Monica Leonelle shows how metaphors, motifs, weather, and setting details strengthen a novel's meaning. She uses examples from The Fault in Our Stars, Harry Potter, and Gone Girl to show how names and objects can carry thematic weight, then walks through a worksheet to help you build these elements into your own story.
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Hey there, Igniter!
Monica Leonelle from theworldneedsyourbook.com. Today is day 21 of the challenge, and we are talking about thematic elements when it comes to theme, setting, and worldbuilding.
Today is day 21, and we are talking about thematic elements specific to the theme, setting, and worldbuilding. So thematic elements, once again, they're fun, they add a deeper meaning, and some subtext to your story, you can look at your story and look at what your story might be a metaphor for, and then look for actual metaphors to layer into your story. So one example is in "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green. The story is— so one of the pivotal moments of the story takes place on a tour of Anne Frank's Home. And Anne Frank is somebody who lived a short but good life, and that's one of the themes of that book. I won't spoil the book for you, but it's one of the themes. And so this was very purposeful and, you know, maybe a little on the nose, but it was, um, it was a very purposeful parallel to get the characters thinking about the theme. So you can also add thematic elements around character names, location names, your book title. So Harry Potter— the Harry Potter series is a great example and has many examples of this. Additionally, you can build thematic elements around the theme in terms of the temple moments. So an example is Gone Girl. And I didn't read the book, I only watched the movie, we find out the reversal that the wife, Amy, is alive and well, and her husband, Nick, is solving this anniversary scavenger hunt. And it's something that they do every year, and it's been kind of this loving thing between them. So he gets to the end of this scavenger hunt scavenger hunt. She has an anniversary present for him, and they're like— there is actual stuff, but also she has decided to frame him for her murder. And that's, that's like a big part, you know, that's the, the pivotal moment of the series, because for the first, for the first half of that book/movie, we think that, you know, she's dead. And so you find out at the midpoint that she's not. But everything about that reveal is— it's all part of the theme and the worldbuilding. So even in a story that is not focused on fantasy or sci-fi or historical settings, it's still has kind of this heightened drama. So another, you know, there are a number of really great series. So Big Little Lies is another one. And I think you can see it much more in movies and television shows than in stories. But Big Little Lies is another great example of a heightened heightened world building. You know, basically it's, it's a, it's a real town called Monterey in California, but they've actually really— it's really like not, not the real Monterey, California. So they use that setting, but they've heightened all the characters. And so like everybody lives in these big sprawling mansions, and there's all this drama in like the kindergarten class. It's like kindergarten or first grade or something. Um, there's all this drama and it's just very like sudsy type of setting. And so you see that as well with like Melrose Place or, um, I'm trying to think of the series. It's on— it's currently running on the CW at the time of this recording, and it's based on the Archie comics. So, oh, I think it's called Riverdale. That's actually a great example because it's supposed to be modern day, but the way the town is set up and the characters there, it's actually like this, almost like this magical realism, which makes sense because it's a comic book series. It's, you know, it's like this modern-day magical realism setting, and so they're able to do a lot more with thematic elements there. So anyway, these are just some examples. Even if you're not doing the typical world building, you actually still are going to have some world building because it just makes your— it makes your series a bit more fun. You don't want to write it, um, too realistic unless that's purposeful, I guess, if that makes sense. All right, so you can do this with your thematic elements. And, um, in the last— in the day before, I had a list of thematic elements. So you can go to day 20, there's a list of things like mood, um, weather, you know, objects, metaphors, motifs, that sort of thing. And so this is just a way that you can— this layout is just so you can fill in the bubbles with any thematic elements you think of that are related to setting, theme, or worldbuilding.
Thank you so much for watching and listening. If you have a question, make sure you leave a comment in the comments section. I'm happy to answer it. Additionally, if you have any desire to join the challenge, definitely check out the links in the description. It's never too late to join the challenge. Always happy to have you.
And you can catch up, you can skip days, you can start where you are. It's all totally fine.
Hope that this has been helpful to you. Have a wonderful day.
