Overworked Themes

euclid · Nov 27, 2009

I came across this list while researching possible markets for one of my short stories.

http://www.strangehorizons.com/guidelines/fiction-common.shtml#top

JulieHowe · Nov 27, 2009

Thanks for the link!

kuwisdelu · Nov 27, 2009

Phew, I'm 0 for 37.

Well, I have some of 6 and 26, but they're not the main point of the story, so I think I'm good.

ChristineR · Nov 27, 2009

Wow, I'm surprised I don't have any of them. Some of them are pretty specific though. For example, I have a protagonist who is wronged and takes revenge, but he isn't put through "humiliation after humiliation" and while he actually does murder someone, it's not the person who wronged him and the murder is for other motives.

willietheshakes · Nov 27, 2009

You know what? I've used at least six of these. And made them work.

Overworked themes and approaches are only a problem if you don't do anything decent with them. Hell, boy-meets-girl is the oldest story in the book, but damned if it doesn't still work.

kuwisdelu · Nov 28, 2009

willietheshakes said:
You know what? I've used at least six of these. And made them work.

Overworked themes and approaches are only a problem if you don't do anything decent with them. Hell, boy-meets-girl is the oldest story in the book, but damned if it doesn't still work.

Yeah, the only real problem with everything listed is when they are the *only thing going for the story,* which the editors make sure to point out.

More than half my stories are "boy meets girl," but I'll be damned if that's all there is to it.

BigWords · Nov 28, 2009

kuwisdelu said:
More than half my stories are "boy meets girl," but I'll be damned if that's all there is to it.

Bobby Evans turned a decent profit on Love Story, which has at least six or seven overworked ideas running through its' core. If the story can surpass the individual elements which make up the work then there is nothing to be worried about.

backslashbaby · Nov 28, 2009

I love this list

I have a little of 6 and 21, but I added vampires, so I should be OK

Cyia · Nov 28, 2009

I am not getting rid of my twist ending. I luvs it.

cptwentworth · Nov 28, 2009

I thought all of the ideas could make for possible good stories, but I'm not an agent/editor/publisher who has to read the same rigamarole over and over. And over.

finnisempty · Nov 29, 2009

Great list with the exception of #28 about strange things happening without explanation. Consider the absurd.

DavidZahir · Dec 1, 2009

In general that is a good list. Ditto the one about Horror stories.

Brutal Mustang · Dec 10, 2009

A few things on this list are absolutely ridiculous.

Monkey · Dec 10, 2009

Number Four, example C...

In the end, it turns out the protagonist is insane.

What if, in the end, the writer's insane?

Great list, thanks for linking it!

defcon6000 · Dec 10, 2009

kuwisdelu said:
Yeah, the only real problem with everything listed is when they are the *only thing going for the story,* which the editors make sure to point out.

They point it out too.

Protagonist is a bad person. (We don't object to this in a story; we merely object to it being the main point of the plot.)

All technology is shown to be soulless; in contrast, anything "natural" is by definition good. For example, living in a weather-controlled environment is bad, because it's artificial, while dying of pneumonia is good, because it's natural.

Lol! I'd love to see a story where people dying of easily curable diseases is the preferred over health care.

The main point of the story is for the author to metaphorically tell the reader, "Ha, ha, I tricked you! You thought one thing was going on, but it was really something else! You sure are dumb!"

*cough* M. Night Shyamalan *cough*

Awesome list! Thanks for sharing.

Strange Days · Dec 11, 2009

As an attempted writer - have none of those points in my story.
As a reader/spectator - absolutely disagree with a few points:
Number 21. - Sorry, Voltaire and Michael Moore...
Number 7. - Sorry, Clockwork Orange...
Number 2. - Sorry, My Left Foot...
Number 6. - Sorry, Leo Tolstoy...
Number 9. - Sorry, Angel Heart...
Predictability is not allways bad: if you see Mickey Rourke starring in the movie - you expect him to die in the end. And you will be disappointed if it doesn't happen...

