How Your Story's Theme Can Help You Develop Your Project

I think that we ignore the process of theme development in our projects mainly because we’ve never really been told how to define what theme really is, or how it can inform more than just meaning and sentiment.

I gave this note to one of my writers this week (with regard to her thematic statement): “…I think there is a lot to say about responsibility and growing up (being scared to grow up). This then helps you develop scenes and moments that show those elements.”

I had a much longer conversation about the above note on our phone call, and we delved into the finer details of the latter part of the note. “This then helps you develop scenes and moments that show those elements.”

What this means is that the writer was presenting the potential for her story’s themes to revolve around the coming of age aspects of learning responsibility, though she wasn’t honing in on it as clearly as she could. There are a number of ways people can come of age, of course, and one angle is to focus on how a younger character must face up to being responsible for his life, the promises we make to other people, and ultimately let go of the childhood construct of everything being provided for you.

It’s an amazing thing to consider that when we’re very young, quite literally everything is provided for us - from food, to shelter, clothing, and love. We didn’t have to ask for these things when we were babies. For the lucky ones among us, even as we neared the ages of 9 and 10, these elements of life were given to us freely. And yet as we progress through adolescence, we find that we have to start providing these elements for ourselves. We also find that providing them for other people can be quite rewarding (though not always easy).

But let’s look at the themes of growing up, letting go of childhood, and being hit with the responsibility to provide for anyone other than ourselves. As writers we have the ability to look at each of those as separate entities from the standpoint of potential moments and scenes. This is a lot like my approach to Moment Listing, where we consider the two or three elements of a character’s flaw, and make separate lists of potential moments that SHOW the character facing up to challenges that draw out that particular flaw. We want to SEE the flaw come through by way of action and reaction within a situation.

Your Theme Prompt Exercise

Thematic brainstorming can be done in the same exact way. Look at it as a simple list:

• growing up
• letting go of childhood
• being hit with the responsibility to provide for anyone other than ourselves

Instead of simply considering these elements as tone or metaphorical meaning, consider them as launch points for moments and scenes that SHOW the character reacting to and taking action on…growing up…letting go of childhood…responsibility.

The list can then look like:

• growing up
  • uncomfortable body changes
  • she accidentally brings her security blanket to school
  • her grandfather expects more help on the farm because of the character’s age
  • she’s forced to stay home alone with her baby sister for the first time

…and so on, and so on, and really these are pretty under-developed brainstorms. You will create another list for “letting go of childhood”, and you could go further into detail regarding the moments that show these interactions and situations. Lines of dialogue could even be included. Visuals and motifs can be described. Descriptions of the five senses in your brainstorm can help color tone and feeling within the scene. All of this is to help you see ways to show your theme to the audience without needing to speak directly to it via dialogue.

When writing your thematic statements, or even just thinking about theme, go further than just platitudes like, “love conquers all.” This doesn’t help you develop or brainstorm YOUR specific story. it’s too vague, so get specific about your story and how you’re going to show YOUR version of “love conquers all”.

Meaning, metaphor, symbolism, and overall “purpose” is absolutely required when considering the development of any of your stories. I don’t care what your genre is, audiences expect some kind of lesson or emotional consideration to happen within them, even if it’s subconscious. You are an artist! Please don’t forget that. And please don’t forget that as artists we have the ability, power, and in a way the blessing to be able to affect other people, their emotions, their lives, how they go about their day, how they feel and act toward others. This is power. Use it wisely, and treat it with care and importance.

You have more than just a story to tell. You have something to say. So say it by showing it.

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