Why I shoot for theme-based writing first and genre second

I don’t chase genre formulas. I write for impact. Here’s why I lead with theme-based writing, and why it keeps readers loyal long after the last page.

Most authors are told to sell out and “write to market.” Pick a genre, learn the tropes, and feed the algorithm. In other words, if you want to sell, you follow the formula. But here’s the problem: Formulas are for chemists, not storytellers, and I don’t care what the literary world thinks. 

I didn’t get into fiction to play Mad Libs with woke genre conventions. I got into it to say something, explore ideas that dig under your skin, and maybe even get under your skin. It was all about taking themes like liberty, responsibility, faith, secession, and the dangers of political power, and embedding them so deeply in the story that the reader feels conviction.

That’s why I lead with theme, not genre. Because genre is the shell, and theme is the engine.

Theme-based writing creates loyalty, not just sales

Anyone can write a decent fantasy, dystopian, or thriller novel if they follow the beats. But if you strip the theme out of it until it scratches the surface, you’ve just built a pretty house on sand.

Readers remember theme. They highlight, quote, and argue about it. And they come back because you challenged their worldview or gave them permission to question or reinforce it.

When a reader says, “I felt like this book understood me,” they’re talking about theme, not pretty plot structures.

Theme converts while genre only attracts

Let’s be real: Genre might get readers in the door. The cover, keywords, and tropes matter to many. You can’t ignore the market if you want to attract those readers.

But once a reader who wants something more steps inside? That’s where theme does the heavy lifting.

You want readers who don’t just finish your books, then pick up something else. Or, at least I wouldn’t. I’d rather have readers follow me across a series then read my blog, my Substack, and newsletter. Readers who trust my voice, not just the worldbuilding.

That kind of reader is more of a theme-seeker than a genre junkie. They’d rather fine meaning than mindless entertainment.

Genre is nothing but framework, but theme is the blueprint

Think about it this way:

• A fantasy novel with narrative-accepted themes sprinkled in the background is cosplay.

• A dystopian without a theme is just aesthetic pessimism. Unless that theme involves so-called socialist “utopias.”

• A romance without a theme is a sugar rush with massive crash later.

But take the same genres and inject a theme like earned freedom, just rebellion, or the tragedy of blind obedience, and suddenly you’ve written something that lingers. Hell, let that theme outshine the damn genre. That’s when you discover who your real readers are.

Theme is all about filtering the noise

We live in a world choked with content. Everyone’s writing a goddamn book, everyone’s got a series, and everyone’s got a Kickstarter, Substack, podcast, or all three. But most of it’s built on sand. Trends change, tropes mutate, and audiences shift alongside reader tastes.

What doesn’t shift? The core truths I keep coming back to: Individual liberty, moral courage, and the eternal struggle against coercive power. At least from a libertarian’s perspective since it’s a tale as old as modern Western Civilization.

That’s my north star, and it’s what I write toward almost every single time. Genre just determines which boots I lace up to get there.

I want allies. Not just readers.

If I only wanted clicks or sales, I’d sell my soul to the Devil, write to trend, and crank out clone books with recycled premises.

But I don’t want a passive audience. I’d rather have readers who resonate, who challenge me back because they’ll only make my work better, and readers who see the world through a slightly clearer lens after finishing the last page.

So yeah, I’ll keep leading with theme. Genre be damned.

Because theme doesn’t expire. Hell, if it did, we’d be living in more of a mass surveillance state than we already do. And when theme hits the right reader, it ignites.

My strongest theme-based book can be found in fantasy

Want a theme-first book that I’ve written? Check out Arcane Awakenings, the prequel to my young adult academy fantasy series, Arcane Elemental Academy. 

Sure, this book has its tropes, like a protagonist who needs to stand up to the ‘mean girls,’ the shunted sibling, and the girl who fewer adult characters believe in. But Yote Diamondback also discovers some disturbing aspects of the interventionist state that heavily regulates the mainstream private school she attends.

Meet Yote Diamondback in Arcane Awakenings.