: Re: How do I include a powerful theme in my story without making it blatantly obvious? I want to have an underlying message in my writing but I really don't want it to come across as annoying

@Sue2132873

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This is an amazingly broad question and the answer can be "do it well", but I am going to try to tackle it. I think the trick to not coming off as preachy, is to not have characters preach.

Let's say the theme of the book is "anyone who eats red apples dies alone". Never have a character say "don't eat that red apple", just let it happen. Some will eat red apples and die alone, others won't and will have happy lives.

If you do need to tell the reader about it, express it through metaphor. Maybe a worm eats a red apple and dies right away. This tells the reader about your theme, in a direct way, but not by characters preaching the idea.

If you do need characters to talk about it, you should always have a counter point. Have characters that honestly believe the opposite ideas. Don't let those characters be cartoon stupid or evil. Don't let those characters just have straw man arguments to take down. Have them be reasonable individuals that go against the theme.

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