The theme is the core, the heart, the moral, or center of your story and expresses some aspect of your worldview as a writer. Themes enrich characterization, deepen your story by adding subtext, and often suggest plot points and events.
Here are a few themes from my stories and novellas:
His Inamorata—You’ll never get away from me.
A Little Death—Pride goeth before a fall.
All I Want for Christmas—Timing is everything.
Kindred Spirit—The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children.
For the first novella in my Lovers and Liars gay wartime romance series, Bomber’s Moon, I chose “journeys end in lovers meeting” as its theme; you might remember this line from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
TIP: Favorite books, films, and familiar quotations are treasure troves of universal themes.
