Novels are Themes

Call me late to the party on this one.

Themes drive stories, particularly novels and memoirs. Who knew?

Clearly I didn’t. And I can now see why both my fiction and memoir efforts have failed, miserably.

Last week I had the opportunity to attend “Emerging Writers Workshop,” an ongoing workshop for writers convened by the Ann Arbor District Library.

Alex Kourvo and Bethany Neal spent almost two hours discussing what theme is, how it works in conjunction with plot, and how epic bestsellers may not be well-written but, in the words of Ms. Kourvo, “the author’s nail their themes.”

Think “50 Shades of Grey” and you’ll know exactly what Ms. Kourvo and Ms. Neal mean.

If it were possible to be a writer and not know about basic writing mechanics, such as the difference between plot and theme, I am that writer. The fact that I have missed the forest has meant I am very good at the trees of writing, word choice, tense, point-of-view.

But how do I use those tools in the service of a good story?

I had not a clue until this workshop. What I did have was a vague sense that my writing meandered and bored the reader. (H/T to Ms. H. who has offered constructive feedback over the years. But not once has she ever said my writing was boring.)