DISCUSSION: What Themes Inspire You

[Flaze]

Okay so, we all have our own stories that we want to tell and characters that we want to create. But have you ever thought about what inspires you towards that? I believe that everyone has something they want to focus on when it comes to writing. Sure, different stories can have different themes, but an author's worldview and personality will over priotirize an overarching theme in their story.

For example, with my stories I tend to focus on themes that explore the character's bonds with each other, whether it'd be friendship or comradery as well as the different ways in which these can help others grow or hinder them. It's a particular subject that I like to tackle even if I admit that it's really simple and basic and overdone at this point in time.

Another theme I like to explore is growth and how people can change and lose themselves as they grow. I touched on it a little bit in Academy with how I showed Reggie and other characters shifting in their personalities and how they dealt with them, with some, like Reggie, being afraid to accept those changes. I go into it more directly in Because You Were There since I actually jump from different points in Sarah's and Sombra's life.

But enough about me. What do you guys think about this? What themes drive you towards writing the most or what themes can you spot the most in your stories.

 

[Griff4815]

A common theme across all of my stories is that of friendship. The struggles and triumphs in the relationships between friends has always appealed to me as a writer.

I'm also a big fan of writing characters with hidden depths and stories. I like showing that there's more than meets the eye with characters, and I try to reveal more about characters gradually over time. I like presenting one image of a character and then showing why they're that way or present other aspects about them that contrast with the way they hold themselves.

I also like writing political themes from time to time. I don't always get to do this, but when I do, it's fun for me. I find politics and the interplay between different actors and factions to be fascinating.

I'm also a big fan of character development and the struggles of characters to live up to the changes that they have made or are trying to make to themselves.

I'm sure there's more, but I don't know what else at the moment.

 

[Sir Turtlelot]

I tend to base some of my characters off of friends and family members. The characters in the fic I'm plotting out are all based off of the people who I used to play Pokemon with. From their personalities to the teams they used, I just want to recreate what we used to have together in written form.

 

[diamondpearl876]

I'm sure I've mentioned this elsewhere, but since writing is more therapeutic and personal for me, my characters each essentially embody one major personality trait/characteristic I possess myself. Their character development/interactions cover the struggles that I personally have or would like to improve on in myself. There's nothing quite like taking all your flaws, putting them down on paper, and watching people react to them, I have to say. Also nothing quite like realizing far, far down the line the connection between you and your characters, since this tendency of mine to write self-inserts (I've accepted this is probably what they are, however negative the term is considered) isn't really intentional. It always just kind of happens.

As for general story themes, I focus a lot on friendship/family as well, and also heavier, more sensitive themes like mental illness and abuse. Similar to @Griff4815, I also tend to focus on hidden pasts and integrating them into the present so that characters are forced to face what happened.

 

[canisaries]

I write because I love to create and because I want to express myself. I also think about hypothetical situations and philosophical questions a lot, whether I want it or not.

What's good and evil and what's sane and insane are two themes that have especially been on my mind as of late, and both of these are kind of present in Hunter, Haunted. Red Akai is a horrible person by most standards, but lacking empathy himself, he doesn't see himself that way. He doesn't think he's crazy, either - if anything, he thinks everyone else is. This doesn't make his actions any less awful or hurtful, but does it mean he deserves to never be happy? Does anyone deserve that?

My fic naturally doesn't answer these questions, but there's no denying these themes are present.

 

[CrystaI]

Friendship? Bonding? Ties? Good VS Evil? Nah, I'm not interested in such overused cliche shallow themes. I prefer something more complicated and more in-depth.

Whether it is human or pokemon, characters are different from one another, hence one will connect differently with one another, there is no exact same "connection" between two characters. And personally I like to explore the many different kind of "connections" between different characters through their attitude and mannerism towards each specific characters. One may talk to a specific person very friendly, yet the same person may talk to another person hostilely, or may talk to another different person indifferently. If one is going to read my fic, one shall notice the diverse personal network between many characters for every individual character. The diversity and psychology behind all the different "connections" is one thing I'm fascinated to explore and dig further within my fics.

And another specific theme I always incorporate in my works is, the "grayness" of each characters. In my works, there is no distinctive black-or-white characters, no one is purely good, yet no one is purely evil. The opposite definition of one's positive/negative characteristic traits may make one both good and evil, e.g. If a character is always energetic and righteous, he/she can be defined as unsettling and deadpan earnest, where he/she will then be "bad" in situations that requires composure and rationalism. If a character is said to be cold-hearted and dishonest, he/she can also be defined as pragmatic and deceptive, where he/she can be "good" in situations that requires tactful intelligence and decision making. Hence one may often find characters in my fics both lovable and hatable (And that's including even the protagonists).

