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Recurring ideas in your stories?

Telcontar

Staff
Moderator
The differences between self-sacrifice (which hurts you) and regular "sacrifice" (which does not).

Teach Them Fear: The concept of a character so powerful and unassailable that even the Big Baddies (wizards, demons, undead, you name it) are afraid of him. Basically answering the question: "What are the monsters in my closet afraid of?"

Morality, Law, Justice. The evolution of power structures.

On the more person-centric side: Depression, despair, anger/hatred/rage, and the effect of music on the emotions. (Also music as magic).
 

Mindfire

Istar
I notice that the "Call" motif shows up a lot in my work, and the call is almost always divine in nature. Providence, as well as demonic influence, is a background driving force through much of my work. There's a parallel war going on in the background, behind the human conflict.

There's also a recurring theme of changes to the status quo, with the world never being quite the same again after a big event happens. Along with that comes a lot of torch-passing. Quite a few of my characters inherit the legacies of their parents, ancestors, or even those they have no relation to and must rise to the occasion. My main character, Reuben, inherits the throne of his maternal ancestors. His friend, the king Elias, dies and Reuben must then pass Elias's torch to Devra, the girl chosen to succeed him. Reuben's cousin, Kianna, has to succeed Deowa, a woman Kianna resented for saddling her with the responsibility of looking after Reuben in his infancy, as her tribe's spiritual authority once Deowa dies. A veteran warrior, swordsman and elected leader of a group of freedom fighters dies and passes the torch to his daughter, Shan-Ri. Another character, Leith, inherits the mantle of the long-dead Champion brotherhood in order to restore honor to his homeland Beorgia and break the stranglehold the false priesthood has on the country. And I plan to end the series with Reuben's son, yet unnamed, saving the world when his father fails by becoming heir to a long-lost magical art.

There's also a theme of identity, knowing who you are and not compromising that. One of my characters, Maya, remarks that her scars help remind her of where she's been and who she is. Devra, who has lived her entire life without a magical power that her culture takes for granted is presented with an opportunity to at last also have that power, but she turns it down because she realizes that her "disability" helped make her who she is. Reuben is bi-cultural and rather than choose an allegiance, he keeps one foot firmly in each side of his ancestry. I've already said that in the grand finale, Reuben's son finds a way to save the known world even when his father can't. What I didn't say is that he does this despite (or perhaps because of) being a cripple.
 

Aravelle

Sage
My theme is freaks. Outcasts. People who stand out in one form or another and either rise against or fall from grace because of it.

As for my characters, there's either wallflowers or glamourous ones/attention lovers. By glamourous I mean the wilting rose, the whimsical youth, the knight with a secret ego.

I have a way of writing about daddy problems too. I blame my own life. xD
 

Alva

Scribe
Morality, Law, Justice. The evolution of power structures.

Have to agree with Telcontar. Concepts and means of power are of interest to me, as well.

Also, such things as
- scholarship
- loss
- loneliness
- feelings of otherness
- conflicting personalities
- nature (ah, well... ecological themes to some extent)
- blindness and
- introverted characters

occur here and there...

People who stand out in one form or another and either rise against or fall from grace because of it.

Oh yes. For some reason I'm attracted to these, too.

No, but seriously, do you think you have these recurring themes because you are circling the story that you REALLY want to write or because these themes resonate with you?

The blunt answer is both.

More elaborate answer, though, would differentiate between short fiction and novel writing, for instance, and I’d mention that in short fiction I’m perhaps more eager to pick themes that are already in the beginning resonating within me. In the case of longer works, nonetheless, the original structure and even the central idea of the story may change several times during the project, and - in the end - the themes left have to be survivors of the picky process of writing. Thus, new themes have been born and some unrelated and unnecessary stuff has been put aside.
 
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Mindfire

Istar
I just noticed that a minor imperialism theme pops up in one of the works I'm mapping out. It's very subtle though. See, part of the backstory is that this continent was inhabited by an olive-skinned Asian/Polynesian culture, then these white guys who were fleeing religious persectuion came there and tried to seize it as their birthright. This lead to the olive-skinned people having to choose whether to coexist with the invaders (which means giving up some of the better land on the continent) or fighting back. Ultimately they ended up divided and fighting a lengthy guerrilla war among themselves as well as against the invaders.

...Maybe the theme isn't as subtle as I thought.
 

Jabrosky

Banned
Hmm...let's see if I can rename some of my favorite themes:

Redemption: A lot of my stories have the main characters do something really stupid or immoral, often near the beginning, and the rest of the story centers on the characters' efforts to heal the aftereffects or otherwise redeem themselves. Redemption plots are great for main character development.

Clash of Cultures: I love juxtaposing people from visibly different races or societies together and have them interact with each other. My favorite cultures to mix together are Northern European and African, though sometimes I like to throw in Asians or Middle Easterners too.

African Civilizations: My favorite civilizations to draw upon for fantasy settings are African ones like Egypt, Nubia, Mali, Ethiopia, or Great Zimbabwe. Everyone stereotypes Africa as a bunch of primitive tribes, but there were larger states too and I wish more people knew about them. However, sometimes I like to write about the more "tribal" (for lack of a more accurate word) African peoples like the Zulu, Hadza, or Maasai too.

Strong Leading Women:
My leading ladies may either be love interests for male protagonists or the protagonists themselves, but either way they usually have a lot of power. Most commonly they are matriarchal rulers or Amazon-type warriors. I guess I find headstrong, beautiful women especially attractive.

Prehistoric Wildlife: Dinosaurs were my first love, with Tyrannosaurus rex being my all-time favorite animal ever, so no world of mine feels complete without a dinosaur-populated jungle somewhere. For colder environments I like to use Ice Age mammals like saber-toothed cats and woolly mammoths. Either way, prehistory is a rich reservoir for creature ideas.
 
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