When you have an idea—“Abortions are bad,” “Alcoholism destroys homes,” “Old people are neglected”—and you write a story mainly to exemplify that idea, you’re giving your readers an exemplum, a little sermon that preaches by example. In a good story, however, the experience is primary, not a message. If you think of a story you admire, and someone asks you what its point is, you’re likely to answer, “Well, it’s about a lot of things.” In other words, you felt that the story wasn’t reducible to a single idea—it probably raised more questions than it answered.