# What themes or motifs do you see popping up in your writing a lot?



## Chilari (Apr 11, 2013)

I realised recently that wild roses appear in my writing a lot. Initially they were something associated with an immortal character I wrote a novel or three about. I stopped writing about him and the world he was part of about 2 years ago, but I still include wild roses occasionally, not even deliberately, just sort of where it comes up. Characters see them in hedgerows, or use them in spells. I occasionally draw them. I like them.

Then there's the theme that I can't seem to escape, whereby two characters who don't much like one another have for plot reasons to spend a lot of time in each others vicinity, sometimes working together, sometimes not, and end up finding out enough about one another that they come to a mutual understanding which is not exactly friendship, but a certain degree of respect. I think it reflects the kinds of rom com movies I like best - the hatred becomes love plot as seen, for example, in Princess Diaries 2, but with a bit of my own worldview and my awareness that its a bit silly really added in.

I don't exactly make a deliberate effort to avoid these, admittedly; neither do I make a deliberate effort to include them, though. They're just things I keep coming back to, and I think for the character one I will until I've written something complete that I'm happy with and can move on to a new theme. For the wild roses, who knows, maybe it'll become a signature feature that the observant fan will pick up on.

Who else has themes and motifs that they keep coming back to? Is it deliberate? What effect do you think it has on the quality of your writing? How do you avoid being repetitive?


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## Sparkie (Apr 11, 2013)

Servitude.  Thinking about it now, I have a lot of stories that involve a master-servant relationship of some kind, as seen from the servant's POV.  I've not done this intentionally, it just happens.  I'm not sure if it helps or hinders the quality of my writing.

What keeps the concept from being repetitive, in my case, is creating different characters for each story.  Every relationship is different.  The dynamic between one set of characters will be different from another set as long as the respective characters retain their own distictive personalities.

I hope the above makes sense.  I should have gone to bed hours ago...


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## Rob P (Apr 11, 2013)

For me it's the question of immortality in all its potential forms. Long life, Agelessness, Legacies, Defies death, Induced by Magic, Divine Intervention, Life beyond death etc etc.

It is the theme about which everything I write is constructed and with basic outlines already created for another seven books, not all related to each other, I find I have enough variation in style and content not to be repetitive.


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## Asura Levi (Apr 11, 2013)

Dark Past definitely has a major hole in most of my characters background. Not that they were evil or anything close to that, but because its origin were usually marked with huge tragedies they believe to be their fault.

To the point where one of my MC saw his parents being burned alive because the townsfolk discovered he was kind like a sorcerer and he was 'protected' because they feared him. (As a child, he couldn't do nothing to stop them.)
This also bring another common feature, remote towns and villages usually view sorcery as evil while the major cities accepted it. Xenophobia also plays a big hole.


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## Ophiucha (Apr 11, 2013)

Killing a lover for a greater (political) cause. This is the ending to at least three separate things I have written with very little in common otherwise. Though in two of the circumstances, one of the two lovers was a cup-bearer (in the first story, the murderer was the cup-bearer, who simply killed himself along with his lover; in the second one, the murderer was a chef who wanted to kill the king and wouldn't let her girlfriend being the cup-bearer get in the way of that).

Muteness. Most of my stories have a mute main character/narrator. Current project switches it up by having the girlfriend be mute and the main character be blind. This is really just a coincidence, I really never _intend _to make the protagonist mute.

In an abstract sense, I guess you could say 'food'. This is less an odd coincidence or subconscious thing and more "I am a chef ergo 'write what you know' and all". Definitely deliberate since I just want to write about cooking... a lot of my protagonists are chefs. Molly and Theodore were both _revolutionary leaders_ who were chefs. (And yes, he also kills his lover for a greater political cause, but his lover wasn't a cup-bearer and he just shot him with a pistol.)


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## Devor (Apr 11, 2013)

One of the things I've been noticing in my work is that my villains are routinely big, epic, evil, scene-stealing personalities, and my heroes are pretty normal and mundane by comparison.  It's not deliberate.  I just have more fun with that sort of twisted, messed up personality, and they tend to escalate a lot.

Take Captain Vollifer, from a challenge entry I submitted a while back.  He's decked out with powerful weapons, riding into battle on a chariot with a flaming halberd, shooting arrows that turn into snakes, and then he gets the big character arc moment of his dead father telling him off for not being even more ambitious.  I felt like it was awesome, but the hero was a ridiculous, pathetic runt who gets lucky for a few minutes early on, completely designed to give the bad guy his moment.  Even though it was from the good guy's POV, the story is really about Captain Vollifer.

