What’s the Theme of Your Book?

When you start writing a draft, you might have an inkling of a theme, but successfully expressing it in your writing isn’t as easy as you might think.

What is a theme?

A theme is the overall message you want your readers to walk away with upon finishing your book. The theme is not the log line (what the story is about), but the take-away statement about what is important to you in our world. It’s where you put yourself and your beliefs into a work of fiction or creative nonfiction.

In fiction, themes can be based on a human condition, such as one of the following:

The theme is subtly expressed both internally (through the character’s arc) and externally (through the plot).

In nonfiction books, the theme appears in creative or literary nonfiction. If you are writing more straightforward nonfiction (such as academic or business writing), you won’t have a theme. In these cases, the writing is meant to explain something or generate business, not provide commentary on the human spirit.

What are some examples?

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the theme is about justice. When fleshing it out, it might be something like “we have a moral responsibility to provide social justice to all people.” Atticus Finch confronts racial injustice in his southern town by defending a Black man accused of murder.

In the Harry Potter series, more than one theme is at play: Love, acceptance, survival, and selflessness (and others) are all on the pages of J. K. Rawling’s books. Harry must learn important lessons in these areas in order to defeat Voldemort in the end.

In the memoir Educated by Tara Westover, the narrator is able to escape an abusive family through having faith in the power of knowledge and her ability to persevere.

How do I find my book’s theme?

Finding the theme of your book requires diving into why you are writing it. What motivated you to start writing it? If you didn’t have a motivation from the beginning, what patterns do you find yourself returning to with the internal and external stories?

Take a close look at your character’s arc. The theme is usually connected to how the character changes. Instead of just saying “my book is about love,” think about how it is about love. Does your character have to realize that in order to find love, they need to first love themself despite having been told all their life that they will never amount to anything?

For another example, instead of saying “my book is about power,” think about how your protagonist gains or loses power and how that changes their life. What does power mean to them and how does it influence their decisions? For example, in the Game of Thrones series, Bran finds power through a very different avenue than the other viers for the throne.

How do I incorporate a theme into my book?

1. Let it come naturally. As you write your first draft, take note of themes you see in your story. Forcing a theme onto the pages might make it feel artificial.
2. Once you have identified it, keep your theme on your mind while writing. You might even want to write it down on a Post-it note and stick it to your computer. Then, list out ways to (subtly) emphasize your theme through dialogue, plot points, and the characters’ interiority. Symbolism is also a great way to include your theme (think of the unreachable green light in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby).
3. Don’t worry if your theme isn’t original. Just like with tropes, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. What matters the most is how you write your theme. Is it appropriate for your genre? Have you overemphasized it or worked it into your writing in a way that’s obvious but not in the readers’ faces? If you focus on your why, then the theme will not feel cliché.