Do You Write to a Theme?

[queenoftheskies]

Or does the theme evolve in your writing?

Do you start out with one? Or do you tell the story you have to tell and watch themes evolve while you write?

How important do you believe theme is in a story?

Do you believe that readers go into a story looking for a theme?

How important is theme in your writing?

Comments

[shawn-scarber.livejournal.com]

Theme tends to stay hidden from me until the second or third revision. I tend to start with character and move out from there.

[eeknight.livejournal.com]

Same here. I usually figure out what the novel is really about somewhere in the revision process.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

That's a solid "I dunno," right now.

For the longest time, my stories were all about theme. They were slick and streamlined and tapered off to a point. And I don't think they were heavy-handed, exactly. I can't remember getting any complaints about them being heavy-handed, or having any of them rejected for that reason. (They were rejected for lots of other reasons, except the ones that were accepted, except for the times they were accepted.) But they were very much _about_ something.

And now...I'm less sure. They're still _about_ something, but they're _about_ different things. They're about the questions more than the answers. They're about questions that don't have right answers. And they're such. a. mess. *g* But I think it'll be worth the trouble, if I can ever get them sorted out.

And yes, I'm more or less aware of what the question is, or the questions are. If I'm not, I don't have anything to say. (Sometimes I am and still don't, but that's just how it goes, and a function of lots of other stuff-wot-is-going-on-right-now.)

I don't know that lots of readers go looking for theme. I do, because it's a thing that makes sense to me. And I think--most readers recognize when it's not there, or when it's there but insufficiently developed. I think that's what people are talking about when they say a story seems slight, for example. And I think of plot, for example, as a function of character and theme. So I think readers are aware of it, even if they don't realize that they are.

But I absolutely don't think it's something that you have to be aware of while writing in order for it to show up. Because I think it's a function, too.

[debg.livejournal.com]

Huh. I'm honestly not sure what theme is.

I have people. I set them on a road. I know what the road looks like. I send them down that road, letting them develop.

I should probably shut up and not even try to answer questions about process, because I don't have one. I'm into the people and the story; there are times when the themes are there, but I've never once created characters to fit a theme or idea. All about the people, for me.

[fancythat2.livejournal.com]

Yep, I'm right there with you. It's all about the characters for me too.

I think I am annoyed when I discover a message or an agenda. (See Jennifer Roberson's last two books of the Del and Sandtiger series).

[(Anonymous)]

For me it depends on the length of the work.

Short stories may or may not have themes, but I don't worry about it either way.

Novels, I think, should always have themes. I usually just finish first and then read, taking notes of emergent or nascent themes. Then I rewrite bearing the theme in mind and it helps to decide which scenes stay or go.


But that's just me. I'm sure a lot of writers don't bother and turn out perfectly good novels :)


Tade

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

I don't know anyone who goes to the bookstore or library and says: "I want to read about about Theme X." Maybe I just have paltry acquaintances.

I have themes. Sometimes I start out with them, sometimes they develop over time. From what I can tell, no one notices them.

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

I'm not even good at picking out themes in books I read. I don't deal in them. If they're in my writing, someone will have to tell me.

That said, I've tried to write about a theme and it's why "Access Denied" has had such trouble getting off the ground. I have to reimagine it as a plotline rather than a theme, by creating the characters and setting and starting from there and seeing where it goes. Even building the theme into the setting has been a problem for me.

[blzbob.livejournal.com]

Theme? We don't need no stinkin' themes. For me, I have an idea for a story and then put the characters to it, let them figure out what they're doing and just follow them around. Honest! The best novels I've written are where the characters take over and I just blindly type away trying to keep up with them. Oh, sure, I have an outline but, BUT I allow for changes. Normally the change is for the better and extends the story. I've had that happen many times over. During NaNo I was struggling to get the story down when suddenly a character said something that I didn't see coming. I literally had to stop and think about it. That was chapter 18. THEN the story really took off and I could barely keep up with it. Same thing happened a couple of times in my Pangea story. I loved it!

Do I have a theme? I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "theme" of the story. Maybe you should let the story decide the theme?

Okay, the above is obviously total blatherings of uselessness. Sorry.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

we all have attics full of things that resonate in our writing.

in many ways, we spend our whole lives going through our attics and exploring what's there ~ either consciously or subconsciously.

i know what's in my attic and i'm conscious of how it manifests in my writing. i pay less attention to it in others' writing, but let it suggest itself naturally once i've read the work.

it's all good.

: D

[aimeempayne.livejournal.com]

I think the theme reveals itself in the revision process. I don't try to write them, but they end up in there anyway.

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

I intentionally start without thinking about theme, and if one shows up late in the writing or in a revision, I'll play with it and if I like it, I'll go back and make it look intentional.

I also try not to repeat myself, but certain themes, ideas, and events seem to keep recurring in my stories. When one stops sneaking into everything I write, it's usually a sign that I've finally gotten it right.

