More Thoughts on Theme

Earlier this year I wrote a post called Writing from Theme (tip #20) and I just came across a couple more related quotes on the matter so I thought I pass them along.

“To produce a mighty work, you must choose a mighty theme.”
Herman Melville

“Great writers communicate theme through action and images, with good dialogue used sparingly. They prove their theme by showing it, not talking about it. Themes in screenwriting can be tricky because in real-life we love to talk about our themes—share our philosophies of life, tell people our beliefs about life’s meaning. But themes we talk about are not our life’s real themes. Our true themes are lived out by our actions. ”
Linda Seger
Making a Good Writer Great
page 71-72