Themes

I need advice/opinions, please. When writing, is it best to have a theme in mind or let one evolve naturally based on character and plot? What about multiple themes? My novel starts with one theme, but another has crept into the picture. When I come to the end, should I try to address both themes, or just the one I started with? Or is it best to consider rewriting the first chapter to incorporate both?

I've seen a list that describes the first 8 steps to writing a novel. Number one was, above all else, to develop a theme. I don't know how many people actually do it this way, though. I think if you want to write a novel and have no idea what you want to write about, theme is a good place to start.

But if you have already naturally developed your characters and plot, let the characters tell the story and let the theme evolve on its own. There's never a been a novel (or story of any kind) that doesn't have a theme. Yours will pick one up along the way.

With regards to multiple themes, if one crept into your writing naturally, most likely you will naturally address it by the end of the novel - perhaps even more so than the one you started with. If this doesn't happen, depending on the kind of novel you're writing, I think it would be best to address both topics.

I usually have multiple themes in place before I even start writing the first word. And as I keep writing, minor themes come through.

I'd start with something broad like such as "betrayal" and "unconditional love." As the plot thickens (as cliche goes), I find myself wrapping the story around more subtle themes such as "duality," "self-idenity" or "sacrifice."

You need to have at least one or two themes to hold your story and give it an emotional resonance. That's the "truths" about us, as the human race, that you'd be telling through the "lies" of the plot. The sooner you identify these themes, the easier it is for you to wrap your mind around the plot, IMHO.

Remember what Uncle Jim taught us: every word count, and must either move the plot, develop the character, or support the themes.

I recently read somewhere that any situation that arises in your novel needs to be resolved by the end. I would think the same would be true of themes. It the theme does not culminate, then is it really a theme?

Now as an exception, and I may be wrong, but perhaps if you were writing a story as the first in a series of stories, then you might leave a theme hanging as that may be the lead-in to the next story in the series. Can someone validate that this might be acceptable?

I think this topic raises the fundamental question of why we write at all, and why we have and need different starting points.

Those of us who want to tell stories often begin with the germ of an idea for one and develop it by populating a setting with appropriate characters to play it out.

Some are more interested in exploring characters and develop those first, which is more likely to lead to what James Ritchie calls 'situational writing' (although that term is more normally used in a different sense, viz. purposeful business writing). In my opinion, this approach tends to lead to the most satisfying novels, because when well-drawn characters are true to themselves in their actions and reactions to the situations writers create for them, (or which the characters create for themselves) they resonate with readers, and stay with them long after they finish the book.

Many writers get their kicks out of plot - taking a workaday story and adding twists to make it more exciting, or new in some way.

Still others are governed to some extent by their chosen genres, which often carry elements of formulaic expectation on the part of readers/editors.

Personally, I am driven by theme, because, being of a slightly didactic and pedagogic nature, I don't want to write just for the sake of it and prefer that my output has at least a point to subtly explore, or make, over and above its (I hope) entertainment value.

(Theme is also one of the principal distinctions between literary and popular fiction - the former has to have it, ((postmodernist self-indulgence excepted)) whereas it is optional in the latter.)

When I have chosen a theme I then think of a story that will be a good vehicle for it, followed by suitable character types. Thereafter I let my characters tell the story, without trying to force the plot, and always have the theme in mind, because it gives the story a basic arrow of direction, a framework in which the seed story can grow, bloom, and cycle back to earth.

I recall reading somewhere (source unknown) about a writer who told her editor that she didn't write with themes in mind. Her editor then pointed out what the themes were in several of her published novels. The best and most successful ones were those that had themes, which she had unconsciously included.

Nirvana for all writers, I believe, is to acquire (through BIC mainly, plus anything else that helps) sufficient innate understanding of story structure that we can write without thinking too much about what we need to do to put it all together. It's like driving a car, but with a wee bit more to take into consideration. It appears to come almost naturally to a lucky few and only by dint of hard work and elapsed time for the rest of us.

I have the morbid suspicion that the only way each of us can emerge onto that sunlit upland it to try a variety of approaches and see which works best.

But I can recommend theme as a starting point, because I find that it does give me an overall sense of where things can/might/should lead, which reduces the tendency to block while still allowing ultimate freedom for my imagination to roam in fulfilling my characters' expectations of themselves.

theme

I think every good story has a theme, but I don't think it's necessary to have the theme in mind when you start writing. I never have. Theme seems to show up justfine, even when I never think about it. Honing theme is pretty easy once the story is written.

One problem I have with theme in advance is that it can turn a story into a sermon.

But some writers do need the theme before starting the story.