing phase. The first time I thought about theme was a couple of weeks ago when I wrote a blog post on the themes of my debut trilogy for my website. So, what’s the point of theme, and why should we think about and keep in mind these themes throughout our work?

Themes hold our stories together, from our main plots to the most wild sub-plots to be conjured by the creative mind. Themes usually come naturally through writing, but may also be influenced by your genre. For example, one of my themes is family. Unintentionally, a lot of my plot and my climactic action revolves around my MCs desire to protect her brother and give him a better future.

When writing or editing your work, it’s important to keep your themes in mind and make sure these are the driving factors for the characters. Without theme, our stories lack meaning and leave a reader wondering, what was the point? While theme may not seem as significant as having deep characters or interesting plots, it’s essential that we make sure our stories follow themes so that readers leave the book feeling as thought, for example, the fight for family outweighs all struggles.