Monday Madness: I scream, you scream, we all scream for novel themes!

I distinctly remember discussing Shakespeare in my high school English class. We were discussing themes in Hamlet and, being young and stupid (ok, young-er and stupid-er), I wondered whether themes were something that were intentional or just sort of happened in a work accidentally. I mean, did Shakespeare really plan on exploring the themes of "the impossibility of certainty," "the complexity of action" and "the mystery of death?" Or was he just writing for the sake of writing and those things sort of worked their way in?

I admit that when I begin a story, even if I'm planning on it being deep and meaningful, I don't think much about "This is my theme." I just let the story unfold, let the characters do what they need to do, and just write.

When I let one of my coworkers read my second-ish draft of FURY, I was surprised when he came back with, "I loved how you explored the theme of bestiality in humans." Cough. Yeah, that's totally what I was going for. So glad you caught onto that. Ahem.

But the more I write, the more I realize that some themes do occur subliminally. It's not a talent, I've learned. Really, I think themes work themselves into my writing because I've done so much reading.

Yes, you do have to be a good reader to be a good writer.

I'm not saying I pick up most books for the sake of discovering what lies beneath the story, but when a story really stays with me, it's because I connected with one or more of the themes.

Let's take The Hunger Games, for example. One prevalent theme is "the question of when does survival no longer excuse violence?" The MC has no problem killing to save herself, but there comes a point when she understands that there is a line that can be crossed...but will she cross it anyway?

In my story, Dragon Queen, one of my themes is "the influence of others upon ourselves and how it shapes our characters." It didn't happen intentionally, but manifested through the events in the story. And, really, that's how I think it's supposed to work. The story makes the themes, not the other way around. But, I don't know, I'm still contemplating it.

Your thoughts?