STORY 4: THEME + CONCEPT

One thing that I’m fairly adamant about is that any scene in a story should advance at least one of the following: plot, character, or theme. We’ve established that the plot takes us toward or away from the protagonist’s ultimate goal. Advancing character means developing our readers’ understanding of our protagonist, antagonist, and supporting characters. All that’s left are scenes that reinforce themes of the story.

SO, WHAT IS THEME?

Superficially, a ‘theme’ can be a consistent, defined aesthetic. This use of the word is most commonly found in interior decoration and design. Related, but a little closer to the idea of story, is the use of ‘theme’ to mean something that’s repeated throughout, so as to reinforce what is being repeated. This meaning of the word applies to music (chorus) and visual art (collections or galleries) as well as writing.

The most relevant and applicable use of the word ‘theme’ to story, however, is when it’s used to mean the underlying message of the story. The theme is crafted by the writer, and is ideally delivered consistently throughout a work in a way that the viewer can pick up on the message, but it’s subtle enough not to be too preachy or heavy-handed. 

Unless, of course, you’re writing stories for children, in which case the themes are almost always explicitly stated at the end, if not throughout.

Theme is something that’s often overlooked, or isn’t prioritized enough, but all great stories have themes at their center that the plot and characters are shaped around.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

Many themes act as morals of their stories. A lot of stories are really warnings, or attempts to teach the viewer something about people or the world. This is specifically true of children’s narratives, but most stories contain lessons to be learned.

WITH GREAT POWER...

One of the most well-known and defined examples of a theme: ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’

This phrase has been around since at least the French Revolution, but is most well-known as the ethical principle of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, established by perhaps the most well-known comic writer, Stan Lee. That theme is pretty consistent in most superhero narratives, though, as it’s basically saying ‘if you can help, you should.’ Superheroes were gifted with strength and power, so it’s their duty to help those without it. Wouldn’t it be great if powerful people helped others in real life, too?

That example is a theme that’s literally said with some frequency in the movies and comics, but note that themes don’t have to be stated out loud. In fact, most of the time they’re not, nor should they be.

A THEME IN EVERY STORY?

Not every story has a theme, or at least not in the sense of an underlying message of substance. 

Many popcorn flicks aren’t saying much. This might be due to the writer(s) actually writing a simple ‘good vs bad’ story for the studios, or perhaps the writer’s voice has been suppressed in an attempt to make the movie more commercially viable and/or non-controversial.

That being said, even the simplest stories usually have something to do with family, friends, or love. These themes are so common because it’s something that even a child can pick up on and understand. Also, it’s something that most people can agree on. Not all, sadly, but most.

CONCEPT

Separate from theme, to varying degrees, is concept. Concept is the basic idea underlying your story. 

As simple as it sounds, concocting or being struck with a great concept is perhaps the biggest challenge to many writers.

THE PREMISE QUESTION

One of the better prompts for coming up with or developing a concept idea is the premise question: ‘What if…?’

What if a once-beloved, but over-the-hill nature documentarian was going through a midlife crisis?

That’s a premise question that could work for one of my favorite films, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). There are other aspects to the story, naturally, but the premise question sets up the core aspects of the character and story.

THIS, BUT THAT.

People often say that there are no new stories. I go back and forth on how much I agree with that statement, but it’s basically saying that there aren’t that many human stories, and we just keep finding different ways to tell them. 

It is really common, however, for the same stories to be told with a slight twist in the details of the story. The short concept then becomes “This, but that.” Your concept references an existing work, but clearly states the way in which your work is different. Your concept might take the core narrative of another story, but change the time or place that it happens. This has happens frequently with the works of Shakespeare being placed in modern times, as well as classic horror tales like Dracula, Frankenstein, or the Wolfman.