Kitty Pryde · Dec 11, 2009

But none of those examples you give are science fiction/fantasy short stories in magazines. The list points out that not all of the things listed are "necessarily bad". It's simply a list of stories one magazine gets way too often (and which clearly don't work for them).

Strange Days said:
As an attempted writer - have none of those points in my story.
As a reader/spectator - absolutely disagree with a few points:
Number 21. - Sorry, Voltaire and Michael Moore...
Number 7. - Sorry, Clockwork Orange...
Number 2. - Sorry, My Left Foot...
Number 6. - Sorry, Leo Tolstoy...
Number 9. - Sorry, Angel Heart...
Predictability is not allways bad: if you see Mickey Rourke starring in the movie - you expect him to die in the end. And you will be disappointed if it doesn't happen...

Strange Days · Dec 11, 2009

Kitty Pryde said:
But none of those examples you give are science fiction/fantasy short stories in magazines. The list points out that not all of the things listed are "necessarily bad". It's simply a list of stories one magazine gets way too often (and which clearly don't work for them).

Clockwork Orange and Angel Heart fit sci-fi and fantasy/horror genres to a good degree. Not a magazine format, though, but still... I just think, that working on a mainstream pop-theme (like many of the ones in that list) gives some false self-"excuse" to some writers not to work on actual writing too much - the topic will sell itself just by being mainstream. So, that's why, I believe, the majority of the submissions with the said plots turn out to be of a poor quality. Quite a few of those topics can be done a fresh way.

Polenth · Dec 11, 2009

Strange Days said:
Clockwork Orange and Angel Heart fit sci-fi and fantasy/horror genres to a good degree. Not a magazine format, though, but still... I just think, that working on a mainstream pop-theme (like many of the ones in that list) gives some false self-"excuse" to some writers not to work on actual writing too much - the topic will sell itself just by being mainstream. So, that's why, I believe, the majority of the submissions with the said plots turn out to be of a poor quality. Quite a few of those topics can be done a fresh way.

The list is what it says: a list of themes they see too often. They're not claiming the themes are automatically bad, that there haven't been good stories with the themes, that you can't write a fresh take on the themes or anything like that. All they're saying is they see them too often (sometimes because the theme has been done well before, so everyone copies).

knight_tour · Dec 18, 2009

The only one that fits my story is the D&D one, though I didn't have D&D in mind when I wrote it. I was more after mashing together what I love about Tolkien and George R.R. Martin. This magazine's editors (and most agents and publishers these days) may not want any traditional Tolkienish fantasy stories, but I feel there are a great many readers out there who do like it (the very vocal haters around here not withstanding). I am writing for myself and for the readers who actually do like this type of fantasy.

Libbie · Dec 18, 2009

Terrorists (especially Osama bin Laden) discover that horrible things happen to them in the afterlife (or otherwise get their comeuppance).

Oh...groan. Really? They see this a lot?

Libbie · Dec 18, 2009

Strange Days said:
Number 7. - Sorry, Clockwork Orange...

Er -- "Alex is a bad person" isn't what A Clockwork Orange is about.

"Alex should be free to choose whether to be good or bad" is what A Clockwork Orange is about. And it deals with that theme gorgeously.

A story that only says "Protagonist is such a bad guy, aren't you amazed?" would be incredibly dull and I wouldn't want to publish it, either.

Xelebes · Dec 20, 2009

Libbie said:
Oh...groan. Really? They see this a lot?

I think you would be surprised. I found it is quite common for male writers like to mix in political views into their writing. Not a smattering of politics but a smothering.

Dawnstorm · Dec 21, 2009

Xelebes said:
Not a smattering of politics but a smothering.

"A smothering of politics"

Has a ring to it.

Tara Stone · Dec 29, 2009

I'm surprised a lot of these are overused; some of them are things I've rarely seen (like 23... is that actually a common plot?). A bunch of them, though, are things I've seen way too many times. I'm thoroughly tired of 15, for instance. And 6, but mainly because I vigorously disagree with the premise and don't like having it shoved down my throat.

26 could describe my favorite book... except that the revenge isn't the main point of the story.

I'm pretty sure the only two of these I've used are 9 and 34, so I think I'm okay.

Overworked Themes

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