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Hi! I’m struggling choosing a theme for a detective short story.
What themes do you think could appear in this genre?
I already have these listed below:
Courage
God’s Justice vs Man’s Justice
God’s Mercy
Life After Death
Loving Enemies
Morality
Obedience
Relativism
Sin & Salvation
Spiritual Warfare
Truth vs Deception
Trust@typewriter77 A lot of those themes seem to work, in my opinion! God’s Justice vs Man’s Justice I’m not sure could be written in just a short story…maybe a longer work. Courage, trust, and Truth vs Deception could be in any work, I think, and Sin & Salvation as well as Loving Enemies both propose great story premises.
Good luck!
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysIt kind of depends on your characters, I think. A couple of the themes I’d be interested to see in a detective short story would be loving enemies, and trust. I feel like there are some unique ways those themes could be explored in a short story.
I think the right theme would emerge once you have a general idea of the characters and how the plot should go. For a short story, perhaps you might want to avoid some of the bigger themes which would require an entire novel to do justice (pun intended).
Since your story is to be a mystery/thriller, one idea that came to me is to do a psychological thriller that explores the theme of Doubt. So there can be doubt as to who the criminal is, doubt as to the events that transpired, doubt in the criminal justice system, doubts as characters struggle in their faith… If you want to be mean you can even have an open-ended ending where it’s not even certain whether the person punished at the end is the true criminal or really deserves their punishment, to show doubt in man’s idea of justice.
Thank you for your suggestions! I’m glad you like what I have so far.
I haven’t considered a theme of doubt. I’ll certainly add that as a possibility.
Yes, the theme would depend on the plot and the characters (or vice versa). The first short story is meant to be like an origin story for the main character. I suppose then the theme should be what’s central to the character, like how Spider-Man (2002) had a theme of using power with responsibility. Or Batman Begins with its theme of fear.
Since there’s not much space to cover in a short story, how could I show these themes effectively? How much plot is too much?
@typewriter77 Well, I’m afraid that I’m the type of person who doesn’t know what their own theme is until someone explicitly tells them. I’m that clueless and unprepared, usually. And to me, usually in good literature themes are hard to pick out clearly, but you can feel that it’s there.
I think that each scene and character could show a facet of your theme. And as for short stories, if you feel like you need more plot, well, feel free to turn it into a novelette. It is your story, after all.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysYeah, I think a novelette would be more my speed. My problem is generally coming up with too much than too little. Scaling down to short stories will be quite the challenge.
However, I love challenges! Let’s see how it goes.
As for themes, there are also some articles and a podcast episode on the Story Embers site that could help.
I’m currently working on a detective story of my own, and I think a good theme to explore might be redemption for one’s past mistakes, as well as forgiveness. These themes are pretty common in christian fiction, but it would be an interesting spin to put them in a mystery novel. Maybe one character used to be a criminal, and is trying to repent of their life of crime when they get swept up in something bigger and have to decide whether to do the right thing or not. At least that’s what I’m doing for the 2nd part of my story. Hope this helps!
Hmm, how shall I emotionally torture my ocs today I wonder...
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