Save the Cat Breakdown Series - Part 4
Theme
In the previous article, we explored a Save the Cat story beat called the Setup and how it sets the stage for your work, showing what the protagonist’s normal life is like. In this article, we will delve into the Theme beat, which is part of the Setup.
What is the Theme?
The theme of your story should occur sometime around the 5% mark, or at around 4,000 words in a typical 80,000 word novel. All great stories have a theme; the challenge is weaving it in delicately rather than hammering the reader over the head with it. A reader should instinctively grasp what a story’s theme is without even realising that there’s a theme to begin with.
An example of a poorly done theme, by today’s standards, is the stereotypical fable. The boy who cried wolf, for example. These work for children, of course, but if you try to do the same thing in a book for adults, it’s a quick way for it to be put aside. Adults don’t want to be told what to do or think, they want to be entertained.
A theme could be a trope. Love conquers all is both a trope and a theme, as is good versus evil. It is an overacting concept that is carried through the entire story.
Another way to look at theme and, I think, the most useful way, is that theme is where plot and character arcs come together.