Considering even my MG and YA stories are misanthropy mines where "people are inherently fake cannibalistic hypocrites who will turn on each other at the drop of a dime" is the prevailing sentiment... it's weird how often redemption and the value of genuine relationships ooze through the narrative cracks. I just can't seem to get rid of them.
Career theme (central theme in your writing)
- Thread starter Ton Lew Lepsnaci
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Writers: Know why we all need to get rhino hide? It's not just to deal with query rejections and publisher passes and bad reviews. It's to fortify yourself against other writers who like to take potshots at you and your talent and your work.
Jealousy is everywhere, and no one knows everything.
Hey--including me!
Yes, you're right. Jealousy is the only reason anyone ever criticizes another writer's work. It's never, ever because that work is poor, or because some writers write the same book over and over and over.
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JAR, you dropped this. 
I can only find one true universal between all my books. Society and authority = bad. Rebellion of all types = good.
I love destroying whole societies and overthrowing governments.
ETA: It's total wish-fulfillment, of course. I've always hated authority in real life.
I can only find one true universal between all my books. Society and authority = bad. Rebellion of all types = good.
I love destroying whole societies and overthrowing governments.
ETA: It's total wish-fulfillment, of course. I've always hated authority in real life.
A lot of my writing tends to focus on morals and the shades of grey between what's right and wrong, as well as pointing out that good things can come from bad acts and vice versa.
The point of this thread (and of the blog) is for writers to think about themes that might tie their work together, that inspire them, themes they may only discover after having written several novels.
The realization such themes arise can help the writer consciously stick to them or opt for a change. Either way, insights gained in ones writing are useful.
Please keep the discussion to the intended aim, i.e. to discuss the topic of exploring themes.
If anyone is interested in creating a thread on writers who write the same book over and over, please go ahead. I have no interest in discussing it. It does not teach me anything useful about writing and, as my prior counter example on fuges showed, the two issues are distinct. We're not discussing formulaic work, the topic is themes. Working within boundaries can boost creativity. Working according to a routine recipe doesn't.
I can understand your reaction to the original posted thread to some extent due to my short-hand formulation.
This is the second time I made myself clear as to its intention.
Let's not hammer the same argument again and again either and move on.
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I'm afraid to ponder this too much because I'm worried about evaluating every future idea I have against it. For that matter, I'm not sure I have the best perspective to give a decent answer to that.
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My usual theme is about being open-minded and future-focused instead of prejudiced and past-focused. Today I was thinking about a different one, though. I was considering a personal experience where I started out enthusiastic about being a leader and taking on responsibilities. But after I took on the responsibilities I discovered they were wearing me down instead of being fulfilling. I had to wrestle with the question of whether I was being a quitter/lazy/assorted other denigrating terms. And also I had to figure out how to get out of the responsibilities without hurting the other people involved, or promptly finding myself bored out of my skull and frustrated that I no longer had any of the power and influence that went along with the leadership position. And all this made me think that would be a good character progression and life lesson for a novel. I wonder if there are any novels where a major character becomes a leader and realizes they hate being a leader and aren't suited for it at all, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Enough. Feeling like enough, being enough, having enough. Explored in different ways in different stories, but I think that's a theme that runs through most of my work.
I seem to be exploring the impacts of accepting responsibility in one's life in several of my books. Not sure if that's true in all of them, but in several.
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I had a reply typed and then erased it. I admit that I played a passive aggressive card in my first reply, because I was angry. I'm not going to play passive-aggressive again.
James, I might have inferred snark in your original reply that wasn't there. I've seen dozens and dozens of your posts that appear to lay down your own personal law for writing that is set in stone for all eternity and that no one can ever write or get published in any other way.
My apologies for the jab. I'm going to put you on Ignore now. Good luck with your writing.
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My goal was to intelligently contribute to the conversation, but I read the jealousy post, and then the other post talking about the jealousy post, I thought, wtf??!! Did I misunderstand the damn question? I was having a tough enough time trying to figure out what recurrent theme(s) weave through my stuff. . .
I wrote a response, deleted. Wrote, deleted. Left, dejected.
At least I came back and found out I wasn't a total doofus. Alas, I still can't pinpoint the theme(s) run through my stuff, and now I'm rambling and, therefore, not intelligently contributing a damn thing.
I wrote a response, deleted. Wrote, deleted. Left, dejected.
At least I came back and found out I wasn't a total doofus. Alas, I still can't pinpoint the theme(s) run through my stuff, and now I'm rambling and, therefore, not intelligently contributing a damn thing.
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Love - what it is, the different kinds of love, what pretends to be love, and most of all, the risks people take for love and the price they pay for it.
The paradox between beauty and suffering in the world. The ways people try to avoid and numb themselves to suffering and end up cutting themselves off from love and beauty in the process.
The drama of evil, grace, and redemption (or not).
The joy and pain that comes from deep attachments to one's home and family.
The paradox between beauty and suffering in the world. The ways people try to avoid and numb themselves to suffering and end up cutting themselves off from love and beauty in the process.
The drama of evil, grace, and redemption (or not).
The joy and pain that comes from deep attachments to one's home and family.
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Exploring responsibility and duty - the kind you choose, the kind someone puts on you, and the kind that maybe you don't have any right to take upon yourself.
The power of friendship, and oh lord, there is no better way to write that, I really am an after-school special.
Leadership and teamwork.
The power of friendship, and oh lord, there is no better way to write that, I really am an after-school special.
Leadership and teamwork.
Surely the fact that everyone could think of their own little theme shows us that we will have one, whether we're aware of it or not. We all come to writing with a moving trucks worth of baggage and will be influenced by that every time we put pen to paper.
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In a pinch, I suppose a few of my works explore why differences are no barrier to community.
But, I honestly don't think I have a career theme, not yet anyway. Or if I do I can't see it.
But, I honestly don't think I have a career theme, not yet anyway. Or if I do I can't see it.
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With only two novels written, I can honestly say I don't have a theme. Maybe one will pop up after I get two more under my belt. The closest I can get is strength when facing uncertainty or the unknown.
I do a lot about mental health/ instability, anxiety, pstd, soldiering on, and what it takes to do so. I have no idea why, except that my characters tend to that side of meditation.
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