Themes

• Theme


  • Central idea or underlying message that guides the narrative
  • Emerges through personal experiences, reflections, and storytelling
  • Include topics like resilience identity love loss and social justice
• What are the elements of creative nonfiction that develops themes

  • personal narrative and memoir (real life stories for deeper truths)
  • Descriptive imagery (creates sensory experience that reinforce themes)
  • Dialogue and characterization (showcases relationships and conflicts that shape meaning)
  • Reflection and insight - helps connect personal experiences to universal themes
  • Juxtaposition and contrast - highlights opposing ideas to create complexity
• Juxtaposition


  • contrasting settings
  • contrasting characters or perspectives
  • Time shifts and flashbacks
  • Emotional contrast
  • Symbolic juxtaposition
• Strategies for combining themes

  1. Layering multiple themes
  2. Using recurring motifs (symbols or repeated images that tie themes together)
  3. Scene and reflection balance (action demonstrates theme while reflecting meaning)
  4. Intertextuality (referencing to other works
• Themes emerge naturally through storytelling
• Layered themes and complexity and relatability to creative nonfiction