"Deep Philosophical Content" in fiction

[agilebrit]

A comment on Twitter (hat tip to @TomCat1066) and one of Dave Farland's Daily Kicks got me thinking about what makes good stories.

Now. I write werewolf fiction (among other things), and I'm certainly not shy about it, or ashamed of it. I write the stories I want to read. And I definitely think that a cracking good story comes first. You have to

Comments

[ozma914]

We'll said. I often have people mention the underlying themes of my stories ... But I just as often don't notice I had one until they point it out.

[agilebrit]

*nod* Dave Farland mentioned the de-wolfed Ben story in one of his Daily Kicks, and said it was a story about belonging. While I can certainly see how he would think that (in retrospect), that wasn't something I consciously put in there.

That being said, Ben is a Pack animal more than most and that may be an underlying thing I stick in his stories because it's a fundamental part of his character. No one knows better than him that the boy needs to Not Be Alone. Whatever that means in the context of being de-wolfed in that particular story.

[ozma914]

I wonder what the message would be if the same character was a vampire? :-)

[agilebrit]

He was a vampire once.

He got better. :p