A matter of themes

Themes, or "meanings" to stories, are essential. Every story should have some kind of theme, some kind of emotional quotient that usually affects the main protagonist. Usually this means a change of mindset for the main character by the end of the story, but not always; sometimes a characters views or ideas are merely reinforced by what happens in a story.

Now you might be asking yourself (or asking me), "but what about stories that are just for entertainment?" True, there are plenty of those, but deep down (maybe even hidden very well) there is some sort of theme to the story, even if it's not some big, eye-opening, world-shaking idea. A story without any kind of theme whatsoever is not a story. It's merely a string of events.

Don't believe me? Then go read some short stories that are action oriented ... I'll suggest maybe a Conan story by Robert E. Howard, or a Calthus story by Steve Goble. Yep, you'll find lots of action and adventure, heads rolling, bodies falling, stuff like that ... but I guarantee by the end of the story the protagonist has learned something either about himself, his world or other characters. That's where the theme comes in. Again, if a main protagonist learns nothing ... absolutely nothing ... then you don't have a story, just stuff happening.

Now, I'm not a writer who usually ponders the themes to my stories before writing, and often not even while writing. But I do look my stories over for a theme once they've been written. In all my stories (at least my decent ones), there will be a theme. It's not a theme I planned, and maybe not even one I like or agree with, but it will be there. That might be lazy writing on my part, but I have found that when I try to push a theme (ie., agenda) into a story, the story almost always falls flat. So I try not to think about my themes too much until I've written.