Theme is not as important as you think

Today I wanted to talk about theme because it's a topic so many people are worried about when it comes to their memoirs.

Honestly, I hate it when my students get hung up on theme — this usually happens because they came across this advice in some book or youtube video. "Figure out the theme of your book before you do anything else" is a great way of selling books on writing because at first it resonates instantly with someone trying to craft a memoir. Why? Well, theme feels like something you can do to make progress. It sounds like a concrete step to take.

In fact, think of what your theme is right now. Finish this sentence: “The theme of my book…”

I imagine that finishing that sentence was pretty easy to do.

The problem happens when a writer is asked to take the next step. “Okay, now make sure that this theme is reflected in your chapter.” That’s when I see writers get stuck. For good reason too.

Theme will never get you to plot. Whatever advice regarding theme you have already come across, I want you to forget it and instead tattoo this on your hand (or just writing it on a post-it note will do): Theme will not get you to plot.

If you don’t believe me, just try it out. Think of the theme of your book. Then think of how you’re going to turn that theme into a story. Stuck yet? It’s not your fault.

Theme is important to your book, but it’s so important and such a critical part of your life that theme happens automatically — once your plot is in place. In other words, plot will get you to theme and not the other way around.

Theme is rich and wonderful and deep and something you cannot get away from. You cannot not write your book without your theme coming out because this theme is so much a part of your life that you breathe it every day. So don’t worry about it. It’s one of the easier parts of this process. Coming up with your structure, on the other hand, takes a bit more thinking. 

Worry about structure, not theme. 

If your next question is, "So how do I create structure?" I have good news for you. I'll be holding my next Memoir Engineering System mastermind in May. This is a live class over two days that teaches you the essentials of structuring your book.

I meet so many interesting people there and it is a lot of fun (and you also get tons of critical information).

I will be opening signups in a few weeks. I'll announce the official signup date in next week's email. Be sure to put the date on your calendar when I announce it next week as the class always sells out in less than 24 hours.

If you want more information, click below:
https://www.memoirwritingforgeniuses.com/may2024mastermind


Wishing you happy writing! Till next week.