After a recent discussion with a friend over the book I am currently working on, The Red Asphalt, I came to a point of contention with him over what I call clarity of theme.

I had claimed in my email to him that I was overcomplicating my story and had too many themes going on, and therefore the clarity over all was diminished.

First off, a definition: To me, a theme is similar to a high-concept. It is some thread that runs through the story to explore a perspective, a way of thinking. While some say theme is a singular quality, I find it is not.

My first book, The Raptor Apocalypse, had themes of: bio-engineering gone wrong, corporate and government conspiracies, people-hating, overpopulation, power, religion vs. quasi-religion, misogyny, brutality, polygamy, predator vs. prey, professor worship, gun fighting, sword fighting, traps, escape, survival, daddy issues, mommy issues, sanity, insanity, on and on. But, the big theme of the first book was about loss and coping with it, or at least that was what I was aiming for.

The second book continues these themes and adds in even more, and this is where I start to worry about having too many things going on. I worry that I’ve added too many colors to make just one stand out.

And let me stop here. Yes, I know these are books about chicken-raptor-hybrids. The original concept was based off a comedy piece that became more and more serious as I went along. But that doesn’t mean I want to write these as comedies. (Though, some probably think these books are a joke…) But why not try my hardest to create the best books possible given my current level of ability and the environment I’ve chosen to tell them in? And if I fail, I can do it better the next time, right?

…Back to my point. I think I see themes like paint, where when you mix primary colors you get a duller shade, not a brighter one. My friend sees the mixing of themes the way light mixes; when colors are combined they become brighter.

But either way, when you mix too many colors you are left with either black or white. All the brilliant hues go away or are dulled. Those hues are the themes and ideas of the story.

So does this mean that one theme should dominate? Does this mean that the others should go away or be suppressed?

I have found the more themes I add, the harder things are to keep track of and when I blow one detail or another, the story seems… off. 

This is one reason it is taking so long to revise this book.

When I find that I’ve tamped down a problematic scene in one place, another problem pops up to cause additional headaches.

I’ll have to think about this more deeply, which is ironic because the solution is to simplify and try to explore fewer of these themes in one story. But I can’t seem to help myself here, so if you have an insight on handling multiple themes without muddling them, I’d love to hear it…