Monday, September 6, 2010

Writing Exercise: List your Themes

One thing that I've noticed in my novel is that there are a lot of themes and sub-texts that are rolling about. I suppose that's because it's more of a character study than a plotted piece. I mean, there's a conspiracy bouncing around, but it's the characters that matter the most. So I decided to jot down a short list of themes and then round out what sort of things have happened / could happen / will happen that would fit under it. I won't include the Happen List here as it has a lot of spoilers in it for my *fingers-crossed* someday-published works, but themes are:

Self-Discovery
Loyalty to Family / Friends vs. Loyalty to Self
Trust vs. Paranoia
Broken Promises
Reconciliation v.s. Burning Bridges
Corrupted Families
Divided Loyalties
Struggle for Self-Worth
Family / Friend Obligation v.s. Personal Happiness
Hope v.s. Despair / Hope & Horror
Sanity v.s. Dissolution of the Self

And that's just to name a few. What are some of the themes in your stories?

2 comments:

  1. Cool idea.
    I'll have to sit and think on my current WIPs. Good exercise.

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  2. Well, when you're done having a think, put up a post on what your themes are. I'm always interested in how these things turn out for other people.

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