This is K.M. Wyland. and you are listening to the 228th episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors

Podcast.

Last month I got my edits for the Annotated Jane Eyre back from my editor at Writers Digest books.

As you may remember, this is the first in a series of classics that have been annotated to comment on the classic

authors techniques and what the rest of us can learn from these enduring favorites.

I'm loving working on this project.

My editor Rachel Randall has been wonderful to collaborate with and I'm excited to share the book with others.

I discovered so much in writing it that I hope others will discover just as much in reading it.

Simplify your story before you lose readers.

The latest post in the video series on my blog talks about the storytelling principle of

double mumbo jumbo, why you should avoid it in your story and how. To watch it, visit my website at helping writers become authors.com.

New videos are posted every Wednesday.

And now I hope you enjoy this week's podcast entitled How Minor Characters Help You Discover Theme.

Is Theme the Moral of a story? Is it the message an author wants to share? Or is it something

more inherent to the plot itself? If this were a multiple choice test then I'd hope you would have chosen

C. Although theme is potentially both a moral and a message, neither of these should be its point. And if they are then you need to be wary of turning

your story into a soapbox. Neither should they be the origin of theme.

So where does theme come from?

Theme is inextricably linked to your main character's arc.

Take the person he is at the beginning of the story, subtract that person from who he is at the end,

and the difference between the two is your theme.

When Scrooge the selfish miser becomes Scrooge the friend and humanitarian,

...