Thanks, Samwel! Yes, I agree. Theme is important is political or theological works as well as informative or entertainment pieces. DIY MFA will focus exclusively on stories and novels (since that’s the purpose of the site), but some of the things we have discussed (and will discuss later) in this Theme column could probably be applied to other types of writing as well.

Thank you sister Sara for profoundly defining the word “theme” and helping others to identify the themes from stories, movies or any written material. Complimenting you, I would like to add that a theme is also a central idea of an author/character/speaker in written material, movies or any speech whether political or theological.

Thanks for your comment, Molly! And that’s a good point about theme. We can’t force it too much in our writing, but it’s something we can think about a little more consciously as we write or read.

We’re going to get into actual case studies of themes in novels, so there will be lots more like the Harry Potter example. 😉 The plan is to start that with the third article (the one after the December piece), and maybe alternate between case studies and articles that provide tips to help us identify themes in stories.

I love that, the heart of a story. That’s why theme is so important. No theme = no heart.

As to your question, maybe more about disecting a theme in a story. Like you did here for Harry Potter. On the surface it’s good vs evil, but it’s really more than that.