The Overall Story theme is an emotional argument that is story wide. Its connection to the Overall Story makes this theme "objective", not any unemotional feeling possibly implied by the title. To encode the Overall Story theme, one must come up with scenes, events, comments, or dialogue that involves the thematic conflict. They must also imply that this particular issue represents the central imbalance in value standards that affects everyone in the story. In fact, it is often better if you encode the Overall Story theme through incidental characters or background incidents so association with any other dynamics in the story does not taint the message.

For example, our Protagonist is walking down the hall of a ward in a Veteran's hospital with an elderly doctor who is an incidental character whose purpose in the story is only to provide exposition on a particular point. While they are walking, the doctor notes that he is out of breath trying to keep up with our Protagonist. The doctor says," I can't keep up with you young guys like I used to." Moments later, a double amputee wheels across their path, stops, says cheerfully to the Protagonist, "As soon as they fix me up, I'm going to be a dancer again!" and wheels off. The doctor then remarks, "He's been like that since they brought him here." The Protagonist asks, "How long?" The doctor says, "Nineteen sixty-eight."

What thematic conflict is at work here? The doctor's comments represent Closure (accepting an end). The patient's comments reflect Denial (refusing to accept an end). By itself, this short thematic encoding will not make the conflict clear. But as the story continues to unfold, several different encodings will eventually clarify the item they all share in common.

Theme encoding is an effort of subtle balance. Simply shifting a word or a reaction, even slightly, can tip a well-balanced argument. That is why many authors prefer more black-and-white thematic statements than a gentle thematic argument. In truth, it is the ability to get away from the binary that brings richness and depth to the emotional content of a story.

One other thing we might notice about our example is that we might evaluate whether Closure or Denial is better by seeing how each camp fared with reference to Hope and Dream. Why Hope and Dream? They are the other two Variations in the same quad as Closure and Denial. We can see the doctor has no Hope, but the patient still has Dreams. By showing that lack of Hope causes misery and an abundance of Dreaming bring joy, the case is made that the doctor who represents Closure does not achieve as favorable a result as the patient who represents Denial.

Clearly this thematic message is not true in every situation we might encounter in real life. For our latter example, however, we may say that for this particular kind of problem (the Overall Story Problem) Denial is a better way to go.

Our next concern is that even with a more balanced argument, it still seems one-sided. The way to soften this quality is to have some thematic moments occur in which Closure turns out to be better than Denial. By so doing, we admit to our audience that even for the kind of Overall Story Problem we are dealing with, neither Closure nor Denial is a panacea. As a result, the audience begins to draw excitedly toward the end of the story. Only then can it average out all the incidents of Closure and Denial and see which one came out on top and by how much.

Theme encoding requires skill and inspiration. Because we approach it by feel, rather than by logic, it is hard to learn and hard to teach. But by understanding the nature of the gentle balance that tips the emotional argument in favor of the Issue or its counterpoint, one can consciously consider when and where and how to encode the theme. This is better than simply winging it and hoping for the best. Knowing the storyform for your theme makes it far easier to draw the audience into feeling as you want them to.