This week, Alida, Kathryn welcome Mike Stop Continues back to the show to discuss prewriting theme. We cover:
- why you should find your theme before you write,
- why themes that are too timely are no good,
- being human,
- the role of the character arc in theme,
- how does theme work in your plot,
- avoid writing propaganda,
- writers’ relationships to the themes they write,
- returning to the same theme over and over in our writing,
- how readers connect to a writer’s work because of theme,
- the role of journaling in finding theme,
- universal questions—looking at story from the top down,
- making sure every movement addresses theme,
- the role of the subconscious mind in writing theme.
VIDEO
AUDIO
SHOW NOTES
Should we have a theme in mind before we write our first drafts? How do we work it into our pre-writing? How do you avoid the trap of propaganda? How do you know when you have a good theme? Do we write the same themes over and over? And how do you factor theme into your supporting characters, plot, and even antagonist?
What we talked about:
Do we think about theme before we start to write? (1:20)
How do you come up with theme in the early stages of writing? (4:10)
How do you know you have a good theme? (5:03)
Theme is a part of our character’s arc. (7:40)
So how do you factor theme into the creation of your character arc? (8:20)
How do you choose your theme? Where does it come from? (11:48)
Do we write about the same theme over and over? What about within a series? (13:35)
How does theme factor into your outlining or storyboarding process? (18:40)
Expand your theme out of your protagonists character arc. (21:50)
How are the supporting characters reflecting the theme back to your protagonist? (24:30)
So how do you draft with theme in mind? (28:00)
LINKS
Things we mentioned:
On Writing by Steven King
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
Harry Potter
Breaking Bad
Macbeth by Shakespeare
Hamlet by Shakespeare
Want more about these topics? Check out:
SWRT 028 Emotional Wound Thesaurus
SWRT 029: Emotional Wounds & Character Arcs
SWRT 066: Theme
