A theme is what is your story about, which central question gets answered by your movie? The answer to that question conveys, preferably, a universal message, and that would be the theme, I think. Today, I read that Pixar hired some people to answer the central question that led to the movie Up: what's important in life? I'm writing a short children's story and my central question is: how do children cope with an absent parent? Several answers are possible. At the same moment I'm jotting this down, I think that Punky Brewster (TV series) also answered this question, but, handled it totally different than I'm doing with my short story. Today, I read that a theme should also reflect the conflict in the story. This way, the theme would become a moral premise. [Vice] leads to [defeat], but [Virtue] leads to [success]. ex. Selfishness leads to sadness and frowns, but Selflessness leads to happiness and smiles. If I would apply this to my story, it could turn out in something like this: Grief leads to sadness, but acceptance leads to new ways of loving As you can see, I'm also discovering what theme means. What are your two cents?

To me, theme is the underlying truth or moral that the story explores through its characters and plot. Although I can set off and have a theme in mind, I believe the reader/audience will take away their own underlying moral/truth that is relevant for him or her. It may be what I set out to underly, or it could be interpreted entirely differently - depending on the person. The theme should be large enough to give space for these different interpretations.

Shari, I think many writers approach theme along the lines as you've articulated here: the moral premise. Indeed this is very much along the lines of what Lajos Egri states in "The Art of Dramatic Writing." And if that works for you, great! Here are two things about this approach. First, I don't believe most writers start with a moral premise when developing a story. Rather most don't see theme emerge until they are well into the writing process. Not every writer, mind you, but anecdotally per my interviews, I would say a majority opt for this second approach. That being the case, doesn't it feel a bit backward to have to work through the story to then come up with the "moral premise" of the story? I think the Egri approach is fine for writers who like to start with a "moral premise." But what about the majority of writers who don't? Moreover I find this idea to be a rather dry intellectual exercise which runs counter to the most fundamental need I have when watching a movie: I want to FEEL something. I want an EMOTIONAL response. So I work from the principle: Theme = Meaning. And since like everything I do is grounded in character, that means meaning to characters. Which by necessity means emotional meaning. Therefore when I want to try to hone in on the central theme or sub-themes of a story, I go straight to the primary characters, especially the Protagonist, and see what is going on with them on a psychological level, and almost always the themes emerge from that in conjunction with plot elements. Theme equals emotional meaning. Not an intellectual exercise, rather dynamics grounded in characters and their interrelationships. What's great about this is it's actionable. You can actually use this understanding to help unpack a story by delving into the characters.

Thanks, Lisa. I often hear the word "truth" connected to "theme." And I would agree, if we are talking about emotional truth. What is it that goes on with key characters, especially the Protagonist, in terms of their psychological, existential, even spiritual journeys, the Internal World? That's why in my Narrative Throughline, I call the Internal World, the Themeline, as contrasted to the External World and the Plotline. Emotional truth works for me!

I think of theme as the "core" -- what's at the core of this story? What meaning resonates after the story dust has settled? What's the undercurrent? What's the takeaway? The word "takeaway" helps me the most with theme. Could be a one-word notion: Greed. Redemption. Fortitude. Humility. Revenge. Or more: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." "You're always gonna get caught." etc. Do you want people talking about your script (your movie) afterwards? You bet!! Talk, dissect, debate that story, what happened, what didn't, what should have, etc. But .. what you secretly hope they "get" .. is its theme.