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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Theme really has more to do with the character arc than the plot. After all, the character arc is all about internal stuff\u2014the struggle that\u2019s going on inside the character. Whereas, the plot is the external happenings\u2014the bank heists, college graduations, near-death experiences, and heart-to-heart talks. However, the plot has no meaning without the character arc. Yet neither of these would have any direction\u2014or connection\u2014if it weren\u2019t for the Theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve really been discussing the Theme all along, but I haven\u2019t brought up the direct concept until now. If you were to take your entire story and sum it up in a few words, that would pretty much be your Theme. At its very heart, what is<\/em> your story about? (Some would say that the Theme could also be worded as a question, but we’ll explore this aspect when we get to our Flat Arc series.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s take a look at our examples to see how the Theme is portrayed in real-life fiction:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the movie, \u201cBeyond the Mask,\u201d the Theme is redemption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my short story, \u201cIn Time of Need,\u201d the Theme is accepting help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though the Theme may seem like a very vague way to represent your story, it holds a lot of potential. Take the Theme of forgiveness\u2026 that could have many different connotations. The character could be struggling to forgive someone else, struggling to recognize their need for forgiveness, or struggling to accept forgiveness. There are tons of possibilities just from one Theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, though the Theme is only a few simple words, a story without it will be very haphazard. To illustrate this, I\u2019ve written a short narrative below (this is another one of those thought-up-on-the-spot examples, so bear with me):<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tom lives in mid-19th<\/sup> century England, and he and his family are going to travel to America. However, business plans delay Tom, and he tells his family to go without him, despite his wife\u2019s insistence that they all stay together. When he receives word that his family has been captured by pirates, he feels guilty for not spending more time with them, feeling that he could have prevented the capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tom determines to save his family alone and refuses his friends\u2019 help. He hears about an ex-pirate living in the East End of London and goes in search of the man. But upon finding the man, he becomes extremely frustrated with the fellow\u2019s mysterious behavior that he blows up. The man leaves, and Tom feels as though his only chance has gone down the drain. He gets mad at himself for getting angry and vows to curb his temper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then the pirates contact him and ask him to pay a huge sum to ransom his family. He has no choice but to sell his business to pay the money. However, the pirates don\u2019t return his family. Now penniless, Tom begins to steal food to survive. He is caught and sent to jail. He feels dejected and realizes that he should be doing things the right way, and shouldn\u2019t steal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Tom is released from jail, he finds the ex-pirate. He apologizes, and they set out to find his family. They reach the pirate ship, free Tom\u2019s family, escape to America, and start a new business with the ex-pirate as Tom\u2019s partner. And they all lived happily ever after\u2026 The End.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So\u2026 what was this story\u2019s Theme? Family responsibility? Dealing with guilt from one\u2019s past? Learning to accept help? Controlling one\u2019s temper? Valuing family over money? Not compromising when things are tough? Trusting God?<\/p>\n\n\n\n This story\u2019s plot was all over the place because it didn\u2019t have one single Theme. Without the Theme to guide your story\u2019s structure, your character is going to have no direction whatsoever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some may argue that this kind of liberty allows creativity to flow freely. However, I would argue that creativity must<\/em> have some kind of guidance, or you will end up with very mixed results. The Theme offers the foundation for this guidance\u2014channeling the creativity rather than hindering it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every single plot point must hammer the story\u2019s specific Theme home. If the character\u2019s Lie is that death is the end of everything, how is the mentor-character\u2019s lecture on controlling their temper going to impact the story? Controlling one\u2019s temper is a great thing to talk about, but it\u2019s the wrong Theme for the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, there are times for practical advice and warnings that don\u2019t have to do with the main Theme, but these should be very secondary. Make sure that the audience has no doubt in their mind what the real Theme is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (By the way, the same thing goes for Wants. Don\u2019t let your character stray too far from his Want. There is such a thing as a scene goal, but they should always be directly related to the main Want. A character\u2019s plot goal might even change depending on their circumstances, but their internal goal\u2014their Want\u2014will always<\/em> stay the same.