Chapter Thirteen

Plot the Thematic Significance

Months after readers have finished a great story, many cannot recall the action in scenes or describe the character development. However, even years later, those same readers still hold an idea, if vague, of what the story was about. They remember the underlying theme. As important as dramatic action and character emotional development are to a story, the reader wants all the action in all the scenes to add up to something significant and meaningful. This chapter addresses thematic significance and how to develop meaning in your plot.

Theme is what your story is about as an abstraction beyond the action. It is an idea that your story proposes or supposes, a speculated truth. Every story speculates on a possible truth (theme). Often the thematic significance of your story can be found in the change the characters undergo as a result of the core conflict in the story.

Finding the Thematic Significance of Your Story

The following questions can help you find the theme of your story:

• What message do you want the reader to be left with after she has finished reading your book?
• Why are you writing the book?
• What are you trying to say?
• What is the overall conclusion you want your readers to walk away with?

Do not worry if you are unable to answer these questions until after you have written a draft or two—theme is most resonant when it is not imposed on the story but comes from within it. If you have not yet discovered the theme of your project, write down the questions above and tape the list to your computer. Then keep searching as you write.

Eventually you do want to know the theme for two reasons:

1. Theme matters to the reader. Readers today are deluged with books and magazines and the Internet. For them to commit their precious time to reading your story, you must provide a deeper message beyond the pure enjoyment of reading your words. Theme defines what is at stake in your story.
2. The more clearly you can define your theme, the tighter your story. Once you know your theme, your scene choices will follow theme, as opposed to following other possibilities.

Your theme anchors you to your subject.

Plot the Thematic Significance

Once you know your theme, you can review your plotline and mark the scenes that demonstrate the theme. Trust the process; all the answers you need are in your story right now. It’s up to you to find them. Your theme serves as a compass on your journey, determining where you are currently on course in what you have written and where you have stumbled down a dead-end or veered off the trail.

You should be able to sum up your theme in a thematic significance statement. Here are a few examples of what this statement looks like:

Once you know your theme, write it out in sentence form as a thematic significance statement. This is what your story is attempting to prove. Write this sentence across the top of your Plot Planner as a reminder to incorporate the theme into every scene by way of your use of details, in every choice and decision the character makes, and within the character’s emotional development.

Explore the sticky notes on your Plot Planner for signs of the prevalent themes your story deals with. Look for common themes in the action and in the character’s emotional development. Wherever you find metaphors or reoccurring symbols, note ideas about how to highlight the meaning in the details to best lead the reader to the conclusion you’re developing thematically.

Deriving Theme from Within

One way or another, you will prove something to your readers through your story.

In our writing, we authors usually focus on topics we care deeply about, are interested in exploring, are grappling with in our own lives, or simply find fascinating. Oftentimes themes for our stories originate from our own past. Stick a note in a distinct color on your Plot Planner where similar thematic topics are addressed in your scenes. Look for images or experiences that mirror those in your life and that have remained distinct through the passage of time. The big traumatic moments pop right to the surface. Stay still and wait awhile. The next image to surface may surprise you. Buried in those experiences are beliefs by which you have lived your life. Likely they’ll show up in your stories. Find the scenes where they pop up and indicate on your Plot Planner various ways to develop these themes.

The following are some examples of how themes can manifest from our own experiences.

Example 1

One of my students remembers being chastised in front of her entire class in an early grade for challenging the teacher’s words. Although she was ultimately proven right, the student never forgot the humiliation she suffered. With that one memory she discovered she had been living her life and writing her stories with the belief that speaking up, speaking out, and speaking back comes at a price.

Example 2

An artist paints a picture of a garden. The colors, shading, and composition of the piece are flawless and deserve attention. Another artist has a deep emotional wound from her past that has left her with the belief that people are “no damn good.” She paints the same garden, but she integrates into the composition a pair of scissors.

Example 3

A single mother with children to feed is grateful to land a job as a night security guard.

Once on the job, the woman hears screams and pleading coming from the warehouse on the property. The boss is abusing the workers with a cattle prod. Workers beg for mercy as they are held against their will.

The boss instructs the woman to throw the switch to the electrical fence if any of the workers tries to escape over the barbed wire. Then the boss leaves.

Until this point, the woman has shown disbelief on her face and discomfort in her body language, but, even so, she does as she is told. The character must make a decision when the workers plead for mercy as they try to escape.

