WORK:

Examples of Themes:

Many writing students have had difficulty grasping the concept of THEME and its place in fiction structure.

What is a "theme" in a work of fiction?

It is the philosophical premise the author wants to present. It is what the author has to say that makes the author want to write this particular story. It is the vision of reality through the author's eyes (not the characters' or the readers').

More than just a single statement, the theme is a theme because it is repeated -- it is the "anthem" of the work -- the one thing that dominates everything in the work of art. It is the philosophical "motif" that repeats and repeats to create the fabric of the drama.

First you need to find that one distilled sentence that expresses that theme. Then you need to cast that theme into SHOW DON'T TELL so it appears in every color, sound, object, character (race, color, creed, profession, station in life, speech accent), line of dialog, plot-event, conflict, etc -- every moving part of the story. The clarity and precision you bring to this process will determine how well the reader enjoys your story. And it determines how well your reader will remember the title of the story (the title is an expression of the theme), and ultimately your byline.

Marion Zimmer Bradley did it the opposite way. She'd write the book, and perhaps 10 years or so after it was published, she'd reread it and say "Oh, that's the theme of that book!" She worked largely subconsciously. She never learned how to use theme consciously, it was just there for her, as a birthright so to speak. The one writing technique she had to learn the hard way was plotting, and she never felt she was truly master of it. (I argued that point, but she never gave an inch on it.)

But any writer can analyze any of her works and find every single element in the story, plot, characters, conflict, resolution, and stage-decorations, bits of throwaway dialogue, EVERY SINGLE ITEM in the story targets and explicates the specific theme and an array of supporting themes that is precisely appropriate for the length of the piece. The best examples that are easy to analyze are COLORS OF SPACE and THE BRASS DRAGON, neither one a Darkover novel. Darkover novels are all much more complex thematically.

In other words, you must master theme to build a readership.

For those who can not identify the themes in their own work, I will offer here a selection of theme examples and some sourceworks where you can find some good themes to play with for the suggested exercises in this workshop.

You don't have to spend money on books -- you can just watch television with a notepad in hand. But for those who love paper books, here's one chuck-full of juicy THEMES -- one per page.

The Wheel of Time : The Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe
by Carlos Castaneda

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And you'll find more suggestions being added all over our bookstore -- KEYBOOKS -- from time to time. Most handy little quote books (like DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF) are great sources of popular themes. The more popular the theme you choose, the more popular your book or story will be.

EXAMPLES:

On an episode of THE INVISIBLE MAN on the Sci Fi channel, in the classic spot for the articulation of a theme (at the end of the episode) the Hero says in a voice-over,

"As I get older, I come to understand that the things that really matter in life are the things your parents said really matter -- Family, Work, Duty -- crap like that."

And that expresses not only the theme of that episode perfectly (it was about his dead brother, his elderly aunt, and a ruse to make him think his brother was alive) -- but of the entire series. The series as a whole is about the creation of a family within the working-team at the agency that made him invisible and keeps him enslaved to a drug to make him work for them as a secret agent. They are becoming a family formed on Work and Duty.

As I find new examples, I'll add them here.