Your Thematic Topic and Message
Many authors don't have a theme in mind when the come to a story. They are often more interested in the genre, setting, action, or characters. But without a theme to glue the pieces together, a story seems to meander aimlessly, not covering specific ground but just heading off in almost any direction.
Your theme has two parts:
1. The topic of the story.
2. The moral or message of the story.
The topic is the broad subject area explored, which may be material or conceptual. Death, the complexity of society, nuclear power or man’s inhumanity to man are all potent thematic topics.
In contrast, the moral or message of a story explores an individual human quality such as greed, self-sacrifice, conceit or compassion and provides the author’s judgment as to whether or not that quality is a good one to possess.
Before you finish lining out your plot, be sure to choose a topical subject matter element that fits in with the material you have already developed and will serve as unifying focus. And also include examples in several of your scenes (spread throughout your story) that illustrate a specific human quality and clearly convey your point of view on its value.
More Tips…
Read the Science Fiction Thriller
From the founder of Storymind
Man Made follows a mysterious force as it sweeps around the globe erasing anything man made - from buildings, vehicles, and technology to medicines, clothing, and dental work.
Governments stagger under the panic, religions are at a loss for an explanation, scientists strive for any means to stop or divert the phenomenon, and the world’s population from families to individuals struggle to prepare for The Event, which will drive humanity back beyond the stone age.
The Event is coming.
Are you prepared?