Topic, the what, and theme, the why, are interdependent narrative constructs that, while hard to conceive in my non-linear mindset, are the rigging of a narrative structure. That rigging, like with any top-down structure, seems to be critical to storytelling.

Discovering a Storie's Narrative Theme

My first question when thinking about whether theme comes before topic is whether there is a thematic hierarchy, like a primary theme, and then secondary and tertiary themes. My assumption was to first think of the topic, which is what we are going to be communicating, and then, thematically, what is the meaning or theme of the message we want to convey through that topic. Okay, I'll start there.

For the Glassing Hour book series, I knew from the outset that I wanted to write a story about how we all have a destiny being determined by fate, and then convey this through a character who is being controlled by their parents, only to find out that the story of his origin is not what he thought it was. This discovery changes his view of the world, but also reinforces what he was already aware of, although he couldn't define it.

William, seventeen years old, was, like many youth coming of age in the age of enlightenment, entertaining the ideals of libertarianism, specifically that we all have free will that will ultimately determine the life we live, if we exercise that free will.

A theme is born, encapsuled in the phrase: Do what thou wilt, which means since we have free will to do what we want, then live your life the way you want to live it. At that time, 1806, the idea that we are acting individually rather than through the religion that governs are life, well it was rather rebellious, but it was a movement that underlit the French and American revolutions, and was gradually spreading to other societies, albeit slowly.