30 Days of Writing and Publishing Tips – Day 9 The link between theme and character development

In previous posts I’ve talked about outlining and plot and a little about character development, (post 1 is here) so I wanted to delve a little more into starting to develop the main character.  Besides the little details about the character which will be discussed in a later post, how your character changes over the course of the story is often the theme of the book, and something that is helpful to decide up front as part of the outlining. I didn’t realize when I got my first book published that I even had a theme. I just thought I was writing an adventure. It took a reviewer to point out that the main character (Luke, the president’s son in WILDFIRE RUN) went from an unsure, somewhat immature kid to someone who became more confident and resourceful to survive the disaster in the book.

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It’s true, I did write it that way, I suppose because I was somehow aware that’s what I liked to read in stories-characters overcoming difficulties and becoming stronger people because of their ordeals.

Here’s the thing with middle grade and young adult fiction though – young readers don’t like it if you are obviously trying to teach them a lesson, so you have to be careful that the theme of your story doesn’t tip into so meaningful, kids will roll their eyes at the book. Such lesson books might be pushed on kids by parents, etc., but those aren’t the books kids will read over and over again and write you fan letters about.

So have your main character grow in some sense during the story, but don’t tie it all up neatly in some Victorian-era type morality screed.

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The character growth ties back into the Hero’s Journey article I linked to in the post on outlining resources here.

Becoming more sure of oneself, more confident, less self-centered, recognizing personal weaknesses and facing fears works as a theme because it is a seen as a what is hoped will happen to people in real life as they grow older. Your character doesn’t have to turn into a perfect being, but think of how you want them to be different at the end than they are at the beginning.