I have so many underlying plots it's hard to tell... Probably forgiveness is freeing is a major one though.

My themes/moral generally sum up to "It is the citizen's duty to be sure the government keeps the people's best interests in mind and be willing to stand up against the government when it oversteps its boundaries."

I like that theme/moral. It's something I would read.

No story is truly without a moral. It either has a good moral or a bad moral. Even if a story is written without a moral, the moral is amorality, which is immoral, and thus it has a bad moral.

Why does that not surprise me?

*will repent later *

but also theme and cobha [are interchangeable]

OK, so maybe I'm being a thread necromancer

The moral of my main novel would be: Just because something seems to be your destiny, it doesn't mean it's what you have been called to do.

I think a moral or theme (they're the same, aren't they?) is crucial, but it certainly doesn't have to be blantant. Just... there. I find themes/morals grow naturally out of story characters and circumstances.

I love breaking down stories by theme. Having a cohesive theme can really help align your story and make sure all your characters coexist well. Breaking down a story by theme, whether your story or another's, is a wonderful exercise, and utterly fascinating!

Let me raise this thread from the dead again and say that the theme of my current story is basically redemption and trust. The central moral is that we can't know or understand everything, and we can't handle everything...but we can rely on God to use our weaknesses for His glory, and we can trust that there are ultimately answers to everything in His hands.

See, this is part of why I like to have a theme worked out before I write - I want to have a central idea that the whole story revolves around, so that I know what to include and what to leave out. It's like when you work out a thesis for an essay. You come up with your thesis, and then you can figure out what you need to include. Does this paragraph support the thesis? Then you should probably put it in. Does it not? You should take it out. It's certainly not as clear-cut with a story - it's hard to answer "Does this line of description support my main moral that God redeems and uses our weaknesses?" But I think it can help you figure out the bigger picture, like what characters and scenes and plot threads and so on to leave in...and so that's my excuse. We'll see how well my approach works for me.

I do think it works just as well like this as it does the other way, it just depends on the author – or on the book.

Everything I hear about this book of yours is awesome. * grins * I like the directions you could go with an exploration of that 'moral'.

And I believe your way is perfectly valid, sheesania. At least I hope it is.

Mind expounding on that?

They way I was taught "theme" in my story class was that it was the moral of the story, and gives you a notion of what actions lead to what consequences.

But the same often happens with cobha. Magic will have certain consequences. There may be certain actions that lead to the contraction of a disease that turns you into a monster. These things happen in the story, but are a part of the world and its cobha, yet you create the actions and consequences to line up with a certain set of values or a way of thinking. That runs along the same veins as theme to me.

The theme that I want to work into my superhero story (part of the CF superhero universe) is that we cannot make a failing or temptation our identifier. (It's actually against gay ideology...because they make their specific temptations a central part of their identity, saying that it's just the way they are). My superhero takes his power and uses it to identify himself and excuse a lot of bad things about himself.
I'm hoping to work in a lot of other themes as well, but that's one I consciously want to develop.