Podcasts Arts Fiction Writing Made Easy 3 Ways to Figure Out the Theme of Your Story

3 Ways to Figure Out the Theme of Your Story

Published: March 31, 2020, 7 a.m.

In today's episode, I'll walk you through three different ways to figure out the theme of your story. Here's a preview of what we'll cover:

  • [00:50] What is a story's theme? And why do you need one?
  • [01:30] How identifying your story's theme upfront can help you write a stronger draft.
  • [02:40] 3 different questions to help you uncover the theme of your story.
  • [03:00] Question 1: What do you have to say about life? What do you care about?
  • [05:00] Question 2: How will your protagonist change from the beginning of the story to the end of the story? (+ an example from Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone).
  • [07:30] Question 3: What's your story's content genre?
  • [10:00] How to create a 1-2 sentence theme statement that describes what changes in your story as well as specifically why and how things have changed (+ an example from Pride and Prejudice). 
  • [10:45] What should you do if your theme sounds generic or cliche?
  • [12:00] Key points and episode recap.

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Links mentioned in this episode:

P.S. Did you know that I have a Facebook group just for fiction writers? In this private group, we talk about all things writing, editing, and publishing fiction. It's free to join and you can request access here. Hope to see you there!