›
Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime

What does "theme" mean to you?

louiselouise
edited January 2011 in Writing
When someone asks me what the theme of my novel is I say, chicklit invovling mistaken identity. Then they ask for the plot line and I repeat the theme!

What's the different between plot line and theme? Is there one?

Comments

  • BetsieBetsie
    Chicklit is the genre - the theme is mistaken identity
  • Phots MollPhots Moll
    And the plot line is how the mistaken identity came about and what happens as a result.

    But of course it's not as simple as that ... your theme could be love, or good over evil, or self development or something else entirely and the plot could still involve a mistaken identity.

    Genre is which section of the bookshop your book would be found in. Theme is the issues dealt with. Plot is what happens.
  • SilentTonySilentTony
    I agree with PM. Theme is the core of the piece whether that is redemption, love , revenge or whatever moral or emotional spine runs through the story. This can be structured though symbolism and motif throughout the story to express and move the theme forward to a satisfying conclusion.

    The plot may me about a girl who goes missing but the theme may be about regret. Regret from the parents who didn't show her enough love, regret form the girl who didn't do enough with her life, regret from her boyfriend for taking her for granted etc. So the theme wouldn't just be about the protagonist, antagonist or plot, but the whole story itself. When we find the girl she may appreciate life more, her parents may show her and themselves more love and her boyfriend may learn to appreciate her or realise she'd be better without him.

    So theme has more to do with the character development arc than the actual story arc. This is may take of it anyway.
  • flyingtartflyingtart
    Isn't it the music at the beginning...?
  • collide-o-scopecollide-o-scope
    To me the theme ith where two piethes of material are thewn together.

    *runs*
  • louiselouise
    [quote=flyingtart]Isn't it the music at the beginning...? [/quote]

    You thinking of Corrie? :) lol

    Thanks all. I guess to some people it can mean different things.
  • LizLiz
    It doesn't have different meanings, theme is quite specific and would encompass just what PM says.
  • ClaudiaClaudia
    Phot's Moll said: Genre is which section of the bookshop your book would be found in. Theme is the issues dealt with. Plot is what happens.

    Succinctly explained - thanks PM.
  • louiselouise
    I have people asking me what my book is about, and I tell them. Then they ask the genre, and again I tell them. Then the plot, and I tell them. But them they ask for the theme. That IS the same as what the book is about though, isn't it, although in short?

    In simple terms:

    Plot: mistaken identity
    Theme: love
    Genre: romance
    What's it about: all the above.
  • LizLiz
    Skellig

    Plot/what it's about boy whose baby sister is in an incubator fighting for life finds an ethereal being in the garage of his new house who helps him through this hard period.

    Genre = magical realism

    Theme = love/friendship

    The theme is NOT the plot or what it's about.
  • louiselouise
    Thanks. I think the penny has landed. :)
Sign In or Register to comment.