I was wrong.

Let me flat-out say that.

There was one particular aspect of writing I used to ignore and call stupid.

Theme.

When I was a young schoolboy in a humble small town in Denmark, English class was my favorite. I loved the fact that we got to write.

But one thing always bored me to death about English class… Analyzing someone else’s work. Especially when the teacher would ask the ridiculous question: “Can anyone tell me what the author’s message was?”

I really used to cringe at this. “The author didn’t have a damn message.” I would say. “They just wanted to write a cool story. Why can’t you understand that, Teach?”

When I started pursuing a professional career in writing, I dismissed the message/theme part of writing completely. I thought it was bogus. 

Until I realized… 

It’s not. 

It’s not just not bogus. It might be the most important part of your story. Seriously.

Whenever I create a new series, one of the first things I think of (if not the first), is theme.

Why, though?

Well, to answer that, let’s try to define theme first. We gotta know what it actually is in order to understand why it’s so important, right?

What is theme?

A lot of people define theme as “the message” of the story. It’s what the writer wants to say with his or her work. What they believe in. I don’t think that’s wrong. But I don’t find it super helpful to think about it that way.

Here’s how I like to think about it.

Theme is essentially the same as the main lesson the main character must learn.

Theme = main lesson main character must learn

That’s practical. Way more than the definition “the message of the story”. When I think about it like this, I have my story. I know the internal journey the main character must go through. They go from one person with flaws that are opposing the theme to another person who’s stronger because they “got the message”.

Stick with me for just a few more seconds. It’s all about to make a lot more sense. I promise!

Here’s an example:

Theme: Humans are stronger together

Main lesson they must learn: Humans are stronger together

In the above example, we have a character who probably starts out as someone who doesn’t feel like humans are stronger together. Probably self-centered, a lone wolf, and someone taking pride in doing everything themselves. 

Hey! Look at that, we now have the character’s flaws too! When we know the main lesson they must learn, we know the way the character is at the beginning of the story and at the end.

In the beginning of the story they don’t believe humans are stronger together but by the end they do.

So, in other words, the main character’s main flaw is the opposite of the theme/main lesson. See what I mean?

Quick extra note: The main character’s need is the same as the main lesson they must learn.

So, let’s expand on the example above and see if we can get a sense of a story just by determining a theme:

A self-centered guy (main flaw) must learn that humans are stronger together (theme / main lesson / need) to achieve their goal.

Do you see how all of these four things are connected? All stemming from the theme.

Essentially, you need to establish your theme in order to determine your main character’s main lesson they must learn, need, and main flaw.

So yes, while we can define theme as the message of the story, I think the most helpful way to think about it is: What is the main lesson the main character must learn?

Why theme matters

Okay, so I already briefly discussed why theme matters above. But it gets cooler. There are more dope ways theme matters for your story. And I never say dope lightly. As a matter of fact I never even say dope.

Let’s recap why it matters from what I mentioned above.

Just by determining your theme, you’ve got SO MUCH of the work already done when it comes to creating your story.

Just by determining your theme, you already know the main lesson the main character must learn, their need, and their main flaw.

But there’s more…

Theme is also your unique voice as a writer. It tells us something about what matters to you. What you’re passionate about.

The theme example above (Humans are stronger together) is something I’m passionate about for example and one I used in a script of mine.

Not having a strong theme also risks the reader going: “Okay… why do I care?”

Having a strong theme makes us care. Makes us connect. There’s a reason this story is told and not just because of the cool montage, epic battle between a man and a dragon, or the hot sex scene you planned for Jeniffer Lawrence.

And finally…

One of the biggest reasons why a strong theme matters to me…

It’s SO MUCH easier to pitch your idea when you have a strong theme! People just get it more. They understand why you made the choices you made for your characters, your world, and the story itself.

A strong theme adds a throughline between all the elements of your show (or feature or short or whatever). If you make the decisions in your show based on your theme, everything will be connected. Nothing feels redundant or irrelevant. All characters feel like they belong in your show and serve a purpose.

I really truly believe in this last point. When I started to connect everything in my show to the theme and pitched to people, their responses were a million times better than when I didn’t.

How to choose your theme

As you can tell, I’m quite bullish about theme. It’s awesome. Understanding it properly was a game changer for me.

But how do we actually create a theme?

Well, start with something you really truly believe in yourself.

These are all things I believe in:

-Humans are stronger together.

-Asking for help is not a weakness.

-Saying yes to everything means saying no to yourself.

The easiest way to structure a theme is by saying: “something is something else” or “something is not something else”.

Here’s a few formulas you can use to create your theme:

___ is ___

___ is not ___

___ leads to ___

___ can ___

___ makes you ___

___ means ___

Basically, it’s taking something and expressing your opinions on it. That’s why theme can also be thought of as “the message of the story” like mentioned earlier.

Let’s quickly break down the examples above:

-Humans (something) are stronger together (my opinion).

-Asking for help (something) is not a weakness (my opinion).

-Saying yes to everything (something) means saying no to yourself (my opinion).

See how easy it is?

These are not the only ways to structure the theme of course.

Other examples are:

You can’t please everyone

You can do anything but not everything

When you’ve found your theme, you basically flip it for your main character. When the story starts, they have the opposite opinion (that’s their flaw) of you, the creator. But when the story is over, they share the same opinion as you (main lesson learned).

Hope this all helped.

I’ve found this approach extremely practical and it really did change everything for me when it comes to developing shows. I really mean that.

Thanks for reading.