The following are three different reactions to the same experience based on three different life experiences.

1. If you’ve learned that in order to keep your job, you do what you are told, no matter how inhumane you believe it is, you will throw the switch.
2. If you’ve learned that when someone is down, he should be kicked, you might not only throw the switch but may also trip the workers as they attempt to escape.
3. If you’ve learned that there comes a time in everyone’s life when you have to take a stand, you will refuse to throw the switch and instead will quit your job.

For each scenario, your life experiences have a direct influence on your choices and decisions and shape your individual themes.

No matter what we write, the process is an exploration of ourselves. Our own beliefs and themes pop up when we least expect it. Sometimes we discover that what we thought were our beliefs do not translate onto the page, and so we must delve even deeper to find out what it is we truly believe.

If your characters display a mind of their own and deviate from the plot you envisioned for them, ask yourself if the resistance is coming from your inner self. Your deeper self may be begging for the opportunity to come into the light and force you to confront your real truth: not the truth you were brought up to believe, and not the truth of the world around you, but your own authentic truth.

By your final draft, you have an idea of the deeper meaning of your story, what you are trying to say, and the ways you have attempted to communicate that meaning through your story to your audience.

When the dramatic action changes the character emotional development at depth over time, the story becomes thematically significant.

The Story Concept

Not only does thematic significance bring meaning and coherence to your story, it also helps you form your story concept. Let’s say you attend a writers conference and find yourself sitting next to a literary agent at lunch. How quickly and compellingly can you draw her into your story? The answer is determined by how intriguing your concept is.

Rather than drone on about every plot point, learn how to rattle off a pithy pitch that entices your listener and has her begging you for more. Think of the concept and pitch as the seeds of action and characters interacting in a meaningful way.

Some writers won’t write a word until they come up with a concept that contains a certain “snap,” a uniqueness based on a universal truth, something special, exotic, or unexpected. Others don’t tackle the task until they’ve finished writing and editing, and are ready to query.

Wherever you are with your story, the time is never too early to ask yourself: What is your story about? Brainstorm concepts that fit your story. The more unique and unusual and original, the better. Stretch, think big, and think differently to hook someone with your concept. Without a compelling concept, a story may never find an agent, a publisher, or an audience. Keep a notebook of ideas, and narrow down what your story is about to one or two lines.

Intrigue, mystery, romance, secrets and lies, wrongful arrest and sentencing, betrayal, and loyalty are all provocative plot points that can manifest into themes within a high-concept story.

The following are two methods for creating a winning concept.

1. The “Who Wants What and Why, and What’s Stopping Her?” Concept

This short paragraph says enough to create intrigue, and it includes all three plotlines.

The dramatic action plot centers on the dramatic question: Will the security breach be found in time to save the company? Who will find it first?

The character emotional development plot centers on Sarah, a prostitute with a fetish for cigars, and Nick, a high-rolling American gambler.

At this point, the story hinges more on the quirky characterizations of the point-of-view characters and less on a higher thematic calling. If one of them has a goal of solving the mystery that includes a higher purpose, this is the thematic significance.

As the concept is written here, the intrigue of the tale is enough for agents, editors, and readers to ask for more and thus satisfy the basic demand of a story concept.

2. The X+Y+Z Concept

X (your main character or protagonist) is in Y (the general place, time, and circumstances of the protagonist’s everyday life when the novel begins) until Z (the catalyst that makes the story a story occurs).

Examples of Theme

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in fiction. Here are some examples of theme statements from classic literature. See if you agree with the statements, or come up with your own. Consider which statements convey the essence of the story.

