From Idea to Impact: Building Theme in Your World

When the word “theme” is spoken, we often think of the days when we had to read horrendously boring short stories out of a school textbook, later pointing out things like the protagonist’s motivations and the moral of the story. Theme is often confused with both of these and more, which makes it quite difficult to point out sometimes, and even more difficult to write.

But we’ve all heard it. The writing advice that tells us that theme is the most important part of our story, and it’s how we breathe life into an otherwise functionless plot. We try our hardest to come up with a theme, but oftentimes it feels like we’re preaching to an audience from our pulpit of authorship, or the theme simply gets lost in the grandness of our story’s world and the intricate interactions we must show between characters. We already juggle so much as authors; how are we meant to come up with an inspiring, impactful theme as well?

Today, I want to dive into what exactly makes a good theme, how to come up with your own, and how to make sure your readers “get it”, so to speak, without feeling preached to or getting schoolwork nostalgia (because I’ve often read stories where the theme is something obviously juvenile like friendship or teamwork, and believe me, a badly written theme is worse than no theme at all.)

To those who still feel like they’re back in fifth grade doing their English assignments, I promise this will get better! Let’s start by properly defining theme the way an author would. Theme is not a simple one-word summary like “mercy” or “kindness”. It has much more depth to it. If your theme is able to be summarized in one word, then it most likely is not the best it could be. Rather, theme is a question, like “When should we show mercy?” or “Is kindness a symptom of naivety?” It shouldn’t be able to be answered by a simple yes or no, or else your readers will immediately be able to guess the answer and will quickly become bored of the story.

This theme, or thematic question, has two purposes. It must be applicable to our readers, and it must be unifying to our story. But what does that mean?

Applicability is so important when writing theme. It keeps our readers engaged in not only the surface-level story, but in the underlying purpose of it as well. Even when our characters have reached a dead-end, or the plot slows down a bit, it’s this hidden thematic question that our readers can sense, and that’s what pushes them to the end of the story. Our stories become questions themselves, and the ending is what will answer them.

But our readers won’t have the internal desire to finish our stories if the theme isn’t applicable. Even if we never explicitly state the theme (which I believe we shouldn’t do regardless) our readers can sense it underneath our characters and plot and world. They can feel the unrest and know that by the end, something will have changed to provide a solution. It is our task to provide them with a thematic question that relates to them, that gives a purpose not only to the story, but to their reading of it. Imagine your perfect reader, the one who will devour your books in one day and rave about them to all their friends. What question do you think they have that burns to be answered? What do they struggle with in life? Or you could ask what it is that they want to know more about? All of these questions will help you decide whether your theme is applicable to your target audience.

The second purpose of a theme is unification. The theme of the story is what brings all of the elements, or pillars of story, together into one cohesive piece. Plot, characters, and world are all connected through theme. Without a strong and relatable message, each of the pillars of story feel separate, even when well-written, and while the book might still work, it won’t carry the answer to the question your readers are asking.

But how do we unify our story through theme? It might seem easy to demonstrate the theme through characters, but the plot may be a bit trickier, and worldbuilding seems even farther away. But I like to say that theme isn’t something we pull into our stories– rather, it’s something we draw out of them. Every aspect of storytelling can carry a piece of your theme if woven well, and when writing, all you need to do is draw it out.

With that out of the way, let’s get into each of these aspects of storytelling and discuss how our theme should be woven into each of them.

Firstly, our characters should express our theme the most clearly out of the three. They are like the stage where our theme is demonstrated and lived-out. While we can hint at it through the plot and through our worldbuilding, characters are where our theme should shine. But how?

Every character should have two things: a Lie they believe at the beginning of the story, and a Truth they learn by the end of it. This is something that relates to your character arc, or how your characters change over the course of the story. We should be showing their Lie they believe through their actions, and consequently we should show the results of believing this Lie and eventually the Truth they learn through what happens in the story.

For example, let’s go with the question we asked at the start– “When should we show mercy?” Our main character may believe at the beginning of the story that mercy is only given to those who deserve it. This is their Lie, or the belief they have that influences their actions, wrong though it may be. We should be able to see through the story the evidence of this character’s belief. Perhaps they are cold and self-serving towards those who are “beneath” them. Perhaps they don’t consider the beggar on the street, feeling that they put themselves in that situation. It could even be something more extreme, like condoning the murder of their enemies or those who oppose them.

