The Writing Terrain: Mapping your Subjects and Themes

Become a better writer by knowing what you know

Have you ever wondered why Stephen King writes mainly horror stories, or Philip K. Dick is renowned for science-fiction? It’s likely they figured out their subjects and the themes they were interested in early on in their journey as writers. Honing in on their subjects allowed them to become stronger and more successful writers, and by writing about their themes over hundreds of stories and with a myriad of variations, it’s allowed them to become damn good at what they do — eventually leading to their name being intrinsically associated with certain genres (horror and science-fiction). Their stand-out success in these genres is also apparent by the many adaptations of stories by both authors into screenplays and blockbuster movies.

So, you may be a beginner writer or more experienced. You may write in poetry, fiction or non-fiction. Some of you may have figured out what you write about and are confidently forging ahead in that direction. Or you may be producing material, but have not consciously noticed the common themes that you return to. Wherever you are in your writing journey, becoming more consciously aware of both your core subjects and themes will improve your ability to generate ideas and make that process more efficient — because you’ll be wasting less time dithering with ideas that don’t have that personal spark for you with which you can light a fire on the page and create engaging material.

Before we proceed, let’s clarify the difference between a subject and a theme. Researching online, it became evident there’s quite a lot of confusion between these two concepts, some sites (including dictionary definitions) using the words interchangeably.

The most helpful distinction I can glean for the purposes of this article (with the help of literarydevice.net) is this:

A subject of a work is the general or universal topic, such as: love, war, revenge, or the search for happiness. It’s expressible in a single word or a short, simple phrase.

A theme is an opinion on the subject. For example, if the subject is love, then the theme may be an exploration of the extraordinary actions people take to save the ones they love. If the subject is war, then the theme may be exploring the disparity between the political propaganda of war’s “nobility”, and the devastating personal impacts to an individual soldier. If the subject is revenge, then the theme may be that those seeking revenge may never truly be at peace. A theme, strictly speaking, can’t be expressed in a single word.

A subject is general or universal; the theme is more particular, more personal. Therefore, a theme is where you bring your own personal feelings, values or opinions to the subject — or you discover what your characters think or feel about them. The theme is where you make the subject your own. A theme, may be directly or indirectly stated, and will be present on numerous levels in a body of work; implicitly and explicitly, through text and subtext.

A brief personal aside: I’ve loved writing all my life, but only started taking my writing more seriously about eight years ago. For me, this meant daring to call myself a writer (rather than merely saying “I enjoyed writing”), beginning to write more frequently, starting a Facebook Page with the intent of inspiring other writers with inspirational quotes and images on writing. I also began to write for submission, and to read my work at spoken word events.

My first written piece (flash fiction) was accepted for paid publication, and after my first performance of a prose-poem at a spoken word event, I was approached to record it for publication on a local indie publisher’s website. To me, these were positive signs that my love for words was embedded in some ability for writing.

So I kept going. However, already in my mid-thirties at this time, I can see now that if I’d been more consciously aware of my subjects and core themes earlier, I may have become more disciplined, dedicated and ambitious about writing far sooner. To really see and consciously develop my personal themes through my writing took a long time. Now, as both a published writer and a developmental editor, I see the importance in developing an awareness of your subjects, and learning to harness your themes.

As writers, I believe we’re constantly turning over and (re)working these core, or major themes through all our stories, all our writing. Of course, other minor themes may emerge to serve individual pieces of work, but I’d suggest that we all have our “inner shortlist” that essentially drives our creative explorations. However, many writers aren’t aware of them, and so miss opportunities to mine them — like a vein of gold buried deep in rock. We miss opportunities to deepen the work by not honing in on these themes.

The other reason my writer-self took time to emerge was that for the first few decades of my life, my primary passion lay in theatre. During this time, I still wrote a little, performed my own work, used my writing skills to write theatre press releases, programme notes, and scripts — but writing was (if you’ll pardon the pun) back-stage.

As a passionate young theatre director, I’d been invited to guest lecture to a class of adults studying poetry. The lecturer knew I also wrote poetry, but he simply encouraged me to talk on anything relevant to all artistic practices. I centred my lecture on the use of symbols and symbolism in creative and artistic practice. In the class discussion, I extended this initial idea to include themes. This exercise is based on what I did with the students.

