We all know how often “less is more” is a solid approach to storytelling. What’s a story that does the opposite (MORE is more, actually) and yet does it superbly?

For instance, Nicholas Baker's The Mezzanine is all about an office worker's lunchbreak and is (rightly) praised for what it's able to do with this simple premise and the stream of conciousness style gives a direct look into our protag's head. Less is more!

Another more popular example: Despite Star Wars being an epic saga depicting two factions of wizards battling in an intergalactic war of good and evil spanning EONS of time, people (almost) unanimously agree that Andor and Empire Strikes Back are the greatest Star Wars stories ever told. In the grand scheme of everything that happens in Canon, not actually alot happens in Empire that would matter to historians in-universe. It's a fantastic film and yet its strengths lie not in the BIG planet destroyers and set pieces of ANH and ROTJ, but in the more emotional/spiritual struggles involving Luke, Yoda and Vader. Even the camera angles are more intimate in ESB, with an intentional focus on character over spectacle. Galactic history and wide scale battles take a backseat after Act 1 while the dark lord chases a lone ship in search of his son (who escapes by the end with both factions not having gained much ground in the wider conflict). And as for Andor, the focus was intentionally kept on "the everyman" as opposed to big name legacy characters (as much as someone in a SW story CAN be an everyman) and it was praised for this decision. Meanwhile the Obi-Wan show, a project fans were DYING for had legacy characters galore and yet suffered from not really having a reason to exist other than giving Vader and Obi-Wan a chance at round 2. Less is more!

But what are some stories that ABSOLUTELY go all in on doing the opposite? Cutting straight to the heart of what it means to be a human by asking the big questions about life, the universe and everything? Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker spans the entire remaining life of the universe and gives the POV of not only aliens but celestial bodies! In act 3, the cosmos becomes aware of itself, essentially gaining super consciousness and literally confronts God. I think it's a masterpiece

Then there's the beautiful insanity of weird fiction like Everything Everywhere All At Once which confronts the question of meaning in a universe defined by chaos. Its title is pretty apt in describing how not grounded in everyday reality it is

Then to come back to the star wars example, Matthew Stover's revenge of the Sith novelization is generally regarded as the best piece of star wars literature out there and frequently (perhaps boldly) frames itself as a story about life and the universe itself, with the focus being on the fall of democracy on a galactic scale and the triumph of evil. The narration describes the battle between Yoda and Sidious as (and I'm paraphrasing here) the essence of what EVERYTHING in the universe comes down to: Light vs. Dark. Winner take all. This book isn't even TRYING to ground itself in the everyday or the personal but rather considers itself a giant metaphor for the universe and life itself (which you can argue most fiction is to an extent but not always as obvious). Stover's ROTS succeeds in a way that's from quite different the way Andor succeeds, yet both are fantastic.

What do you think? What are some good stories you feel embrace the "more is more" approach and don't hold back?