CHAPTER 9
THEME: SO WHAT’S YOUR STORY REALLY ABOUT?
By Terry Bain
"What's your story about?"
"Find out."
Of course, I think I was confusing plot with what my story was "about." He wasn't asking, What happens, but rather, What's the big picture? Why should I care? He wasn't just asking what the story was about plot wise but what was the story really about?
WHAT IS THEME?
The theme is the container for your story. Theme will attempt to hold all the elements of your story in place. The plot and characters and dialogue and setting and voice and everything else are all shaped by the vessel. In many cases the vessel will go unnoticed by readers, but it would be very difficult to drink a glass of wine without the glass itself. The glass itself is, of course, part of the experience, but it is not one we always pay much attention to.
You shouldn't think of theme as the ponderous sort of explanations given by critics and academics.
Novelist John Gardner wisely said: "By theme here we mean not a message--a word no good writer likes applied to his work--but the general subject, as the theme of an event of debates may be World Wide Inflation."
The great Anton Chekhov also said something smart. He said that the fiction writer does not need to solve a problem as much as state the problem correctly.
You just have to shine your flashlight on some aspect of life and let the reader see what's there. Some aspect. Theme should give a story some kind of focus.
We're probably best off by just saying that theme is some kind of unifying idea in a story.
The theme of Goodnight Moon? Simple, silent sleep.
A well-defined theme gives a story a kind of focus, a center. A well-defined theme allows a writer to distill the ideas, to present them in a simple fashion to tell the story that will last longer than half an hour.
Don't you want someone who reads your story to instead think, Wow, I can't stop thinking about that story! Of course you do! And one of the ways to achieve that effect is by cultivating a theme and making an appropriate vessel from which your reader may drink.
By working with theme, you will take what may be an okay, nice, lovely, charming story, and help it become myth--turning it into a part of the consciousness of the reader, something that lasts longer than half an hour.
And sometimes a theme is, more or less, a message.
YOUR TURN:
Think of one of your favorite works of fiction, perhaps one of the stories you referred to in a previous exercise. Do your best to state the dominant theme of the story in a single word, phrase, or sentence. More than anything else, what is that story really about? Some things: look for recurring images; ponder the title; examine the climax. But please don't cheat by calling up your old college literature professor.
KNOW THY THEME
Most great stories have themes and your story probably needs one too. And you should know what it is.
I'm telling you that you can write your story better--craft a more appealing vessel--if you actually know your story's theme.
For another thing, should you neglect to supply your readers with a theme, they are likely to grab one that is handy, quite possibly the incorrect one, the one that does not contain the warning "Caution: contents may be hot." Provide them with a theme so they do not mistake your story bout natural consequences for a story about the cuteness of puppies.
Can a story have more than one theme? Probably but it is best for the short story writer to have a dominant theme in mind. The novel writer will probably have a greater opportunity to allow several themes to creep into the novel, just as the novelist may use subplots.
But, if the writer was confident enough in her own thematic resonance, the theme will still be absorbed, in some way, by the reader.
So while you should be aware of your theme, you should also beware forcing it down the reader's throat. Forcing the readers into understanding what we want them to understand is what will get us into trouble.
Don't over clarify your theme. The point will eventually come across.
Theme does not have to instruct; it merely has to connect on some kind of deep level.
YOUR TURN:
Imagine a soldier has just returned from a war and is having a strange time adjusting to his previous life. You can pick the war, even using an imaginary one. Flesh out the character and the setting. Then write a brief passage where this character is going about some everyday activity, but having difficulty with it. Whatever you do, do not think about the theme of this piece. Just focus on the character and what he or she is trying to do. Once you have written down the passage, write down three to seven possible themes for this piece. Pick the theme that seems the most interesting. Ponder what direction the story may take using this theme in a subtle way.
SLEUTHING OUT YOUR THEME
One way to avoid overemphasizing your theme is by not beginning there.
Just start by telling a story
You have to create the world from scratch no matter what you do. So that's what you do. You start with story, and later you go back and try to retrofit the story to the theme.
YOUR TURN:
Just to see how difficult it is, write a short piece starting with a theme. Here is your theme: faith. Spend some time contemplating characters, situations, settings, and so forth that may illustrate this theme in an interesting non cliche manner. Once you have some ideas in place, start writing a story with faith as the theme. You can write just a passage or you can write the hole story. Who knows? Starting with a theme may just give you a focus that allows you to write a wonderful piece, in which case you're free to write a story, every now and then, that does begin with theme.
