Posted by JJO on October 18, 2008 at 13:27:05:
In Reply to: A Fiction Writing Question posted by GibH on October 18, 2008 at 10:35:42:
: Here's a fiction writing question: what is theme? I read a book that said the main elements of fiction were:
: - Point of view: the narrator of the story
: - Plot: the events that take place in the story
: - Characters: the people in the story
: - Setting: the environment in which the story takes place
: - Theme: the main idea or meaning of the story
: All fairly straight forward except that last one, theme. The explanation doesn't tell me anything. Can anybody give me some examples?
Theme exists, but nobody knows how to explain it. They just argue circularly, saying the theme is the meaning. That's just using different words to say the theme is the theme.