How to Develop a Theme for Your Story

A short story, novella, or novel presents a narrative to its reader. Perhaps that narrative involves mystery, terror, romance, comedy, or all of the above. These works of fiction may also contain memorable characters, vivid world-building, literary devices like metaphor and foreshadowing, and even some random quirkiness. But is that all that novels, novellas, and short stories offer? In short, the answer is no. The best works of literary fiction are driven by an overriding theme.