The Importance of Story and Message

Every story has a message it's trying to convey. From Red Riding Hood and not trusting strangers, to Narnia and the deep Christian themes that fill its pages. Whether or not you mean to, your story will tell people something. That's why you need to be very careful of theme and message when you're writing.

What is your theme?

Many writers shy away from theme. I don't deny it's tricky. Subtly weaving it into your story without hitting readers over the head with the "moral of the story" like a kids TV show is hard. A good theme is so well written into the story that it is the story. It's what's behind everything in it.

That's why it's important to figure out a basic theme in the early stages of your writing. Not long after you start expanding on the idea if possible. It may not come to mind right away. But as you start building the story, look for common threads that run through your story.

One of these will be what's called the golden thread. The theme, message, or direction the whole story is headed in. If you know what your theme is, then everything else will start to fall in place. Your characters, their arcs, the plot are all heavily tied to the theme you chose.

It's okay if your theme changes and evolves as your story does. You might think it's about one thing, only to realize you're telling a different story and re-work things to fit that theme better. The important thing is that it's there.

But why is it so important?

You may be wondering why you need to put so much thought into it. Why not just let it come as you write the story? Sometimes, that can work. If that's what works with your creative process, go for it.

But if you aren't deliberate with what you're writing, you may find you've unintentionally written a theme into your story you don't agree with. If that happens, then you have to take a lot of time and effort to take it out again. Time and effort that could have been saved if you took the time to think about it earlier.

Secondly, everyone sees things differently. It's you, the writer's, job to guide the reader to interpret what you wrote correctly. That doesn't mean people won't misread it or put in context that you didn't intend.

Without a good solid theme, it's much easier to read whatever you want into a story. You may think your story doesn't have or need a theme, and then realize readers are getting something from it that you didn't intend or don't want. Again, something that could be avoided if you put in a little effort early on.

A few examples

Spies in Disguise is the first movie where the theme is rather questionable. On the surface, it's a fun story about a spy and his new sidekick that teaches them both a lesson about working together. But look a little closer (which won't take much work because it's a little heavy handed) and you'll notice a weird theme to the movie.

Throughout it, Walter is trying to convince Lance that violence isn't the only answer. He wants to solve everything by love. Which I agree with, in the right context. But when a bad guy is shooting at you, like Lance says, you shoot back. You don't try to talk about it or figure out why they're acting the way they are. The theme of this movie basically teaches kids to be wusses. And it doesn't work well at all with the rest of the movie.

My other example is Toy Story 4. I plan to write a whole post bashing this movie to bits sometime, but for today I'll keep it short and focus on the theme surrounding Gabby Gabby, a doll with a broken voice box. For a long time she's tried to catch the attention of a little girl who she thinks is her perfect child. But without her voice box, she doesn't think she's worthy of her love.

Long story short, she gets the voice box, catches the girl's attention at last. . ., and get rejected. Eventually she ends up with another little girl, but what the movie tells us through this is that you are only worthy of love if you're whole. And that spending years on a relationship that's not going anywhere and never will is okay. Just. . . what?!

Writing a theme

I hope those examples give you an idea of why choosing the message your story sends out is so important. If you haven't seen either of those, you can probably think of your own examples. But how do you write a good theme?

I'm still working on that myself. I'm not an expert in any way. But for starters, you should pick a theme you feel passionate about. Also, think of new ways you can put a fresh spin on old themes- like love or self-worth.

I highly suggest checking out K. M. Weiland's large collection of posts on theme. It's one of things she's passionate about and has written on often. She's where I've learned pretty much all I know about themes and messages and how to tie it closely to your story. You can learn so much more from her than from me.

I hope this post has convinced you of why you need to know your story's message and given you a starting place for working. I want all of you to have great themes that leave people thinking and nodding along.

What are your thoughts on theme? What's the message of your current WIP? Tell me in the comments.

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