So, theme, what is it?

Exactly. Plenty of works manage to communicate ideas, including specific ones. There's vagueness and interpretation but it's not the same as an inability to write a theme.

 

I like the thought of theme arising naturally in a writer, it's happening with me and I'm learning more about it, didn't even think I had a theme!
To start with I thought my theme was 'Death' as my main character is a Necromancer and sadly there is a lot of death, but when I really look into my story and that I didn't want the theme to be so morbid I settled on 'Survial'
So, am I right though?
I think I would just be happy with anyone reading my book and happy they did so, even if they didn't get my theme!

 

And before someone jumps in and interprets this as something highfalutin, the lesson could be as simple as don't eat beans before a date.

 

Earlier in this thread, I posted a short description of what constitutes theme according to the sources I've read and, I'm sorry to say, theme can't be summed up in one word like that. Survival might be what your MC is fighting for, but in a way, all MCs fight for survival, whether it's actual physical survival or ego survival, emotional, or what-have-you.

To find the theme, start by looking for what the MC is doing wrong in trying to reach her/his overall story goal. Why does every attempt to reach the goal fail? It's always something the MC is doing wrong, even if it's just that they aren't looking carefully enough at the situation they're in.

Then ask yourself: how does the MC change his/her approach to problem-solving? Somewhere along the road, the MC learns something about her/himself and makes a conscious decision to change the way he/she solves problems and that affects how they pursue the goal.

Once you know those things, you should be able to put together a statement of theme:

<mistaken approach> leads to <failure>

or

<new approach> leads to <success>

Either one is valid, but these days, with happy endings pretty much a necessity for mainstream storytelling, you might want to go with the second. It sounds more positive and will keep you focused on a positive outcome for the MC.

 

Though other sources may have different definitions for theme.

If I type theme definition into google, the definition it gives me before any of the search results includes:

an idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature.
"love and honour are the pivotal themes of the Hornblower books"

Following that, I get a bunch of links to various dictionaries which all say in one way or another that in literature, theme can mean a recurring idea or motiff.


Just thought I'd add some extra confusion to the discussion

 

What? Google isn't doing that well enough for your taste?

 

Different people find different things entertaining/interesting. I do not believe that that is random. Star Trek is a good example. The 1980s stuff is boring as crap to me (except, oddly enough, for the episodes with Q in them). I suspect that that is due to theme. I feel that the Star Trek future is a hellish, nightmare world (well, actually a travel brochure for a hellish, nightmare world). So, it is hard for me to care about what happens to the crew in most cases.

 

I'm not saying it's random. I'm saying it's more than just whether they feel it's saying something they already agree with. Entertainment is not random, neither is the feeling of interest. It's just different causes and metrics than theme.

 

Actually, if this is the case it's not my MC that is doing anything wrong, it's the fact that events and people have stopped him, he is just a boy and as my story goes, has had a lot of death surround him and he was involved in an accident.
I thought I was summing up the story with one word, if it's several words I need to look for then I'm not sure what else it could be?
I think I need to go back and look at my story again
Maybe I don't understand?

 

Don't worry if one person's definition of theme is different to yours. It's apparent here there's a lot of diversity, as predicted, write a book you find interesting, that other people like, and if that works out for you you've achieved your goal. It doesn't have to be for everyone, especially in the way you thought about it.

 

Or maybe I'm not explaining well enough. You could read the Lajor Egri book, The Art of Dramatic Writing, for more information. Theme is a really simple concept, but with all the misleading crap people have written about it, it's hard to dig through all the misconceptions we've absorbed so we can find that simple understanding of it.

Egri doesn't help much on that score. His book is thick with intellectualized over-think, but if you take the time to wade through it, you'll find the seeds of understanding eventually.

And BTW, it sounds like yours is a coming-of-age story about a young boy, ill-equiped to survive on his own, who finds a way to get along in the world. There are a number of possible themes, but the specific one you're using will depend on what it is he learns that changes his approach to life.

When I said "doing things wrong," I didn't mean to imply he's being bad or deliberately screwing up, more that he's going about things in an inappropriate manner to achieve his goal(s) because of inexperience and lack of knowledge.

I'm guessing that at some point in your story, the young boy discovers that if he changes his approach to solving his problem, he can get what he wants/needs. That's what I was getting at.