Developing Story Themes

Developing and Weaving Themes Through a Story

Rule: This skill supplies specialist tips only. Always give your full general answer to the user's question first, using everything you already know about theme, structure, and craft. Then add the tips below where they apply. Do not replace or shrink your normal answer to fit this list.

Match the method to the writer

• Right-brained writers see the big picture, and left-brained writers read literally. Suggest that a literal writer get feedback from a less linear, big-picture writer, and the reverse.
• A rarer third type starts from theme instead of action or character. Watch for pages of dialogue and summary, and for abstract protagonist goals.
• Give a theme-first writer's protagonist a concrete, measurable, attainable goal (e.g., drafting new legislation, not "right the wrongs").
• Check that the character's actions carry emotional clues.

Pitfalls to flag

• Thematic micro-focus becomes "information dumping." It creates distance between writer and reader, even when the information is rich.
• Dramatize theme through the characters' actions, not lectures or arguments.
• Writer emotions can pull the protagonist out of the here-and-now of the scene.
• Do not force theme early. Let it evolve from the story, and each day stand back from the plot planner to look at the whole.
• Fear of delivering the message and of facing buried emotions stalls theme-centric writers more than lack of ability does.

Identify general themes: the bubble diagram

1. On an oversized sheet, draw a large oval and leave it blank at first.
2. Draw smaller circles radiating out from and connected to the oval. Fill them with themes (fairness, rivalry, blame, regret, isolation, nature versus nurture, etc.).
3. Connect related theme circles to each other (e.g., justice to corruption, greed, injustice, rebellion).
4. Add bubbles as new themes turn up.
5. Once you have a thematic significance statement, even a shaky one, print it in pencil in the center oval.
6. Check whether the statement covers the major themes in the bubbles. If not, adapt the sentence to include more, or adapt the bubbles to fit it.
7. Cross off themes that drop away after one or two scenes.
8. For themes that recur in most scenes, ask what they mean to you, what beliefs you hold about them, and whether those beliefs match what the story expresses.
9. Highlight the bubbles that feel true. A pattern should emerge.

• Early themes will be sketchy, with gaps and dead ends. These fill in as you learn the story and characters.
• Any descriptive word for the story can be a theme (injustice, poverty, migration, journey, hunger, fear, human dignity).
• The statement only has to be true for this story, not universally.

Write the thematic significance statement

1. Name your obsession (e.g., finding your own identity).
2. Turn it into an action point (how does one find her place in the world?) and combine the two into a broad statement: "Finding one's place in the world requires trial and error."
3. Tack a qualifying phrase onto the beginning or end that limits or modifies it for your story, e.g. "…and in the end brings [tragedy / fulfillment / power / corruption / destroys the old and creates the new]."
4. Ask: How is meaning activated in the story? What do all the scenes add up to? What does that mean? Why is it important?
5. Write the answer as one sentence.

• Example pattern: "Because a girl loves a boy, she is able to overcome great odds, to protect herself, and in the process to protect other women, too."

Energetic markers: overview

• Four scenes carry energy surges strong enough to redirect the action, raise intensity, and add to theme: end of the beginning (~1/4), halfway point (~1/2), crisis (~3/4), climax (end).
• Try to identify all four early in the writing process.
• Energy rises to each marker and falls after it, then rises higher at the next one. First-quarter scenes have less conflict, tension, and suspense than final-quarter scenes.
• The markers apply to romance, screenplays, mysteries, YA, memoir, middle grade, and picture books.

Plot planner and sticky-note procedure

• For each marker, write a scene title on a colored sticky note and place it above the matching high point on the wall-hung plot planner. The first note goes about one-quarter of the way from the left, the second at the midpoint, and the third at the peak near three-quarters.
• Ask what the title conveys: character, action, theme, or a combination. The answer hints at whether the writer is left-brained, right-brained, or balanced.
• After placing notes, stand back and view the scenes in relation to each other.

Marker 1: End of the Beginning (~25%)

• By this point the protagonist has appeared in varied situations and the reader has seen how she usually responds.
• The opening introduces the core conflict: she wants something she thinks she cannot have. Do not mistake introduction for passivity.
• Introduce every thematic element early through mood, tone, voice, word choices, metaphors and similes, and authentic details.
• By the end of the first quarter, all elements of the climax should be foreshadowed.
• The marker is a threshold with two choices: fade out and die, or move forward into the unknown. It ends "the way things have always been," severs her attachment to learned attitudes, and offers no turning back. Examples: Harry leaving for Hogwarts, the Joads driving to California, the Watership Down rabbits leaving the warren.
• If you haven't found it, look at scenes near the first quarter. Rewrite the scene with the significance it deserves and include all five senses.
• Do not let it fall far past the quarter mark, or reader interest wanes.
• A flat run up to a sudden turn at exactly the quarter can work (as in Fuller's memoir).

Marker 2: Halfway Point (~50%)

• The protagonist consciously and willingly commits to the journey. This is a recommitment, or a first commitment for a reluctant hero.
• It warns the reader that a crisis is coming.
• If you can't find a recommitment scene, look at your supposed crisis scene at ~75%. It is often really the recommitment scene and belongs at the halfway mark.
• Compare the two scenes' energy. A true crisis needs more intensity than many writers' draft "crisis" has. If the scene is too weak for the crisis, test it as the recommitment.
• Give the scene a clear title.

Marker 3: The Crisis (~75%)

• This is the greatest struggle so far, a breakdown. The old persona must effectively die before the protagonist can transform.
• Middle scenes march the protagonist step by step toward it. She believes she is nearing her goal and is traumatized when it hits, while the reader feels its inevitability from the linkage between scenes and thematic details.
• If a high-impact scene was criticized or cut from the opening, test it as the crisis before discarding it. The elements are often already in the draft and only need better placement.
• Create a title, place the note near the three-quarter peak, and note whether it is action, character, or theme.

Marker 4: The Climax (end)

• It has the highest intensity and drama in the story, the final clash between protagonist and major antagonist(s).
• When all seems lost, she shows rediscovered or refined awareness, skill, or knowledge.
• Her action answers the opening dramatic question (will she or won't she be victorious?). All major conflicts resolve, and the thematic significance becomes clear.
• Energy crescendos and is defused immediately.
• If you hit a wall writing it, write action only. Stop trying to get into the character's head and show her power through what she does. A writer who hasn't experienced personal transformation may struggle to render the sensory detail of one.

Final structural check

• Compare the scenes at all four markers and ask whether each qualifies energetically for its spot. If all do, the structure is in place.

Journal check-in (optional)

• Date a new journal entry and record your impressions of the four marker scenes and how they affect your energy: excited, calm, or deflated.
• Record the exact words you say to yourself about the plan, since they predict how you'll treat yourself through the draft.