But our characters don’t stay like that. Through the events of the plot, our characters are changed, and whether slowly or abruptly, they begin to accept the Truth, their actions at the end thus reflecting it. By the end of the story, the main character might have realized that mercy is not a form of weakness, but a strength. That mercy is a commandment given to us, and that those who oppose us may not deserve it, but we should show it anyway. This is the Truth our character learns, and it is also the answer to the thematic question we introduced at the beginning of the story.

Our characters are vessels, each one of them holding a different Lie they believe about the theme. While the main character might believe mercy is only for those who deserve it, a side character might believe that mercy is a form of weakness, and that true strength is being strong enough to resist empathy or compassion. We can make our themes even more dynamic by illustrating a different Lie in each of our characters, and by the end of the story, we’ll have a deeper and more full understanding of the Truth through each of them.

The second pillar of story that our theme can shine through is the plot. The way we structure our plots should ensure that the theme will be brought out in its fullest, creating the most opportunities for our characters to learn. Theme, of course, can be demonstrated only in our characters’ arcs, but when we use the plot as a subtle metaphor for the theme, it will have a much greater impact.

Let’s explore this concept of a plot metaphor. When we use the actual story itself as a representation of the message we are sharing, it becomes an extended metaphor for the thematic question. The plot demonstrates every facet of the theme; the question, answer, and exploration of the why behind it all.

To illustrate this, our plot could, for example, contain scenes that force our main character to choose between showing mercy or indifference. We could also use our plot as a metaphor by showing our main character no mercy, forcing them to go through challenge after challenge, and only after they begin to learn that mercy is not only a choice but a commandment can we begin lightening their load, so to speak. Plot is quite a tricky area to show theme in, and I would personally say the most difficult for me, but with practice and diligence it can infuse your story with the theme you’ve worked to craft.

Lastly, we can actually show our theme through our worldbuilding. So often I see worldbuilding overlooked, even in fantasy circles. It becomes an afterthought, and even when we take the time to plan it out, we often forget how much we can do with deep, expansive worldbuilding. This is why I like to include worldbuilding in my personal pillars of writing– characters and plot are widely acknowledged, and usually theme is one, but I like to say that theme is actually the foundation of the three pillars of characters, plot, and world.

But how can we express theme– a thought or an idea– through something as concrete as a physical world? We need to remember that our worldbuilding is more than just a map. Worldbuilding also includes culture, and society, and history, which are all prime locations for theme to be drawn from. Just as we use our characters as demonstrations of different viewpoints relating to our thematic question, we can use our world as a canvas for a multitude of examples.

Let’s return to our thematic question from earlier; in our world, perhaps the culture embraces indifference to others’ plight as a form of strength. Perhaps the few souls who seem to care for those in need are looked down upon or persecuted. Maybe there have been several wars in our world’s history that have fed this environment of no mercy. As our main character learns and grows, his viewpoint changing towards the thematic question, he will have an impact on this world and the people around him. What would his life look like if he were to embrace helping others? Who would be touched by his conversion, so to speak? How would his actions send ripples throughout the layers of our worldbuilding?

After examining the three pillars of story (characters, plot, and world) and how we can draw out our theme in each of them, I want you to look at your own story. What areas of it do you feel your theme is strongest? Where can you improve? Does your theme have an impact in each of these areas? Is it evident?

Knowing how to write an impactful, inspiring theme that resonates is a skill that will take you from writing stories that might only entertain to writing powerful tales that will live forever in the hearts of readers. And don’t forget that theme is a wonderful place to infuse our Christian beliefs– while we may not state them explicitly, their presence will bring a light to our stories that would not be possible without.

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If you are looking for guidance on writing theme out of each of these pillars of story, I’ve created a printable worksheet that is available for download when you subscribe to my email list, where you can also find behind-the-scenes information on my current writing projects as well as encouragement and community. It’s also a great free way to support me as an author and to show that you enjoyed this post!

See you among the shelves,

Emma G. McKee

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