Theme: it may be one of the trickiest components to work into a story, so my advice is to not stress about it. Most themes are added unconsciously to a story without the writer’s knowledge. What’s more, most readers don’t notice a well-worked-in theme until they specifically think about it.

You may want to review your ideas before you write to make sure you have a theme (and chances are you do). The easiest way to do that is to know the two types of themes.

An implied truth is a theme that also doubles as a moral, in most cases, although not always. The easiest way to recognize an implied truth is to summarize the theme. If it’s a sentence that implies some kind of knowledge (for example, cheating doesn’t pay, or a small lie leads to more lies) then it’s an implied truth. If it’s one or two words (such as jealousy or friendship) then it’s a simple theme, meaning that it is a basic idea, free from values and ethics.

Morals are similar to theme in that you don’t need to clarify one before you write, unless of course, the whole purpose of your story is the moral. Some stories centre on imparting some kind of value. Like theme, try to embed the moral into the story so that readers feel as though they were shown a lesson, not told a lecture.