Theme... How do you do it? · Marlowe and Christie Writers

Theme... How do you do it?

TLDR: At what stage does theme come into your planning or drafting? Do you have any strategies for selecting it, and keeping things on track?

The long version: Theme can be one of the things that really elevates a story/novel, leaving you things to ponder or argue about long after you finish it. It can help dialogue break out from being a simple relaying of plot points and information... But if poorly applied can come across as dry moralistic lecturing, as though the plot grinds to a halt while someone breaks character to deliver a PSA.

What do you (of anything) to weave it in naturally and or, are there any examples of writers that do it well for the rest of us to investigate? Alternatively, have you come across poor examples we could break down?

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Theme... How do you do it?