By
Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
A few years ago, I got an email from a
middle school student. What was the
theme of my book?
At first I was just a little startled
that students just wrote authors about this kind of thing. It would never have occurred to me to do
that…but then, I guess the internet wasn’t around at that point, either (at least,
not to the general public).
And then
I was startled when I realized that…hey, the book in question didn’t really
have much of a theme. Maybe that’s why
the kid was having such a hard time. :)
I mean, you could go with a ‘good will triumph over evil’ type of
thing. It was basically general crime
fiction.
Now my Myrtle Clover series does have a regular theme throughout all the
books and aside from any other thematic elements in each separate book. Don’t discount the elderly. If you do, Myrtle might be walloping you
with her cane. Or revealing you as the
book’s murderer.
After that moment and that email, I
started paying a bit more attention to theme in my books. For one thing…heaven forbid I have another
student asking me about it. :) For another…it
was fun incorporating it in a subtle way.
I do think that subtle is key with
themes. Hitting a reader over the head
with a theme is almost like author intrusion.
I’ve made interesting discoveries along
the way in my efforts to add this literary element to my books. Let’s take my current project…the one that
I’ve felt I was behind on since it started a couple of months ago. The one where the teaser was due before the
outline. (Ugh.) Now the book has, believe it or not, a cover
and back cover copy. And I’m not done
with the book yet, although I plan to be basically done in the next 3
weeks…it’s due January 1.
My editor, after reviewing my outline,
included some special requests in her feedback.
In particular, she wanted me to incorporate some subplots involving some
recurring supporting characters that she felt readers were especially fond of.
So I brainstormed updates, conflicts in
their lives, growth, some ways that their issues might also intersect with the
main plot and the protagonist’s own arc.
And I’m wondering if, with theme, it’s
just that the author tends to have something on the brain and it starts coming
out in various ways in a book.
For me, it was the question of whether
people can change…really change. What
chance do we have to really change our personality, our habits, and our
tendencies for the better? This is a fun
theme to explore because change is such an important element in every
story. Every time the protagonist or
secondary characters can grow or change in some way, it’s going to add to the
story.
So I approached change in a lot of
different ways in the book. I have
characters question whether the victim in the book had really changed his
stripes before he was murdered (as he swore he had). I have a character who
fears change and struggles as she tries to adapt to a new relationship. I’ve got a character who feels as if she should change, although she’s comfortable with
herself the way she is. What are the reactions of characters to other
characters’ changes…do they recognize them for what they are? Are they threatened by them? Are they disbelieving that change can be
genuine and successful?
Obviously, writing to a theme is more
effective if the theme is integrated into the main plot and impacts the
protagonist, too.
Have you ever used exploration of theme
as story development or character development?
How did it go?
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