What is a Motif in Fiction?

Motifs are the quiet threads that stitch a story together. A recurring storm, a flicker of candlelight, a line of dialogue that echoes across chapters; these are not coincidences, but carefully placed touchstones that deepen meaning and create resonance. In fiction, motifs invite readers to participate in the act of noticing. They reward attention, build atmosphere, and lend cohesion to even the most sprawling narratives. Let's explore what they are in greater detail and how you can incorporate them into your next story.

What is a Motif?

A motif is a recurring element that appears throughout a story to reinforce its themes and emotional impact. It can be anything from a word or phrase to a number or sensory details.

We often see symbols in fiction that are repeated in multiple spots throughout the text. Simply repeating something is not enough to qualify it as a motif, however. Think back to middle school math and the whole “not every rectangle is a square, but every square is a rectangle” idea. Not every symbol is a motif, but every motif is a symbol.

How Motifs Differ From Symbols

A symbol sometimes only makes one appearance in a story. The same is not true of motifs. In order to be considered a motif, it must appear repeatedly throughout the narrative. 

An author mentioning a bird one time can be a symbolic representation of freedom, but in order for it to be a motif, it would need to be mentioned multiple times in the story. 

How Motifs Differ From Themes

It can be tempting to equate motifs to themes, but they are two separate devices. Themes are the takeaway lessons authors want readers to grapple with in the narrative. Depending on the genre and narrative, this can be anything, like freedom, self-discovery, loyalty, love, loss, and loads of others. Motifs work as breadcrumbs in multiple places throughout the entire story to clue the reader into these larger themes. 

Five Reasons to Use Motifs

1. Motifs Enhance Themes

   Incorporating motifs in your writing adds to the depth of the overarching themes you want to share. For example, Easter is associated with eggs, spring, renewal, rebirth, and fertility. When we see pastel-dyed eggs in ubiquitous ads, we think of new life. Inserting a carefully calculated dose of pastel eggs in your writing transforms the narrative into a well-crafted hunt rather than a meandering goose chase. Readers will be mindful of why you are pointing them toward a particular symbol at various plot points and mesh their impressions together to add to their picture of the story as a whole.

   
   

2. Motifs Encourage Re-Reading

   When we think of longer novels and literary fiction, the themes and motifs in the prose are often so many in number and elaborate that it is challenging to get them all on the first read through. Adding rich symbolism and meaning to your work invites the reader to spend more time with it and contemplate all the myriad connections to be made. Especially if the work is part of a longer series of books or stories, for example, where the plot builds upon the previous storyline, readers will want to revisit books one and two before grabbing number three. 

   
   

3. Motifs Show That You Trust Your Readers

   Readers want to be respected, not spoon fed. Hinting at the bigger message gives readers time and information to process rather than digesting big themes all at once. Anything that an author dedicates that much significant real estate to in a narrative has to be a big deal.

   
   

4. Motifs Encourage Creativity

   As a writer, it’s much more interesting to me to think about how I can elucidate an important message over time than to spell it out once. When we think about themes, we are considering what motivates protagonists and/or antagonists to do or not do whatever they choose to move the story along. Motifs provide an opportunity to guide the story in line with those themes in creative ways that enhance them. They also give authors the chance to surprise readers.

   
   

5. Motifs Invite Exploration

   When you set out to write, you might not know what messages and motifs you want to incorporate. In addition to traditional plot outlines, you can also make use of mind mapping techniques to visually represent all the possibilities for where your story can lead. You are not tied to any ideas you scribble or type onto your mind map; let them inspire all the myriad choices you and your characters can make in a given situation.

Three Exercises for Incorporating Motifs Into Your Writing

Want to play around with motifs but not sure where to start? Try these exercises!

Outline Your Plot

Typing out the trajectory of your story can be useful to all aspects of your writing. It helps you connect characters, events, themes, and more. And, if anything is missing or in the wrong place in the plot, you will notice and see where it would fit better. Once you have a good handle on the sequence of events and the motivations of main characters, you can analyze your plot outline for the best places to plant motifs along the way to enliven the narrative.

Build a Mind Map

This one is a personal favorite, and probably reminds you of studying for exams back in middle and high school. There is something freeing about flipping a page to landscape and taking up as much space as I want. Sometimes I get creative and color code things, but mostly it’s helpful to sort of info dump all my ideas onto the page and then discover what connects them in ways I hadn’t yet discovered. These connections will prove invaluable when you are deciding which  motifs will work best in which story and where to put them. 

Create a Vision Board

Maybe the mind map doesn’t work for you and plot outlines are too passe. Say less. Many writers need visuals and images to ensure a cohesive narrative structure. Go into Canva, or wherever you do your best design work. Open up a blank project or a template and start assembling all the elements, colors, and graphics that align with the story you are working on right now. Once you let your mind roam and make artistic connections on the page, you might find that there are new ways to think about a character or theme that you hadn’t originally planned. 

The Bottom Line

When you have run out of places to insert motifs, submit your work to Ink & Oak. We would love to feature your work and showcase local North Carolina writing talent. Be sure to submit to us ahead of our monthly deadline to be considered for our latest issue.