What Is Your Story About? (Don't Overload Your Themes)

"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it."

If you've ever heard this phrase before, you may not know that it's what's called a malaphor. A malaphor is a blended idiom, cliche, or aphorism, and the term was coined back in the 1970s. Things like, "You really stuck your neck out on a limb," or, "You hit the nail right on the nose," are also malaphors.

Sometimes they work, and they become the new, preferred slang. Sometimes, though, they really don't work, and you can end up confusing people rather than making a point.

I'm... not sure what that's supposed to mean.

The point I'm making here is that mixing metaphors can sometimes work. More often than not, though, you're going to end up with some hideous mutant that just doesn't make all that much sense, or communicate any real meaning. The same thing can be true of the themes in your story, and the messages you're encoding in them.

What Are The Messages in Your Story?

Not all of us set out to write fiction as a vehicle for a personal message, or as a metaphor for a social ill or struggle. Sometimes you just want to write a fun story about a crime fighting vigilante, or a pack of werewolves protecting a small town from a zombie plague. However, all of our stories make statements, whether we intend for them to or not.

A man is often more, or less, than what he seems.

Take the most basic story of a knight going on a quest. It's a classic tale setup, but it asks a lot of questions. For example, is this knight special because of their bloodline, meaning that heroism is something inherent inside them? Were they simply given advantages that others don't have (wealth, education, weapons training, quality weapons and armor, etc), and thus they are the most capable person to handle this situation? Are they a hero because they were anointed and dubbed a knight by their society, implying that the government structure that sanctioned this character is good? Is it their faith that makes them special or powerful, implying that it is taking an oath in the service of a higher power that makes them the hero?

This list goes on and on, and we haven't even gotten into the specifics of the quest yet.

On the one hand, you might argue that these questions are reading too deeply into the story, and that people will see messages that aren't there. On the other hand, as I've said before, just because you didn't intend for a message to be in your story (or interpreted in a certain way) that doesn't mean it isn't there. The judgments you ask your audience to make tell them how they're supposed to feel, and that makes a difference in the way your story is read and perceived.

Which is where we get to themes.

What Is Your Theme?

A simple way to understand theme, as Your Dictionary points out, is that it is the message someone can take away from your story. It might be something as simple as, "true love conquers all," or, "the circle of life," for those of you who've been re-watching Disney movies during quarantine. A story could also deal with the idea of light and darkness, the power of friendship, overcoming prejudice, or a thousand other ideas.

The problem you run into, though, is when you try to put too many themes into one story, and you end up with the literary equivalent of a malaphor.

What's my book about? It's... ummm... well... just read it, it will make sense!

Sometimes you can get away with having a main theme, and one or two secondary themes. It's the same way you can have the main plot, and one or two subplots going on throughout the story. But if you've ever read a novel (or even a series) that was jammed with subplots you forgot about, or couldn't keep track of, then you know that it's better to focus on a few than to cram in as many as you can in hopes you have something for everyone.

So before you keep putting words on the page, take a step back and ask what the theme of your story is. You may not have thought about it that way, but pretend for a moment you're one of the Brother's Grimm; what lesson would children who read your story take away? Is it that noble sacrifice should be honored? That you can become anything if you try? Or is it that the best of intentions can still lead you to become the villain in the end?

Whatever you pick, remember that a theme is like anything else in your writing; clarity is always more important than fancy technique. Much like how purple prose and mixed metaphors can confuse your reader, make sure your theme is central, strong, and that it's coming through clearly.

Lastly, make sure that you actually know what it is, so you don't accidentally put in a theme you didn't want to be present.

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That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my short story collection The Rejects!

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