The themes centered around humanities and psychology, are most inspiring for me personally.

 

[Cresselia92]

While I don’t currently have a fanfic to show, I’m planning to work on one because I love creating new characters and stories, especially ones that have themes very close to me, like family and overcoming adversities.

Among themes I’ve tackled there are the fear of the other (xenophobia, which isn’t limited to human vs human), going against stereotypes (like making a good wolf, despite being portrayed mostly as bad by most people) and using extreme willpower to face anything that could plague the mind of the character, like grief, low self-esteem and similar traits.

The fanfic I was to start working on (hopefully soon) will delve a lot into the meaning of family. Like, what is a family? Is it tied by blood or anyone can be family?

Another theme I want to tackle there will be realizing one’s true potential, as in having the character realize who and how really are they. Are they like they think themselves to be, or are they like others think about them, or something in-between? Maybe something different entirely?

I know they may be a bit vague as points, but I simply prefer to not spoil too much for now. ^^

 

[Juliko]

Like most people here, I write and create stories because I love doing so, and want to express myself in the ways I know how. Most themes that come up in my stories are friendship (Many of my characters hold having friends and the friends they have in very high regard for various reasons), acceptance of those who are different, and some sensitive issues like mental illness, bullying, etc. I've always been a big fan of stories that went against the grain and never coddled the viewer/reader, nor sugar coated or tried to hide the darker, less pleasant aspects of life. This is why anime really appealed to me when I was a kid, because many of the shows I watched when I was younger seemed a bit too safe and uninteresting for me. Sometimes, life gives you a crappy deck of cards that you didn't ask for, and there won't always be happy endings. But that absolutely doesn't mean life isn't worth living, nor are all the people you meet bad and cruel. One of my favorite movies of all time has a really sad ending, but it still has plenty of happy moments, sad moments, intense moments, etc.

 

[UselessBytes]

Generally I use a wide variety of themes in my writing, but I never start a piece with a particular theme in mind. My current story, Raindrops, has a pretty obvious focus that boils down to a message about selflessness and taking life slowly.

One of my favorite projects I did was an Avatar The Last Airbender story titled, “The Sandbenders”, that focused on a different mini theme each chapter, and said mini theme was summed up by a quote from Iroh at the beginning of every chapter.

Although in the end, most of my writing doesn’t have a “theme” per say. Most of it is there for you to enjoy reading. If you find some deeper meaning in my writing, I probably didn’t intend it, but hey, good for you for finding something meaningful in my chicken scratch!

 

[Revenge of the Boyega]

I do enjoy exploring relationships, as I've always had an interest in humanity as a whole. Friendship with the capacity to evolve into something more, but that is never a potential that I exploit. Mostly because it is embarrassing, but also because friendship has this strange appeal. It involves all the principals of love, but not in a way that compels you to write about... acckk... lip contact. Eugh. Shut up, me.
I especially like writing about breaking down people's shells or fighting past their flaws and assumed demeanour. One of my favourite works (god that sounds pretentious) involved a very strange jerk who was crude, faintly sadistic and wholly violent. But he's just messed up: a by-product of bad times. And revealing little slivers of his humanity, normalcy and vulnerability was immensely satisfying.

I strive to make things feel emotionally dynamic, and it has always been a theme that enticed me. Also, action. Plenty of it. Some blood. Actually, lots, but that's just a preference of mine. And friends beating the living butter out of each other is always fun to write/read, I think.

 

[lucarioknight56]

With my stories leading up to Unequivocant, it used to be about seeing how global events could effect the world, and how the characters interact when there's the consequences if that and a brand new one. While that made a decent large-scale plot, my characters ended up rather bland as a result.

Now, with Unequivocant, I still think of major events happening to characters, and are generally the thing that remains in my head. But now I think more on how the little things affect them too, and what it can do to their personality. I try to make them realistic--and, to be honest, some aspect of myself. That explanation will come at a later time, but I will say that if it wasn't for such a mentality motivating me to write, Unequivocant would not be the story it is.

I realize that that may sound like rule of thumb for writing a story, but before PMDUE, I focused primarily on the world and plot rather than the characters, and while that can be a viable approach, I didn't do so. A change of focus does wonders.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

All my work is speculative fiction. "What if X were true? How would that affect people?" The "X" can be future technology, the existence of the supernatural, the existence of non-human intelligences whether alien, artificial, or evolved, massive social/political/economic/environmental changes as you get in lots of dystopian fiction, or any other scifi/fantasy elements. I like to think about how humans and human society can be different to how it is in our world and time. And I like to write about non-human characters - pokemon included.