Writing Theme: Finding a Reason to Believe

I've never been much of a Rod Stewart fan, but I recently heard his classic "Reason to Believe" on Pandora. I forgot how much I used to like that song, its not-so-subtle anger, and the authenticity of the lyrics:

“Someone like you makes it hard to live without
somebody else ...
Still I look to find a reason to believe.”

Funny how a person’s perception changes over a few years. When I first heard the song, I was the lovesick puppy anxious to strike back at a failed love interest. That vengeance-fueled fathead eventually gave way to the more philosophical fathead who more than a momentary significant other wanted something solid in his life, something unchangeable, something dependable to believe in. 

Looking back on that time, I think maybe the desire for a moral lodestar is an age thing. Maybe it’s an evolutionary thing. Maybe it's indigestion. Whatever it is, the inclination is real and often all encompassing.

It’s true for people in general. I suspect it is also true for writer and readers.

Before you get excited, know that doesn’t mean writers should specialize in sermons, especially not in their fiction. Most people read for entertainment purposes. Few read to be preached at. However, people do want to be a part of the human community. They do want their values affirmed. Yes, they want to read an exciting story, but more than anything they want to come away from that story with a sense of worth, not wondering “What was all that about?”

What the reader wants—nay, demands—is theme, a reflection of themselves, a lesson on the human condition, an insight into an all-too-confusing world. Therefore, the writer's job is to craft a story around a theme, rather than concoct a theme from a story. To do this, authors must tap into their readers’ passion for a "reason to believe."

Shadow, the protagonist in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, explains: “People believe …. It’s what people do. They believe ... and it is that belief, that rock solid belief, that makes things happen.”

That is the purpose of a story’s theme: To make things happen. Open the readers' eyes and let them see. Stir up the readers' conscience, ignite their passions, steel their resolve. Compel the readers to believe. Give them faith to trust themselves and their instincts. Show them the world exists in them and through them.

Is writing theme simple? Of course, not. In fact, it is downright terrifying. It means revealing your deepest thoughts, your guiding principles, and your bedrock emotions. Unless your convictions are strong, your defenses are impregnable, and you have the tenacity of a bulldog, such disclosures will threaten your security. They will pull down the walls and destroy the masks you’ve painstakingly created.

So writing theme-based fiction makes the writer vulnerable. Vulnerable to criticism, to disdain, and to ostracism. That said, it is more important to be honest and open with your readers. More important than simply entertaining them.

Donald Maass explains in his book Writing the Breakout Novel. The writer, he says, “needs courage ... the courage to say something passionately. A breakout novelist believes that what she has to say is not just worth saying, but it is something that must be said. It is a truth that the world needs to hear, an insight without which we would find ourselves diminished."

So the reader wants and needs theme, but that’s not the only reason to concentrate on it while you create your story. A clearly conceived and stated theme (at least stated in your organizing notes) will make the whole writing process simpler and more focused. Earlier in his book, Maass said, “If a powerful problem [conflict] is a novel’s spine, then a powerful theme is its animating spirit.” 

Now, Maass was referring to the theme’s relationship to the conflict, but it's important to realize that a story with a goal, a controlling vision, in which the writer is emotionally vested will virtually write itself. 

The way to make the reader believe, then, is to believe in yourself. Maass further says, “Cleave to your convictions. Cherish them …. Let yourself care because that is to live with passion—and it is passionate stories that your readers crave.”

In other word, find a reason to believe, write what you believe, and write so your readers believe.

No more moping around like a love-sick puppy. Be a dog … er… man … uh … woman… something!  Something to believe in.

I wonder if Pandora has a Rod Stewart station.