I feel like many of my stories come across that way.  I get into the villain's head more naturally and can take it farther without stretching the character's credibility.  The characters I empathize with most are maniacal supervillains.  That's horrible, right?

I'm trying to open my work with five or six short stories introducing the heroes, and between books one and two, do another set introducing the villains.  Just with a few brainstorming ideas the second set will probably be phenomenal (by comparison), but the first I'm having to work hard on getting right.  But wow, I can't seem to put aside some of the ideas for that second group.


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## Devora (Apr 11, 2013)

I don't think I've written enough to know a motif in my writing, but with what i've done so far i'd probably say that Companionship would probably be it.

I have a few stories and ideas where 2 or more people have a close relationship with each other (whether it be Lovers, Brothers, or Friends) and work together in some way to better their lives and/or the people around them.


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## Ayaka Di'rutia (Apr 11, 2013)

In mine redemption comes up a lot, whether it's the character's self-redemption or redeeming other people, lands, etc.


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## ndmellen (Apr 11, 2013)

Anger issues. Lots and lots of anger issues.


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## Penpilot (Apr 11, 2013)

Growing up. Being trapped by one's past. Loss. Finding family.


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## glutton (Apr 11, 2013)

Indestructible iron women and mediocre fighters who overestimate themselves.


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## teacup (Apr 11, 2013)

Revenge, love, light and dark, death, storms and sorrow, memories of loss, clinging to humanity, ice and fire.


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## Jamber (Apr 11, 2013)

Oppressive situations (e.g. totalitarian government) and little freedoms that can join together to make big ones.


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## tlbodine (Apr 11, 2013)

Characters with daddy issues or a family history of abuse/neglect (quite often in an insidious way).  Related to that, families (and marriages) that fall apart.  

Immasculation.  I didn't notice this one until my brother pointed it out to me.  Often goes hand-in-hand with the "marriages falling apart" motif.  I tried to defend myself:  "Well, that's not an issue in Nezumi's Children!  It has an entire female cast! Well, except for the half-blind prophet who was forcibly castrated and sent out from his colony....ok, never mind."


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## glutton (Apr 11, 2013)

tlbodine said:


> Immasculation.  I didn't notice this one until my brother pointed it out to me.  Often goes hand-in-hand with the "marriages falling apart" motif.  I tried to defend myself:  "Well, that's not an issue in Nezumi's Children!  It has an entire female cast! Well, except for the half-blind prophet who was forcibly castrated and sent out from his colony....ok, never mind."



I feel threatened... lol


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## tlbodine (Apr 11, 2013)

*whistles innocently*


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## Velka (Apr 11, 2013)

Wolves. Drinking. The question of if the 'greater good' is indeed 'greater' or 'good'.


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## Feo Takahari (Apr 11, 2013)

The greatest fear in my stories is of dying with something left undone--an invention never finished, a quest never completed, or just an apology never given. This is personal, since when I was very badly ill, I was afraid of dying without finishing my stories.

I also tend to subvert or even attack traditional concepts of identity. My characters are far more likely to find expectations for their race, class, or sex stifling rather than supporting. This is again personal, a product of attending a public school with very rigid gender expectations.


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## ThinkerX (Apr 11, 2013)

Wizards conjuring Lovecraftian abominations....or just Lovecraftian abominations in general.  

Also, though not quite as prominent, wizards tampering with powers/spells 'out of their league'.


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## Ireth (Apr 11, 2013)

People tend to be blinded a fair bit in my stories. Might be a subconscious thing, since when I was born, most of the doctors thought I'd be completely blind, among other problems. As it happens, I'm only nearsighted.


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## CupofJoe (Apr 12, 2013)

My last long term relationship [but I should probably wait until therapy to share much more].
And old warriors - most of my lead warrior MCs have been past their prime and know it [again probably something else for my next sesh...].


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## Chilari (Apr 12, 2013)

Velka said:


> The question of if the 'greater good' is indeed 'greater' or 'good'.



Now that's an interesting question. I'm going to make a note of that and try to explore that at some point because that is definitely something that I've brushed on before, though never quite got to analysing in depth, and something I want to address at some point. I like the moral questions where the answer isn't obvious.


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## Jabrosky (Apr 12, 2013)

The juxtaposition of people from visibly different cultures pops up a lot in my writing and brainstorming. Most commonly I have Northern Europeans mingling with Africans, probably because they provide the maximum visual and cultural contrast in my mind. Sometimes the Europeans and Africans end up cooperating against a third, villainous group of people who may resemble either Middle Easterners, Mediterraneans, or Asians. Even if they don't, interracial romance almost always develops over the story's course.

