Writing: Find Your Core Theme(s)

A few years ago at a writing workshop, the presenter (I believe it was the marvelous author Barbara Samuel) stressed that, as writers, we come back to the same themes over and over in our stories. We need to figure out what those themes are in order to find our voices. Knowing our core themes also helps us write new stories.

I remember the astonishment I felt to discover that my core themes, especially in my longer works, all have to do with family. Questions like, what defines a family? How do we create our own families when our birth families cause us serious pain? How do we get past old wounds? feature in my stories.

I was also surprised to figure out that, duh, I tend to make my characters either orphans, or estranged from family. In fact, the hero/heroine and secondary hero/heroine in my novel, "The Baker's Man" (currently serialized on the internet--scroll down on the site to read a bit of it--only eighteen or older to view this excerpt, please) are all orphans! Their orphanhood and difficult childhoods create a bond among the four.

"Alice in Boogieland," an unpublished novel of mine set in the Seventies, also deals with alienation from birth families--but the core dysfunction in "Alice" is dark despite being partially played for laughs. Alice has a birth-family younger sister whom she does her best to protect, and whom she loves like no one else. Alice works hard to create her own family, because, when she arrives in Boston, she is deeply and fundamentally alone.

The sisters theme reappears in one of my current works-in-progress (or WIPs), tentatively titled "Shirley Goodness and Mercy." In it, two very different sisters who can't stand each other, and who come from a family that is perhaps the darkest one I've ever written, must reconcile in order to reach a common goal--and to achieve a kind of peace between them.

Finally, in my erotic romantic suspense WIP "Burning Questions," (only eighteen or older to view this excerpt, please) the hero and heroine are childhood friends--the man, raised by a single mom, and the woman, raised by her great-aunt after her parents die when she's very young. Of course, the single mom and the great-aunt are both gone now. Orphans again!

In fact, the thirst for connection drives just about every story I write, even though the plots and characters differ.

If you're a writer, take some time to explore what your recurring core themes are. Try to find the common threads among your stories. It will make you a better storyteller--I cannot stress this enough. All you need to do is read your writings, and think about which theme(s) run through most or all of your stories.

And readers, consider which novels and authors are your favorites, and why. I'm betting you'll find the same core themes in the books you enjoy most.

Barrie