[jheii]

I don't know if this is any help, but I've found that my story is progressing a lot more organically without about theme. For the most part, at this point, I'm only thinking about the plot, and I find that as I develop a strong storyline and setting, I see opprotunities for what I can say, as opposed to what I want to say. Basically I just keep asking myself basic questions. What happened? Where did it happen? How could it happen here? Who would be involved? The "why's" are where you get to excercise yr intellect, where you get to make yr thematic statements. If yr plot is strong, and yr convictions are strong, then the theme of yr work will appear to be much more valid than if yr creating something that's contrived, just so you can get a certain message across. Sort of how songwriters think of melody first, and lyrics second.