Every story is supposed to have a single, predominant theme, and every detail is supposed to work toward that theme. It isn’t that writers can’t insert smaller themes within the larger one, but they have to be conscientious about the main impulse. It directs every detail, from the characters who inhabit the story to the setting and structure.
The theme is, in a way, like a musical score. It may have its variations, but the piece always returns to the main melody and asserts it whenever possible. Smaller themes can’t and shouldn’t overshadow the predominant melody; they’re variations and tangents, not the main focus.
Put another way: a story is a photograph in which a single element receives attention. There may be background action. Someone may photobomb the work and cause an unexpected effect. Neither of those things should cause the writer to lose sight of what is most important. The writer writes for the big picture and it alone. She doesn’t waver no matter who or what inserts their presence in the work. She doesn’t allow the minor elements to subsume the major one.
To keep the major theme intact, she underscores it with verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. She considers the tangential stories. If they illuminate the main theme or will entertain or help her readers, she gives them a little space in her story. She doesn’t clear an entire shelf for them; she moves a few books or two so that she can mention them in brief.
Her aim isn’t to tell the story in its entirety but to focus intensely on a singular facet. Thus, she keeps the big picture in mind and refuses the little ones no matter how delightful or beautiful they are. She limits her scope so that she can write for what is more important: the big picture.*
*It must be noted that the interesting, “little” detail often is the real story, the “big picture” as it were. When the writer encounters the real story, she must pursue it. In some cases, she simply has discovered another story deserving of attention. Both the one with which she started and the one that found her must be written.
Image: M Glasgow (Creative Commons)