Like glutton, I like action heroines. Mine tend to be either queens, huntresses, or warriors, but they always end up fighting their enemies themselves instead of relying on a man to do the fighting for them. Commonly they suffer from arrogance or over-confidence as their critical personality flaws.

I'm also rather fond of wild animals as minor antagonists.


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## MadMadys (Apr 12, 2013)

Let me see here.  Things I tend to include are:
- Building friendships through trust.
-Strong and varied female characters.
-Humor.  Even when I try to write more gritty things the humor slips in by turning dark/black comedy.
-Rule through an oligarchy.  I just seem to like group activities.
-Characters with less than glowing pasts.


I also find it revealing to have a gander at what I _never_ tend to include in my stories as well.
-No love (as a major part of the plot line).
-No families/children (a couple exceptions but for the most part no character is tied to a family structure).
-No religion/faith playing an important role.


The reasons I choose to highlight or ignore certain things doesn't have a ton to do with my personal life but more so what I find interesting to read about.  Also, I tend to ignore things I feel are cheap/overdone plot elements (which explains why I don't use love as motivating factor often) or that just aren't very interesting to me.  As for why I like an oligarchy, well, no idea.  It's not that I think they're better because mine are always wickedly corrupt in the end.


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## risu (Apr 12, 2013)

Insanity seems to be a trend with me. The villain, the infatuated thief, the hero. But of course, who really is perfectly sane anyways?


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## Devora (Apr 12, 2013)

Actually i think another motif that has popped up in a couple of my stories with female characters (and sometimes male characters too) is that they are very strong women (in many aspects) but in the end they either know or find out that they avoid their weaknesses, and that they have to eventually come to terms with their weakness and realize there are people that care for them deeply and want to help them cope.


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## Velka (Apr 12, 2013)

Chilari said:


> Now that's an interesting question. I'm going to make a note of that and try to explore that at some point because that is definitely something that I've brushed on before, though never quite got to analysing in depth, and something I want to address at some point. I like the moral questions where the answer isn't obvious.



I'm having a lot of fun with it, and you're right, there is no obvious answer. My MC is has a very micro world view, while her mentor has a macro view of things. They butt heads a lot. The tricky thing is trying to keep a balance between their world views and ensuring that the validity, and shortcomings of each, are equally represented.


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## HabeasCorpus (Apr 12, 2013)

Hope; strength in weakness; individual-centric culture v. community-centric culture


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## Rinzei (Apr 13, 2013)

Discovering one's true self / reconciling with one's situation - these have come up a lot in my stories in the last few years. Wonder what it means...


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## Justin Cary (Apr 14, 2013)

I have been writing a lot on demons lately, both in physical form and the metaphorical kind. They are both big baddies that need defeating and you can get a lot of story out of them.


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## The Unseemly (Apr 14, 2013)

Human irrationality's. I simply find that there's always space to poke at something stupid a character does, the "irrationality", however doing it in a believable way. The character makes a choice anyone given the situation would do, so hence - irrationality.


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## Mindfire (Apr 14, 2013)

Faith/religion and Providence show up in my WIP fairly often.


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## Karin Rita Gastreich (Apr 14, 2013)

Loss.

The impact of history on the present; how history and circumstance limit choices and actions; how history is experienced, interpreted, and retold very differently by different people.  

The power of love -- how it can build, how it can destroy, how it can unite and separate.  Love is always the wild card in my stories -- and a darn good wild card it is!

Complex male and female characters.


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## tlbodine (Apr 14, 2013)

Here's another one I just remembered:  Awkward and anger-inducing phone conversations with the protagonist's mother. 

I discovered that I had accidentally used that same plot device in three completely separate stories, so now I have to retire it.  Clearly, there's a bit too much author creeping into THAT issue...


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## Ireth (Apr 14, 2013)

Deuterogamy pops up a fair few times in my stories and RPs. Many of my adult protagonists are either widows/widowers, married to one, or both.


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## Yellow (Apr 14, 2013)

I'll go with the apparent good guys being bad guys without them really being aware of it, and apparent villains being the true heroes without anyone else really being aware of it. It makes for some interesting plot twists I believe.


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## Alex Beecroft (Apr 15, 2013)

Misfits figuring out how to live in societies that don't really have room for them while finding a few like minded friends/allies to band together with. 

Also, in every single book, one of the heroes almost loses their hands. I didn't notice it happening at first. Now that I have noticed it, I wonder what it's trying to say, but I don't worry too much about taking it out. No one else seems to have noticed yet.


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