Defining your subjects, finding your themes — A creative exercise

PART 1 Take a big, blank sheet of paper. If colour makes you feel creative, use coloured pencils or felt pens. If you’re visual, you might want to use a stack of magazines and newspapers to cut out images and words, much like you do with a vision board. Keep your phone or computer handy for Googling purposes. You can be elaborate or as simple as you like with this exercise. The point is to access your subconscious mind and its ability to free-associate. And to have fun, discovering something new about your creative self.

Forget the distinction between subjects and themes for now. The first part of this exercise is about generation of ideas — so, it doesn’t matter so much what they are; what’s important is that you identify them.

Close your eyes for a few moments, and reflect on subjects, themes or even symbols that interest or fascinate you, even haunt you. Write them down — they may fall on the page as words or phrases.

Next, reflect on your own “inner library” of films / dramas, books, theatre, or the visual arts that you really feel drawn to or identify with. Write them down — if you’re visual, find the books or the relevant pictures and spread them around you. What resonates with you about these artistic works? Reflect on their subjects and the themes that really speak to you. Write these down.

Finally, think about pieces of writing you’ve already written or are in process that you particularly like or feel proud of, reflecting on their subjects or themes. Can you add to your list?

PART 2 Take a new sheet of paper. Fold it in half to make a crease. On the left side write “SUBJECTS” as a heading at the top. Write “THEMES” on the right side of the crease. Now look at your free-association page. Pick out the single words, or the simpler, general or universal phrases — they’ll be your subjects, so list them on the left. (Leave plenty of space around each item.) You may have multiple expressions of the same subject, so try and consolidate them on this shortlist.

Next, look for any themes you may have already identified (these will be more complex phrases, infused with your personal values, feelings or opinions). If you notice they’re an expression of a subject, list them on the right beside the relevant subject. Any you aren’t sure about, write towards the bottom of your “theme” list. You may also have multiple expressions of themes, and that’s what we’re aiming for — don’t consolidate them, those individual variations are “the gold” and will show up in different elements of your work. List them alongside the relevant subject.

Finally, if you have any subjects without themes, brainstorm personal ideas you have about that subject and write those down. Next, if you have any “orphan themes”, work backwards and find their related subjects.

Here’s a snippet of my subjects and themes as an example (Medium won’t do columns, so I’ll list my themes directly underneath my subjects):

• Absence / Loss THEMES: absence (as in love lost, or loss through death) as a haunting presence with which one continues to have a relationship/ how significant loss changes people
• Desire THEMES: following and realizing desires (sexual and otherwise) as a powerful path to transformation, self-realization)/ Desire and its addictive, dangerous side (like The Red Shoes)/ The body as a desiring text, revealing many stories
• Secrets / Silences THEMES: The impact of family secrets as destructive or redemptive force/ the importance for women to speak through what we’re taught to be silent about / speaking the taboo / secrets make the most powerful stories / the link between illness and secrets harboured in the body/ what happens in hidden places, like The Underworld / the mystery of locked boxes (Pandora), locked rooms (Bluebeard) as forms of chaos, waiting to be unleashed

PART 3 Reflect on your newly-generated list. Try writing a poem, incorporating any or all of the themes and subjects on your list. If poetry is a “block” to you, write 500 words of prose. If you’re blocked on how to begin, start with the prompt:

“Again and again, I find myself drawn to … “.

The poem or prose-piece may be a starting place for a larger work. Let it breathe. Re-visit it and see what happens. While giving the students time to write their poems, I wrote a small poem about the Greek goddess Persephone, embracing several of my core themes. That poem has generated several others, including this one. I didn’t know it back then, but Persephone and the themes inherent in her story would continue to haunt me, generating poems, short fiction, and the shape of a novella. I keep that original poem on the wall above my desk. I’m working on that novella draft.

Look at your list. Look at your poem or piece of prose. The list could be read like the legend on a map for expansion of creative projects and possibilities. In this ocean lies loss. On this continent, secrets. Where will your wrting travel from here?

Harness that awareness of your subjects and themes to be more prolific and productive. I wish you well on your creative journey!

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