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, so what if you don\u2019t have a Theme at all? What if your story is all about the external stuff\u2014the narrow escapes from the villain\u2019s lair, the car chases, the cool fight scenes, the awesome wardrobes? Maybe you have some<\/em> internal conflict, but it\u2019s random and doesn\u2019t really lead anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, you\u2019ll need to take a step back from your story and ask yourself what it\u2019s trying to tell people. Choose a Theme that fits the plot\u2014and, if need be, change the plot to fit this Theme. The message should remain the same throughout the story, tying both the plot and the character arc together into one, complete whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a few more things to note about the use of the Theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, the Theme is not just for your MC\u2019s journey\u2014it\u2019s for the supporting characters, too. Remember, every character\u2019s got an agenda. They\u2019ve all got that Lie or Truth they believe in. Whether they\u2019re on a Positive Change Arc, a Flat Arc, or some kind of negative arc, their journey should tie into the main Theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your antagonist, as we\u2019ll talk about soon, will most likely embody the MC\u2019s own Lie\u2014though perhaps to a greater extreme. The other supporting characters will explore their own angles of the Theme\u2026 some believing the Truth, others believing the Lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In \u201cBeyond the Mask,\u201d Charlotte Holloway, the Love Interest, is a Flat Arc and believes the Truth (though she does doubt at times). Charles Kemp, the antagonist, believes the Lie that someone like Will can never be redeemed. Jeremiah Flack, the Holloways’ servant, is a stronger Flat Arc, believing wholeheartedly that redemption is possible through Christ. Joshua Brand, a minor antagonist, believes the Lie even more viciously than Kemp. Other side characters simply represent a vague idea of the Truth or Lie, like when Benjamin Franklin sees potential in Will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In \u201cIn Time of Need,\u201d Reverend Sheppard, as the main mentor, believes the Truth that Tad needs help from others and God. Mr. Beasley, the antagonist, believes a variation of the Lie\u2014Tad not only shouldn\u2019t<\/em> seek or accept help from others, but he can\u2019t<\/em>. Tad\u2019s friend, Bevan, also believes the Truth that Tad should accept help, though he doesn\u2019t take it as far as Reverend Sheppard since (as far as we know) he doesn\u2019t believe in God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re struggling to find angles on your story\u2019s Theme, start asking questions. Let\u2019s say your Theme is humility. Well, how can we become humble? Should we have humility? Is there a time for being prideful? Is humility a good leadership quality? The more questions you ask, the more material you have to expound on your story\u2019s Theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exploring the Theme from more than one aspect provides complexity to your story, but it also pulls all of the subplots together. By expounding on your Theme, you can have both an intricate and <\/em>well-rounded story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, in a book or movie series, it\u2019s common for the entire series to have its own, overarching Theme. A series Theme pulls all of the books together, much like a singular Theme pulls all of the story elements together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An example of this is the \u201cMen of Grit\u201d book series, which follows the adventures of three different main characters\u2014twins Lawrence and Chester Stoning, and the mysterious Colonel Nobody. As a whole, the series addresses the idea of duty, while each book\u2019s individual Theme explores different aspects of this encompassing Theme\u2026 duty to family, to friends, to the innocent, to God, to your country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope this understanding of the Theme has helped bring the rest of the elements together and laid the foundation for when we finally start talking about plot points. First, however, we have one more thing to introduce\u2026 you\u2019ll find out what that is in two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Comment below what your favorite book or movie\u2019s Theme is!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Now that we\u2019ve covered most of the major story elements, it’s time to talk about the Theme. The Theme brings the Lie, the Truth, the Want, the Need, and the Ghost all together to create a seamless framework for your story. Without it, the plot would be a jumbled mess, and the character arc would have more loop de loops than a roller coaster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,21,4],"tags":[24,26,29,64,23,32,33,27],"class_list":["post-419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plots-and-character-arcs","category-positive-change-arcs","category-writing-tips","tag-character-arcs","tag-characters","tag-christian-writing","tag-main-character","tag-plots","tag-positive-change-arcs","tag-protagonist","tag-writing-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=419"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":566,"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419\/revisions\/566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}