One example of this that became a point of criticism for the film was Avatar (2009). Popular culture figured out that it is basically a sci-fi Pocahontas story, and the film was stigmatized for it. Few people have noted, however, that Avatar is more like space FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992), which itself was like Pocahontas in a modern-day rainforest. All of these narratives have themes that have to do with colonialism, discrimination, and the higher evils of man. The fact that all of these narratives share a similar core concept doesn’t disqualify any of them from being satisfying narratives.

WRITING AROUND A VISION

A lot of writers have said that they come up with the ideas for their stories after dreaming or imagining a visual or scene. It’s from this inspiration that they construct the rest of the narrative. This is a perfectly valid way to construct a story. You’ve already been struck and inspired by just a little part of the narrative, so it stands to good reason that if you can construct a story around that scene that sets it up in a rewarding way, you’ll have a great concept.

I can only guess, but I imagine that this is the case for many writer-directors, or writers who are otherwise visually-oriented, myself included.

WRITING FOR A GOAL

Another style of forming a concept is to write for an ending. The writer imagines the end of the story, and the lessons that are learned there. It’s from that point of understanding that they work backwards to form the rest of the story. 

CLUES TO A GOOD CONCEPT

While you’ll probably be able to feel whether or not you have a great concept, David Trottier details some ‘clues’ as to whether or not your concept is a good one, from his book The Screenwriter’s Bible (5th edition, specifically):

• Easily understood by an eighth-grader

• Can be encapsulated in a sentence or two

• Provocative and big

• Character plus conflict plus a hook (the hook is often the Big Event)

• Sounds like an “event” movie with sequel potential

• Has legs - it can stand on its own without stars

• Will attract a big star

• A fresh and highly marketable idea

• Unique but with familiar elements

TITLE

Once you’ve started developing your concept further, you’ll want to develop a title for your story. Sometimes this will be simple and obvious, but a lot of the time it’s a difficult process. You want your title to work hard, like the ultimate scene heading.

Here are some things to consider including in your title:

• Plot

  • The title teases something about the plot of the story.

• Character

  • The title features the name of one of the main characters; probably the protagonist.

• Genre

  • The title readily identifies the genre of the story.

• Event/holiday

  • The title makes it clear that the story is a Halloween movie, etc.

• Theme

  • The title reflects some aspect of the theme of your story. 

Logline

Another helpful aspect in developing your concept is to write a logline for your story. A logline is 1-2 sentences that concisely tease the core setup of your story. Think of this like the little descriptions you read when you’re scrolling through Hulu, Netflix, Shudder, etc.

The IMDb logline for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou reads:

With a plan to exact revenge on a mythical shark that killed his partner, Oceanographer Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) rallies a crew that includes his estranged wife, a journalist, and a man who may or may not be his son.

Tagline

Many people confuse the logline with the tagline, which is a short one-liner that is usually found on movie posters.

One of the most well-known taglines is from another of my favorites, Alien (1979):

“In space no one can hear you scream.”

Synopsis

Once you’ve gone past the core concept, and are ready to start developing your story, you’ll almost certainly want to work on the synopsis. A synopsis can mean different things to different people, but it’s generally a 1-5 paragraph tease or summary of a story.

Some people treat the synopsis like a short summary of a story, but I like to think of it like a long logline. Rather than summarize and give away the whole story, use the synopsis to set up the world, characters, protagonist goal, and tease some of the conflict found in the story, but don’t give away the ending.

Treatment

Another worthwhile step before diving into writing the script is to write up a treatment of your story. A treatment is a summary of the full story in paragraph format, and can be anywhere from 1 to 12+ pages long, depending on the length and depth of the narrative.

Writing a treatment can be a time-consuming process, but this is a good way to make sure that your story flows well, and to make sure that you have all the details worked out before potentially writing yourself into a corner in your script.

APPROACHING THEME + CONCEPT

While there is no magic recipe or formula for coming up with great story concepts, there are a lot of little tricks and activities that writers can do to help them develop ideas.

I cannot stress enough, however, the importance of theme. A story without theme or a message at its core is barely a story at all.

If you’re not saying something with your story, or at least trying to, then why are you writing?