Do you choose your themes, or does your plot choose them?

Some writers plan them from the start. Others discover them later, as the story and plot develop.

For me, the overarching theme comes from my character’s flaws. But, as I write, I see patterns develop. Sometimes, my themes stay true to my outline and sometimes they change.

I almost always write about women feeling a bit “less than,” although we all know they’re not. It’s not always the main focus of my stories, but it’s always there.

My protagonists are almost always women who have to navigate in a world that almost always asks way too much of them in a world that almost always listens too little.

I also find myself circling around two big themes:

1. Finding Truth in a Corrupt World

I write about this almost daily on my philosophy and meditation blog, The Silent Philosopher. I also can’t escape it in my fiction.  That tug-of-war in my brain and heart between truth and deception, justice and corruption is layered into my stories.

2. Reconciling Science and Spirituality

This theme is front and center in La Piscina Inn. My protagonist, Carly, wants to be a stem-cell researcher. She’s driven by compassion, empathy, and logic. There’s also that backdrop of sickness and death we all carry around subconsciously. Yet she feels different, like she has something to give, to change, to help, and that drives her but brings her down too.

Then her life steps into family secrets, supernatural events she can wrap her rational mind around, which turns into a mystical science that shakes her logical mind.

She starts to wonder, to investigate, both within and without:

Could science and spirituality be two sides of the same coin?

Am I in charge of my life, or is something greater than me in control?

This question of destiny is a theme I revisit again and again. Do we choose our lives, or are our lives chosen for us? I’m not sure I believe in fate yet, that’s why I explore extensively in my writing. But I do see patterns and forces that shape our roads in ways we can’t fully explain.

And, hey, if you’re curious how I explore these themes in a full story, check out The La Piscina Inn book blurb. I’m adapting it from my original screenplay version of the story. The novel version explores: science, family legacy, spirituality, and destiny, all wrapped into one. [Read more →]

Your Turn!

What themes do you find yourself exploring and keep returning to again and again yet unintentionally?

Do you plan your themes, or do they reveal themselves in the process?

Share a line of dialogue, a character’s memory, or simply a theme that almost always haunts your writing no matter how different your genres may be.

You can leave a link to a book you’re writing or have written. I’m always looking for a good read!

Happy Writing!

~ M.C. Convery