Once you've written the first draft of your story, this really isn't a bad time to start thinking about theme. If something does occur to you during the first draft don't be afraid to jot it down. Also don't be afraid of changing your mind later.
The key thing in this process is to let the theme emerge naturally from the story you are telling, not impose the theme from above. Let me give you some tips for find the crucial clues that will lead you to the theme of your story.
A great technique is to start asking yourself questions. Do the characters' actions imply any universal truths? Does the superhero's triumph over the green-faced man represent a broader theme of good triumphing over evil Does the postman's role in saving your character's life imply the presence of everyday angels? Does your protagonist's hunt for her keys represent a more universal search for the keys of meaning in life?
You can also see if there is a social context to your story. Does your protagonist's relative poverty tell you that your story is about poverty in general? Does ruthlessness with which your forester destroys tell you that your story is about destruction?
Another way to search for theme is by doing a kind of reduction or condensation. Try to simplify your ideas into a few words. It may seem like cheating to reduce your profound work of art to a single word or phrase, but it's not.
Here's a good one. What made you start writing this story in the first place? Is the theme of your story buried in your impetus to write it?
Or just start looking very closely at what is already there.
Perhaps certain things keep recurring in your story, almost functioning as symbols and metaphors, as did my games. Perhaps the story occurs in a restaurant, and the symbols are mostly food items. Your theme might be related to consuming, eating, satiating, or desire, among other things.
You can also watch for repeated words or images. Or words and phrases that strike you as particularly poignant. When you were writing these things, you had something in mind. Chances are good the theme is buried in there.
You can also look at individual sentences and glean something from them. The kernel of your story might be in there.
Write in the margins of your story what the possible themes or clues to themes might be. Circle words or phrases that seem especially poignant, that seem to point to a larger theme, or that seem to be the most essential pieces to the story.
Hopefully as you accumulate these details, a theme will appear.
However you go about finding your theme, you will find it. Then what? Well, you might write your theme in big block letters on the first page of your story or on a sign posted over you workplace. Or, if you're still zeroing in, you might keep a list of possible themes on a piece of paper or on a document in your computer. Or you might have a fabulous memory for this sort of thing. But whatever method, you'll want to be keeping your theme in mind as you return to work on your story.
It's critical that you are confident in your skills. So you will get it right. You are the single most knowledgeable person regarding the theme of your story. The theme of your story is whatever you discover. You can shutdown your friends and relations by telling them empathetically that your story is about death because you absolutely get to decide. They can decide too, of course, and they can disagree with you, and that's part of the fiction game.
YOUR TURN:
Take one of the piece you wrote for an exercise in a previous chapter. Sleuth out the theme that may be lurking behind the words. Does a character's situation say anything about human nature? Is there a particular phrase or sentence that resonates for you? There's no telling where the clues lie, but they are probably there. Once you've identified a possible theme, write it down. Then revise the piece, keeping your theme in mind. If you have to alter or even throw out most of the original piece, so be it. A theme demands attention.
THEME TOUCHES EVERYTHING
The choices you make about theme will strongly influence how you revise your story. For one thing, the theme will help you make sense of what is there. Not only does this give us an excellent way to revise our story, it allows us to expand or enliven the plot in a more natural and thematic way. Allow themes to shape your story.
You see, knowing your theme actually helps you make key decisions about what to keep and what not to keep.
Once you begin to find a theme and begin working with it in the revision process, you should focus the story with that theme in mind, letting most, if not all, of what's there relate, in some way, to your theme. If you are able to provide enough elements relating to your theme, eventually the reader will begin to have a clearer picture of a story with a center, rather than a story that precedes as life proceeds, without much structure or resonance.
At this point, you may be wondering two things: 1) Does most everything in a story really relate to its theme? 2) How do I go about revising a story so most everything relates to the theme?
The theme is certainly apparent in every progression of the plot. Plot is usually a living illustration of theme--theme in motion, you might say. If you show the theme through the actions of the characters, then you never really need to state the theme, and, in this story, Carver never does.
YOUR TURN:
Return to the favorite work of fiction for which you figured out the theme. Get your hands on a copy of it. Focus on several pages of the text. Write down everything you see there that seems to relate to your chosen theme for the work. Anything is fair game--the characters, setting, voice, title, opening line...If not much seems to relate to your theme, what does that tell you? That the theme is illustrated with great subtlety? Or not illustrated well enough? Or do you have the wrong theme?
Simply discover the theme of your story, after a draft or two, then revise and revise. And with each revision look for ways to make all your choices fluidly and delicately flow inside the vessel of your theme.
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