How do you narrow down your life to one theme? That’s a dramatic way to ask the question but can be a perspective that authors struggle through when writing a memoir. It can be difficult to narrow down the story or stories they want to tell in their book to one theme to carry through.
Life isn’t black and white and experiences are complex. It’s important, however, to carry one theme through a memoir. While it sounds daunting and like an oversimplification, it’s very possible and necessary to land on one theme that can capture all the lessons that you want to share from your journey. It just takes some thought and intention.
Some of you may still be skeptical about the importance of carrying one theme through a memoir. Allowing a few can’t be that bad, right? If you want to make that big impact for your readers, let’s stick with one. Here’s why.
So What?
Having one central theme carry throughout the book helps the reader to really understand and stay focused on the “so what”. This is crucial because the reason you are writing about your life story is to convey a message that also resonates with the reader.
While the reader will likely find your stories intrinsically interesting, they likely picked up the book with some intention in mind. Maybe they wanted to be inspired, maybe your stories help them feel seen, or maybe your journey can help guide them through a particular circumstance in their life.
By having a consistent theme and messaging holding your stories together, the reader is able to clearly receive the messages and lessons that you’re trying to share and is more likely to receive the impact they were looking for when they picked up the book.
Our stories are a vehicle. Ultimately, people want to know how it affects them.
Focused Content
Focusing on one theme also allows you to create focus in your content. Without a central theme, it’s easy to want to throw everything and the kitchen sink into the book. Not having enough content is rarely the problem when writing a book. Having too much content you want to cover in just one book…. Frequently a problem.
When you develop a central theme, it acts as a North Star for your book. When thinking about whether you want to include a story or an anecdote, you can ask yourself, “Does this serve my theme?” If it does, include it. If it doesn’t, leave it out for a future book or some other form of content (blogs, social media, etc.).
If the content isn’t focused, the book loses its oompf and the “so what” starts to get muddied. This makes it more difficult to keep the reader engaged because, as we talked about earlier, they probably picked the book up for a specific reason and they want to be immersed in that.
An Umbrella
At this point, you probably still have the objection, “But I’ve learned so many lessons in my life/this portion of my life, I don’t want to distill them to one theme. They’re all important.” And you would be correct, they are all important.
Chosen thoughtfully, a theme can encompass many lessons, acting as an umbrella of sorts. The theme actually ends up acting as a great tool to tie your lessons together for the reader. The theme helps make connections between the lessons of your different experiences that ultimately lead to the reason you wrote the book in the first place.
The theme helps take the mental load off your readers so they can immerse themselves in your book. It helps the reader to make sense of what they’re reading without them having to work too hard or put guesswork into it.
A theme is a tool, rather than a ball and chain when developed thoughtfully and intentionally. It is part of the creativity of the writing process – how can it succinctly convey the impact you want to make?
If you’ve been considering writing a book and would love some help developing potential themes and structure, let’s chat! Book a free strategy session with me using the button below.
Disclaimer: This blog should not be construed as providing, or intending to provide professional financial, legal, psychological, or other professional advice. It is simply meant to share my experiences with those who may find them relatable and helpful.