• “Things are not always what they appear.” (To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee)
• “A spiritual journey is challenging but, when undertaken with passion and dedication, can transform a person enough to overcome hurt, and love again.” (Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert)
• “Fascination with wealth is self-destructive.” (The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
• “Beneath the surface of seemingly ordinary women lay extraordinary lives.” (The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields)
• “When a boy is coming of age and the only life he has ever known is disappearing into the past, in order to claim his place in the world, that boy must leave on a dangerous and harrowing journey. (All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy)
• “Through ambition and courage, man is able to survive against all odds.” (The Sea-Wolf by Jack London)
• “To find a place for oneself, one must first break away.” (White Oleander by Janet Fitch)
• “Home is where the heart is.” (Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts)
• “Man has a collective tendency to go overboard toward generosity and forgiveness.” (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain)
• “Man cannot escape his destiny but may be ennobled in the attempt.” (Oedipus Rex by Sophocles)
• “Family loyalty leads to a life of crime.” (The Godfather by Mario Puzo)
• “Forgiveness of others begins with forgiveness of the self. (Love Made of Heart by Teresa LeYung Ryan)
• “Courage leads to redemption.” (The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway)
• “Forced self-examination leads to generosity.” (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)
• “The human spirit can withstand even the most ruthless circumstances.” (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey)
• “When left to their own devices, people naturally revert to cruelty, savagery, and barbarism.” (Lord of the Flies by William Golding)
• “Affection, loyalty, and conscience are more important than social advancement, wealth, and class.” (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
• “Independent ideas cannot always translate into a simultaneously self-sufficient and socially acceptable existence.” (The Awakening by Kate Chopin)
• “Patterns of inequality in human rights based on racial differences are unjust and ultimately intolerable.” (Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton)
• “A person who learns the profound effect he has had on his family and community is given a renewed faith to live.” (It’s a Wonderful Life; story written by Philip Van Doren Stern and movie directed by Frank Capra)
• “A tight-knit family, no matter how poor, can survive anything.” (Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck)
• “Being different is a secret that all humans share.” (Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi)
• “Friends can fill an empty heart.” (Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo)
• “The will to survive can bring material success; yet paired with narcissism and a lack of compassion, it will lead to loss of love.” (Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell)

The thematic significance statement communicates what all of the scenes and dramatic action together add up to mean in the end. Create a thematic significance statement that encompasses the emotional transformation your protagonist undergoes from the beginning to the end of the story.

More on Theme

A visual representation of the theme of your story emerges as you view your Plot Planner and ponder the meaning behind specific scenes. Note how the different plot threads interplay throughout the story; which scenes are above or below the line; how the three plotlines rise and fall together, each in a different color; and how the scenes ebb and flow at the overall story level.

Holding up your scenes and characters against a backdrop of the whole story gives you fuller access to a larger context of meaning. An entire world emerges, along with a better understanding of the significance of each of its parts.

As you evaluate each part of your story for theme at the overall story level, you will need to decide how to handle thematic details in the beginning, middle, and end. For example, you might discover that your story’s core explores the risks your protagonist is willing to take for the one she loves. Look for how you introduce the concepts of both love and of risk taking in the beginning. In the middle, deepen the reader’s understanding of risk taking and love in all the various forms of theme you wish to portray.

One way to do this is to include a character in the story who embodies the opposite traits of your protagonist; perhaps he is overly cautious and unwilling to open up, commit, or go out on a limb for anyone. Reveal the positive effects of using caution in a relationship(s), thereby seemingly disproving the theme. When your protagonist, who believes risk taking is necessary to be with the one you love, interacts with someone who challenges her belief system, it creates tension.

To deepen the theme in the middle section, consider how the conflicts and challenges your protagonist suffers at the hand of the antagonists affect her ideas of risk taking and love as she moves steadily (so she hopes) toward her goal. Does the middle of your story deepen the reader’s understanding of all aspects of the thematic significance?

Show what safety and caution in dating look and feel like. Let us feel her emotion—don’t just tell us about how she feels. Show the reader how her confusion, doubt, and uncertainty reveal itself through her actions, dialogue, attitude, posture, and habits.

When characters who embody the ideal of what or who the protagonist is trying to be, or reveal an unexpected shadow side that the protagonist has failed to consider, another facet of the theme is presented.

In the final quarter of the story, the protagonist emerges from the middle into the territory of the end. There the primary role of the dramatic action is to get the protagonist to the right place at the right time for the final confrontation while also demonstrating how different the character’s actions and reactions are compared to the beginning of the story. In rapid succession, do your scenes build in significance and relevance as the protagonist makes choices about what she is willing to do for love? Tension, conflict, and suspense rise until the character emotional development and the dramatic action plotlines collide head-on at the climax.

After the peak energy at the climax settles, we learn whether the protagonist has been deeply changed or not. This is where the thematic significance plotline is at its most meaningful. A character fighting to gain what he desires is capable of producing an outcome of important consequence. With illumination, insight, or a tiny bit of wisdom, the story promise you made to your readers at the beginning of the book is kept.