In today's episode, I'll walk you through three different ways to figure out the theme of your story. Here's a preview of what we'll cover:
- [00:50] What is a story's theme? And why do you need one?
- [01:30] How identifying your story's theme upfront can help you write a stronger draft.
- [02:40] 3 different questions to help you uncover the theme of your story.
- [03:00] Question 1: What do you have to say about life? What do you care about?
- [05:00] Question 2: How will your protagonist change from the beginning of the story to the end of the story? (+ an example from Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone).
- [07:30] Question 3: What's your story's content genre?
- [10:00] How to create a 1-2 sentence theme statement that describes what changes in your story as well as specifically why and how things have changed (+ an example from Pride and Prejudice).
- [10:45] What should you do if your theme sounds generic or cliche?
- [12:00] Key points and episode recap.
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