Use Your Story’s Takeaway (Theme) to Trim Extraneous Content

Writing an entire book is an immensely complex undertaking. Even if you’ve outlined meticulously, you’ll need more ideas than you can possibly imagine to fill the pages of an entire book (50,000 to 100,000 words or beyond, depending on your genre). And what you’ve mapped out in detail in an outline will only fill a portion of this.

Whether you’re writing fiction or pulling from real events for a nonfiction book, as you write, your brain will make decisions about what to include. What comes easily might depend on your mood or what you got up to that day.

When I read about characters making spaghetti while I’m editing draft pages of a writer’s fantasy novel, or a character cleaning their house in detail in a romance, I know instantly that the writer is bringing snippets of their own lives into their pages. Sometimes, these scenes are brilliant writing. Occasionally, the scenes are on point and tie into the rest of the book. But many times, scenes like these have nothing to do with the character’s journey, and they slow the pace of the book to the point a reader might stop reading.

As you’re coming up with ideas and exploring how they fit into your book, it’s easy to lose sight of what you wanted to say to readers in the first place. Instead, while you’re scrambling to fill your pages, you might veer off course, creating a book full of cool things that isn’t what you meant to write at all and will leave readers confused.

I have conversations with writers weekly who want to discuss whether they should add a new idea they just came up with to their book. What they really want is a compass that will tell them if the scene they’re adding is improving or taking away from their reader’s experience. To figure this out, they need to choose a Takeaway.

What Is a Takeaway?

The Takeaway you decide on for your book is closely related to what some might call your theme, or the point of your story. As with everything I teach about writing, I like to flip the script, thinking about the reader at every turn, because they’re the ones that you hope will find, read, love, and share your book with others. They’re the ones you’re starting a conversation with when you publish your book, and choosing a Takeaway can help you decide which scenes belong and which ones you should kick to the curb.

To choose a Takeaway for your book, take a step back and ask yourself a simple question: What message do you want readers to take away from your book?

Choosing Your Book’s Takeaway

You don’t have to get too fancy with this. A simple sentence, cliché, tried-and-true saying, or a mantra will do, as long as it resonates with you and it’s what you hope your readers will think about when they’re done. Your Takeaway won’t be shared with the world, it’s just a reference point for you. So don’t sweat making every word in it perfect.

Some examples of Takeaways in books:

• Blood is thicker than water
• You can’t accept love until you love yourself
• You get out of life what you put into it

You can choose your Takeaway when you’re planning your book or during your revision stage, whenever you need guidance. To get started, spend 20 minutes brainstorming a list of 5-7 possible Takeaways for the book you’re writing now, then narrow it down to one you’re excited about.

PRO TIPS:
* Choose only one Takeaway per book
* Books in a series may have the same Takeaway for each book, or they may be different

Simple, right? Now here’s the fun part. Once you’ve chosen your Takeaway, you have a way to test every idea or scene that you want to include in your book, to see if it fits.

Note: Choosing a Takeaway doesn’t mean everything in your book will feel the same, or that every character in your book will view the world the same way, which is pushback I often hear from writers who don’t want to be restricted. In fact, your Takeaway will open up multiple directions for your scenes to go while delivering an experience to your reader that feels cohesive and incredibly satisfying (even if they have no idea how you did it – that’s the magic and the behind-the-scenes of writing).

With your Takeaway handy, take a look at each scene, event, action, or character’s reaction you want to include in your book. Does it somehow compare, contrast, mirror, challenge, or support your Takeaway? If it does one of these things, it belongs in your book. If it doesn’t? It’s off-topic and will feel out of place to your reader. Cut it.

A Takeaway Example

Let’s imagine that Blood is Thicker than Water is your Takeaway. Scenes that support this Takeaway will obviously show family bonds that are stronger than anything else in a character’s life.

But… don’t forget to include ideas and scenes that will compare, contrast, mirror, or challenge this Takeaway, such as:

• A subplot showing a dysfunctional family with no loyalty among them, and the result
• A character who has no family trying to find their place in the world
• A storyline where supporting one’s blood relatives results in disaster
• A character who feels burdened by their family, even if the relationships benefit them

PRO TIP: The Theme & Symbolism Thesaurus at One Stop for Writers explores many popular story themes and thematic statements like the ones above that might work for your story.

You can include any number of ideas that revolve around your Takeaway. Remember, if you have a scene that doesn’t fit this bill, take it out, even if you love it (in writing we call this killing your darlings!). If you dig in your heels and leave it in, your readers will miss out on the incredibly satisfying experience of having everything in your book pointing in the same direction as your plot unfolds, leading readers to love and share your book with others.

Once your Takeaway is woven into every scene, you’ll start to see possibilities and connections you didn’t see before, and readers will be pulled deep into your story. With your Takeaway as a guide to what belongs in your book, your message will come through without you having to hit readers over the head with it, and it will linger long after they reach The End.

And those deleted scenes? You can always release them later as bonus material for your loyal readers, or you can include them in a future book that revolves around a different Takeaway. So they’re never really lost.

Defining your Takeaway and ensuring everything you’ve included in your book aligns or evokes it in some way is the secret sauce that will hold your reader’s attention and push their experience over the top. So keep your Takeaway top of mind while you plan and revise your book to make it as impactful as it can be.

Want more practical tips on writing that you can apply to your book today? Take a listen to my brand new podcast, Show, Don’t Tell Writing.