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

A bunch of Barbara Hambly books (whose writing I like very much) when boiled down to the theme-thing are all about compromise and the uncomfortable allegiances made in the goal of defeating a greater evil.

[annathepiper]

I think some about whether there will be certain themes in my stories, but they aren't a primary goal--I don't say to myself "this story is going to be about this theme". It's more a case of themes influencing my decisions in character actions and plot development, if that makes sense. So ultimately it'll have an effect, it's just not something I'm trying to deliberately shoot for.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

I sometimes start a story with a specific theme in mind, but mostly they just pop up sometime during the process.

[telaryn.livejournal.com]

I agree with pretty much everything that's already been said.

Interesting characters wander into my brain with stories to tell. I write them down, then polish like hell to make them (hopefully!)interesting to other people.

Now with all the various things I've written over the years, I've been able to identify themes in the finished product...currently I'm going through an "individual vs. society" phase...but it's never something I consciously set out to do.

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

I think once I figure out the ending, mine usually grow an overall theme. And then there are the other themes that get explored, but mostly it's about the overall. :)

[jediknightmuse.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know if my current story has a theme. o.o I just...never thought about it before, so when my creative writing professor was trying to pound this stuff about theme into my head, I was just like...O_____o...:| I really need someone who'd be able to determine if it has a theme to go and read what I have of it, tell me if it has a theme, and what it would be. I also have no idea if it'd be young adult or what. x.x

[ter369.livejournal.com]

How important do you believe theme is in a story?

Very. Because ...

Do you believe that readers go into a story looking for a theme?

...that's why readers choose the stories they read. Theme is the final effect, or meaning, of the characters' choices and the story events.

Readers choose a romance, or a mystery, horror, or comedy because the clues in advance (title, back cover blurb, page one) suggest a certain type of story. Genre itself suggests a theme, or at least suggests the questions the story will illustrate.

Writers choose characters or types of stories to tell, and that first choice along with the characters' choices lead to a theme. The weight of a love story can be "Will she win over that man?" The focus of a thriller can be "Will she die?" Those questions and how they're answered are the theme. Love conquers all -- or not. There is justice and criminals get caught -- or not. The events suggest the meaning, regardless of the writer selcting a theme ahead of character choices.

[andelku.livejournal.com]

well ... no, not on purpose. but then my characters seem to have minds of their own and then readers say, oh I see, it's about this. And sometimes I knew that and sometimes I didn't.

[shanrina.livejournal.com]

I don't use the word "theme" because English classes are still a little too recent in my mind, but I always kind of saw theme as the point of the story, as why the story existed. I used to be able to just start a story with whatever, but now I need to have some sort of why, something I'm either exploring or arguing (though I usually prefer to just explore rather than argue). If I don't, then I stall because things may be happening, but the story's got no reason to exist so I don't see why I should write it because it doesn't add anything to the world's body of written works. I guess theme is pretty important in my writing, then, even if it's not conscious. I usually start with a "what-if" then let it stew for awhile until something clicks. Then, once I have something that clicks, I can build everything around that.

OTOH, I don't think readers go into a story looking for a specific theme. A general one, maybe, in the sense that someone else said about picking a particular genre, but nothing too specific. I know I certainly don't, even if theme has become pretty important to my writing "process" (can't really call it a process because it's so unstructured).

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I enter into a story with a specific theme in mind, sometimes it just sort of develops. And still other times, I will have a specific idea in mind only to have it morph into something completely different... I try not to preach and I will usually cut ruthlessly when I come across a passage I've written that comes off as especially polemic. But theme is a very important thing to me, especially now that my writing is drifting into a more political slant.

I think a theme within a story is very important. Without some central idea or theme driving it, I think the story can sort of wander without a clear direction.

Honestly, I don't think that most people, unless they're writers, go into a story looking for a theme. I think that most readers will eventually discover what the writer is trying to "say" with a particular piece, but I don't think it's something that most people conciously go into a story looking for.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree.
Nobody goes looking for a theme. That would be ridiculous.
A theme (if present) should emerge during the process of reading the story but, as in seasoning, is probably best done subtly.
Reader-Doe should become aware of it, but not like be hammered by it.

Tade

[mmarques.livejournal.com]

I definitely wrote Mysterious Paris with theme in mind. I had certain issues that I wanted Manon to work out. And when planning the other major characters, I gave them issues that were either variations on the main theme or the sub-themes.

I also had theme in mind when I wrote A Science Fiction Fantasy. For Jainellen, there are two themes, sometimes resulting in conflict for her. Variations on one of those themes play out for Warren and Leona.

The novel that became "Blonde Bimbos on the Moon" was written without a theme (heck, I didn't even know the plot until I was writing), which is probably why I could reduce 25,000 words of unfinished novel to a 4,000 word compelte short story.