Today, we have a fun mailbag question from GloryAnna:

I know this is probably up to me, but how do you go about choosing a moral for your story, or a lesson your character will learn? I have tons of story ideas, and I’ve worked with a lot of them but have never been able to come up with a good moral. Any helpful hints?

This is a great question! It’s a topic most of us chew on, especially early on. We want our stories to be important, to say true, powerful things, and so we wonder, “What is it I want to say?”

As we consider the question, let’s talk about two important words: moral and theme. They are not the same thing, but the terms are often used interchangeably by newer writers. So, let’s clear that up right away.

A moral is a lesson that can be derived from a story, while theme is the exploration of an idea.

The first example that comes to mind when I hear the word moral, is The Tortoise and the Hare. Remember that story? It was written to teach children to be like the turtle because “slow and steady wins the race.”

Theme is not so cut and dry. It’s bigger in concept and, instead of teaching a specific lesson, theme emerges as certain ideas are repeated in various contexts throughout the story.

Pride and Prejudice comes to mind. While there are several themes in the book, the one that jumps off the page is marriage. Jane Austen explores several different types of relationships that lead to marriage throughout the course of the book: love at first sight, enemies to lovers, marriages of convenience, as well as a marriage of equal partnership. She also paints a picture of what some of these marriages look like in practice.

The book makes many statements about matrimony, but it’s not seeking to teach a lesson. It’s exploring the idea of marriage within the restrictions, rules, and standards of the era. And so, perhaps we learn something as we read, but mostly we’re exploring an idea.

So! With all that in mind, I’ll go back to our mailbag question: How do we decide on a moral?

My thought is this: if you’re wondering what your moral should be, perhaps you should just start writing and not worry about moral.

It’s certainly not wrong to start with a lesson you want to teach your readers, but it’s not necessary. Stories do not need a moral.

Now! Stories do need theme. But if you’re not clear on which big ideas you want to explore as you set out to write, that’s okay! Theme is often best reserved for revisions. Once you’ve gotten your story out onto the page, you can refine.

My guess is that themes will emerge from your writing. You’ll see certain ideas repeated and certain concepts explored. Once you’re able to identify them, you can work on embellishing them as you revise. You can explore these big ideas further.

If, after drafting, you’re unable to find themes in your own writing, you may want to reach out to another writing friend. Ask them to read for you and see if they can identify any big ideas you seem to be exploring.

Or, find an idea within the text that you’d like to embed in the story more fully, and attack it from different angles, like Austen did with marriage.

Here’s a tip: It’s helpful to have conflicting opinions about a theme within the text. Opposing viewpoints force both character and reader to explore the many facets of an issue.

For example, love. If love is a theme in your book, perhaps you have a character who believes in and will sacrifice wholeheartedly for love. To counter that, perhaps you have a character who was wounded by love and has chosen to never love again.

These two opposite reactions to love create a conversation, and if you can do that, you’ve landed on the beginnings of theme.

Tell me, do you worry your stories aren’t saying important things? Are you able to find theme in your story? How about in the stories of others?

Shannon Dittemore is an author and speaker. Her books include the Angel Eyes trilogy, a supernatural foray into the realm of angels and demons, as well as the fantastical adventure novel Winter, White and Wicked. Its sequel, Rebel, Brave and Brutal is due out January 10, 2023.

Shannon’s stories feature strong female leads grappling with fear and faith as they venture into the wilds of the unknown. She’s often wondered if she’s writing her own quest for bravery again and again.

It’s a choice she values highly. Bravery. And she’s never more inspired than when young people ball up their fist and punch fear in the face.

To that end, Shannon takes great joy in working with young writers, both in person and online at Go Teen Writers, an instructional blog recognized by Writer’s Digest four years running as a “101 Best Websites for Writers” selection.

For more about Shannon and her books, please visit her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.