There is so much to wrap your mind around when you set out to become an author. Character development, three-act structure, main plot and sub plots, setting, backstory, theme….
Theme?!
I have discovered by way of riding lessons and writing workshops that whatever skill you pursue, you’re not ready to learn something until you’re ready to do so. A trainer can tell you over and over how to leg yield your horse, but the light bulb doesn’t go off until you reach the point in your skill level that you are ready to absorb that lesson.
Theme is a common topic in books and magazines about writing, as well as the above referenced workshops. Sure, it sounds great. A central idea to wrap your story around. A thread that runs through the novel. But don’t be too heavy handed and preachy. But don’t leave it out. Argh!
Then one year at the Willamette Writers Conference I attended a workshop about “One True Thing.” The instructor explained theme as one thing that you believe, or is universally understood to be true. Like: love conquers all.
That was my lightbulb moment. Theme was that simple. Select one thing you believe to be true and prove it in your story.
I thought back to the literature classes I’d taken where we dug into novels and discussed the author’s intent and how he or she implemented theme throughout the work. Deliberate choices with clever applications. How can I ever pull that off?
Then I recalled post college creative writing classes and workshops where we critiqued each others’ work. Every one of us was surprised by what the other class members found in our writing. At least I was, and the expressions and responses of others seemed to indicate they felt the same. In the process of intentionally applying the required fiction components we had also subconsciously inserted them into our writing. Which then made me wonder about my literature classes and the analysis of classics. Would those authors be surprised by the things later readers claimed to get out of their works?
Anyway — I suspect we scribblers can select a theme (or one true thing) and plot (or pants) how our characters will demonstrate it but also absorb it so deeply that it just flows without conscious application. And if a reader believes you have cleverly woven theme into your work, just nod wisely. Even if you didn’t know you were doing so at the time.
So what truth do I hope to embed in my novels for young readers to help them cope with the confusing transition from child to adult? For Marama, Duke’s Daughter it’s “Embrace your true self.” For Marama, Emperor’s Emissary I’ve borrowed it from A. A. Milne. “You’re braver than you believe, and stronger and smarter than you think.”
Mary S. Potter 