Tips on Theme

How can you make your story’s theme as powerful as O. Henry’s in “The Gift of the Magi”?

Plan First

Plan your theme first. Just as you would check a compass before starting out on a hike to make sure it’s set toward true north, so you need to know your story’s direction clearly before you begin writing it. Without having a clear idea of the message you want your story to convey, it will end up disjointed, confusing, or worse—having a message “tacked on” at the end as an afterthought.

A Universal Theme

Make sure your theme is universal. You want your theme to be something every reader can relate to. O. Henry did not convey a message about the importance of buying organic vegetables or about the advantages of owning a long-haired Peruvian guinea pig. Not every reader would care about those messages. Yet love is something important to every one of us. Love is something we are all interested in. A message about love and sacrifice is a universal theme, large enough to give the story an appropriate weight and significance for every reader.

A True Theme

Make sure your theme is true. As a Christian writer, your source of truth is the Bible. Does the single idea you want to shine through your story also shine in the Scriptures? Think about John 3:16 as it relates to the theme of O. Henry’s story. Would you say that his story’s theme is true?

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