AtomicEmpress

Hi all,
I am helping to run a writing group on Tuesday and doing it on Theme and thought I would like to get some thoughts on it before hand. And what better group to get thoughts on it from but y'all? So do you find a work (your own or others) is better if it has a solid, seeable theme? Or do you think a theme can just emerge?
-Pammie

ROCKSTAR

Good topic.

I think stories with a theme or a strong undercurrent can be more fulfilling and interesting. When I write something, there has to be a theme or at least a strong point of view. In that sense, sometimes I treat stories like I would an essay.

Also, when you're writing with a theme(s) it helps you keep focus as you develop it further.

I do love when I write with a purpose. I wrote a fic once (it was a story written like a poem), the theme was the hardest parts of love/being in love and I have to say, I loved the result and people really reponded to it. I knew what I was doing, I knew exactly how the character felt and the story basically wrote itself.

follow the sun

Great thread idea, thanks for opening

I think some of the best novels and short stories I've read have a discernable theme It gives the story something to be grounded in, and helps to develop the points of view of the characters and the events that they experience. I don't know if a theme necessarily needs to be planned in advance, because with some writers it just comes through natually in their work. But when I have written essays, being clear about my theme and point of view in advance has made a much tighter piece of writing, and I think the same would be true for fiction.

AtomicEmpress

I've read (through some research I did today and some past reading) that some authors say they don't write a theme, its more like something each person pulls from the body of work from their own personal view point. What do you guys thinks of that thought?
-Pammie

oywidapoodles

I think very abstract themes are made naturally in congruence with the author's attitudes, viewpoints, and what their main focus is at the moment. Unintentionally, they make an imprint of sorts on the story that only they can (Original Fiction thread kinda got me to thinking about this). That's a more personal kind of theme. It like a connection between author and reader.

Or, the reader could interpret it in a certain way to mean something particular to themselves, like you said. That isn't always in line with the story's intent though. People can interpret a work to mean something far removed from anything the author had thought of or wanted.

sweet_zelda

That's an interesting thread, thanks for opening that, Pammie

I think, every story of mine kind of has a "theme". I'm not sure if I can call it that, though. It's more the line, the red dot that you can follow through the whole thing. I try to use symbols as well, for example the name I picked for the original character of my fanfic, Althea, means healing.
Then again, I am someone who always thinks things through from beginning to end.

I feel this might be more like the author having a basic idea but the story actually coming to life while it's being written.

ROCKSTAR

Sometimes themes emerge, not necessarily because of the writer specifically making it about a certain topic. So even if you don't write with a theme in mind, one is probably going to come out of the story organically, which is even better, because it's not forced.

Historic themes like good vs evil can probably be found in most works. Love is also another of the major ones.

follow the sun

It often happens that a theme emerges in a story or novel, for example, that the author didn't consciously intend. It just comes through in their point of view, who they are.

I would think that themes related to love probably come up the most in fanfiction.

sweet_zelda

Absolutely

And I think that at first, everyone kind of has a theme for what they're writing and then more themes emerge while the story is being written

Samweed Knightly

Yeah, I agree. I think that every story has a theme of some sort. Intended or not.