With the recent death of my stepfather, my mind has drifted a bit to life and how we live our lives. I like to think we all have themes to our lives, much like a story. Let me explain.
Theme is a key component of creating a great story. A theme is an idea or concept which is central to the story and usually literature explores more than one theme throughout the novel.
I like to think of theme as a way for the author to touch readers or as a way to illuminate something about real life. A few themes of the Adventures of Zelda series (Coming out soon!) are friendship, love, and overcoming obstacles. In my novel, a prevailing theme is forgiveness.
And in our lives, we have themes to the way we live whether we realize it or not. In my Live Your Best Story workshop, I ask participants to think about what message their life or story sends to others? How does the way they live their life help others or speak a truth about life?
For my stepdad, some themes in his life were kindness, generosity, and hard work. I saw those themes at work time and time again. He never said no if someone needed a hand. He managed his own roofing company for 35 years with continued success, even during recession years. I think we all could strive for those themes.