Theme

In a story, there is always a theme. What is a theme? Simple. A theme is like a moral, but instead of having a you, it is universal. It relates to everyone, and there is a finite amount of themes in the world. Themes can be the same across genres. A fantasy book can have the same theme as a sci-fi one which can have the same theme as a realistic fiction which can have the same theme as, well, you get the point. I recently read a retelling of Cinderella, and I noticed that the two stories did NOT have the same theme.

The book I read, Cinder by Marissa Meyer (I am slightly obsessed with the Lunar Chronicles at the moment if you didn't notice.) had a very different theme than the original Cinderella story. The original Cinderella could have the theme 'evil will fail and good will prevail' as opposed to Cinder which can have the theme 'people have to be tough through the tough times.' Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella, yet they have different themes. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak could have the same theme as Cinder, but it's historical fiction, while Cinder is sci-fi.

Themes can change over genre.