Finding Your Themes

This seems to be something I’ve become good at–after the fact, at least. I can’t deliberately write to a theme, but I’m pretty good at picking one out later. I do it every time I do Holly Lisle’s One-Pass Revision, and I can’t imagine revising without it now.

But every time I do it, someone says they don’t know how I can.

Here’s the method that works for me. Spoilers for Joss’ book ahead. Sorry, it’s my example.

Right. Here we go. First thing, look at your big conflict, your climax. In Joss’ book, that’s where he fights Nate. It’s the only way he can get Paige back–to challenge Nate to a duel for the Chiefship of Tribe Cayden. Theme here? When all else fails, use violence. Uh…no.

So we’ll look at how that’s set up. Joss can’t just challenge for Chief of Cayden–he’s not a Cayden. The only way he can fight Nate is if he’s a member of the Tribe. So he marries Zeke, Nate’s brother, something he never wanted to do. More than that, it’s something he’s been fighting the whole book because though he could–might already–love Zeke, marriage on Kari’s Star is not a wedding of equals. By marrying Zeke, he submits to Zeke, and Joss doesn’t submit to anyone.

From that I got “love requires sacrifice” where it’s Joss’ love for Paige that guides him. That seems a good theme, but it’s not quite right. The first time Joss sacrifices for her, he doesn’t even know her, let alone love her. (For the confused, Joss’ love for Paige is that of a big brother watching out for “the kid.”  The boy is gay as gay can be.)

Okay, close but no cigar. Keep going. I know I’m getting warmer, so I’ll take the strongest word in what I have and look around it a bit.

That word, of course, is sacrifice. (To me, it’s an “of course.” The word “love” has been bandied about so much that by itself, it’s a greeting card. We have to talk of “true love” or some other modifier to actually mean anything.)

So. Sacrifice. What is Joss sacrificing? At first, little. A few minutes of his time. A yell at his boss–something I’ve already shown he has no compunction about doing. Hours spent guarding her, when he’s a guard already. Then I put Paige at risk, and suddenly Joss is on the run with Paige and Zeke. He’s got a twelve-year-old conscience and the guy he could love but won’t with him every moment of every day. He’s sacrificed his freedom–something that I can now see he’s defended ardently at every turn. But it’s only temporary–the pursuit can’t last forever. Then I steal Paige and put her in desperate danger, and the only way to get her back is to give up his freedom forever.

At this point in my theme search a line from the wonderful song “Me and Bobby McGee” came into my head. “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” But that’s still not quite right, because that’s not where Joss is. He didn’t let everything go to hell to keep his freedom. So I poked a bit more with “sacrifice” and “freedom” and finally came up with what I think will work.

Sometimes freedom costs too much.

How do I know it will work? Well, I look at the rest of the story. I’ll start with the antagonist, Nate. Nate has given up honesty, decency, sanity–all to gain freedom to do whatever she likes. If she can take Cayden from Zeke, she wins the planet.

Paige. She has her chance–Joss, fed up with her being in danger, offers to get her off-planet whatever it takes. Abandon Zeke, leave Rukya to whatever she can save, and go. Freedom–if she takes Joss from the fight and lets her friends fall.

Zeke. Well, no. I can’t really make a case for this–but I could put it in there. And I will, in the one-pass. This will sharpen the book.

Rukya. It’s there, but it could stand some emphasis. She could have left the planet after her father was killed. Instead she took up his fight to civilize the world she was born on.

So yeah. I think this is my theme, and I’ve already seen a few spots where it needs building.

I’ll let you know how it works out. 😉

I should note this is my second time through this novel. I think it’s because I wasn’t careful enough to get my theme right last time.