Sowing the Seeds of Theme and Symbolism

Theme and symbolism are two of the easiest story elements to plan in detail. What are they, precisely?

  • Theme is what your novel is about, or what it "says" - the layer of meaning running beneath the story's surface. It is actually the easiest of the story elements to plan, in the sense that it really doesn't require much planning at all.
  • Symbolism, too, happens underneath the surface of a novel, which is why I have grouped theme and symbolism together.

As far as the Novel Writing Process is concerned, you just need to sow a few thematic and symbolic seeds at this stage and they will grow all by themselves.

How do you "sow the seeds" of theme and symbolism?

For theme, you simply need to decide what your novel is "about" very early on.

You made a start on this earlier in the writing process, when you were Brainstorming for Ideas (and then "road-testing" those ideas).

Now, you just need to do a little more thinking about your novel's meaning.

Let's say that your novel was about "greed"...

Earlier (when you were finding ideas), you probably decided that greed would make a good theme for a novel, in the sense that it fitted in well with all the other elements, and you jotted down a few sentences on what greed means to you, given your own life experiences.

All you have to do now is sit down and think about the novel's theme some more, making notes as you do so. You are not trying to write an academic thesis on whatever your theme is, simply filling out a page or two with thoughts on what you want to say about the subject.

Once you have sown these seeds of theme in your mind, as it were, the novel's deeper layer of meaning should simply emerge, like magic, as you plan the novel in more depth, and then write and revise it.

"Writing and literature classes can be annoyingly preoccupied by (and pretentious about) theme, approaching it as the most sacred of sacred cows, but (don't be shocked) it's really no big deal."
- Stephen King

You sow the seeds of symbolism in your novel in precisely the same way.

Symbolism in literature is when something "stands for" something else. For example...

  • A river can stand for the journey of life.
  • Spring can stand for renewed hope.
  • Rain running down a window can mirror a character's sadness.

Don't worry about the technicalities right now. (If this is your first time reading through the Novel Writing Process, you are simply familiarizing yourself with the steps in general, not getting stuck down in the details of each one.)

When the time comes to actually carry out this step, you will find plenty of help and advice in the section covering Theme & Symbolism.

(You will find the same help and advice, only in greater depth, in the Downloadable Version of Novel Writing Help.)

Next Step: Now it is time to look at the next of the story elements that you need to plan in detail: Point of View...

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