10/9 Workshop- Themes/Thematic Statements
Themes. Central ideas. Driving force. Meaning.
These words and ideas may seem scary because no one wants to preach to their audience, or maybe you think stories shouldn’t have these heavy meanings, or maybe you think they just happen on their own without the writer thinking on them. Whatever the reason for avoiding thinking about the themes of your work, they are misguided. Knowing your theme will only strengthen your story because it puts you in control of the telling and gives you authorial control that the reader will be able to pick up on.
Even if you’re writing absolute fluff there is an overarching reason why you’re writing that piece of fluff. There is something in that fluff that you really want to say, but instead of out right stating it, you write that fluff. Why not make it stronger by having an idea of what you’re writing about so that you can fluff what needs to be fluffed and cut what isn’t benefitting that fluff.
Thinking about the central idea or theme in our work will help us push our stories further and make our metaphors or imagery ring truer. Themes also help the pieces of our story connect. Knowing the themes dominant in our story will help us make decisions about what is going to strengthen our stories and what is going to weaken our stories. A few books on writing say that every action, decision, line of dialogue, scene choice, etc. should all serve the overall theme.
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