Themes Take Two (The Short List)

Feb 08, 2016 10:47

So, we got them down from 14 to a much more manageable seven.  Yay us!  Now let's discuss them, keeping in mind that we need to pick Team Designations as well, and we'll decide by Feb 14th.  Does that work?

1. In Sickness and in Health: I pitched this two years back, too late for it to be considered. Since then, I have become even more attached to the idea. I know lots of people write and read fanfic because the real world is a difficult place, or even inaccessible, to them. Many members of the fandom deal with disability, mental health issues, and chronic illness, and so do Remus and Sirius.
The theme has broad applications. There's huge potential for fluff, angst, and of course hurt/comfort. Possibilities include everything from one pup nursing the other through the 'flu, the issues surrounding Remus's lycanthropy and Sirius's post-Azkaban PTSD, to medical drama AUs, eating disorders, and even stories about terminal illness.

I also wanted to add, for the record, that I have seen a lot of people on tumblr specifically asking for fic involving characters with chronic illness, mental health issues, and disabilities. "In Sickness and In Health" could go a long way towards filling a major need in the fandom.

2. Time (I'll think of a clever tag later): Some call it the fourth dimension - others call it a mere illusion - but however you see it, it is nearly inescapable. Time can be a friend, healing old wounds, or an enemy who marches us closer to old age and death. It can pass excruciatingly slowly or seem to whiz by in the blink of an eye. Though we try to tame it with clocks and calendars, it exists both outside us and within us, keeping a pace of it's own. All beings experience it differently; a day is a lifetime to a mayfly, but a mere minute to a redwood tree. Humans feel this, as well. All stories are bound by time, and most art freezes it in place. But we can explore beyond those boundaries, too.

This theme would be all about time and how it is experienced. From the fleeting hours of the perfect summer day to the ebb and flow of the moon, from the anxiety-filled minutes of O.W.L.S. or N.E.W.T.S. to the endless, dark days of Azkaban, our fandom is tied inexplicably to the passage of time. The stories and art do not need to be explicitly about time, but, rather, use time creatively as a motif or inspiration. Prompts could be anything to do with time and the passage of time. There are a lot of quote and song possibilities, but there could also be really interesting visual prompts with things like clocks, shadows, leaves, seasons, people, and other things that have to do with the passage of time. We could also use idioms and phrases like "dinner time" or "3/4 time" or "racing against the clock."

Almost any Team designations could work for this, but maybe we might want to avoid something specifically temporal (like MWPP v Post-Hogwarts). Or maybe we would want to embrace that...

Pros: Again, it's really open-ended and general, so there could be a huge variety of works created. Time is also something that everyone experiences, yet experiences differently. Situations involving time can be funny or clever or scary or angsty or all kinds of things. Adventures take time, as does love. It would also open some doors to really cool AU's about time travel, Sirius coming back, afterlife, etc.
Cons: I haven't thought of a clever tagline, yet, and I suppose it could be too closely related to the seasons or journeys.

3. Eat, Drink, and be Merry: This would be all about food, drink, and fun… or not so fun. Eating and drinking (as in water) is something virtually everyone does, Food is pretty much universal, yet it is also fascinating and invokes many different feelings different people. Though the idea of food and eating is common to all cultures, writing about it provides some unique opportunities to take the reader (or viewer) to different times and places. And drink (especially alcohol) adds interest and possibility. Prompts could be anything from table settings to songs about drinking to clips from cooking shows. This could also work for most all Team designations, Remus v Sirius, Canon v AU, MWPP v. Post Hogwarts, Magic v. Muggle, or even something new and different.

Pros: It is super universal and could invoke some really vivid and descriptive writing. It is also something that could be easily incorporated into almost any kind of story (angst, adventure, romance, horror, humor, fluff) and would add spice (hee hee) without needing to take center stage. It could also make for some pretty art and layouts.
Cons: If everyone wrote about food as center stage, it could get old, but would they actually do that? Maybe.

4. Expressions of Love (Greater love has no one than this...): The different types of love (family, friend, pet, lover) and the different ways that people express it (words, gifts, touch, acts of kindness). I feel like this is a theme that could lend itself to a ton of prompts.

5. Firsts and Lasts/Beginnings and Endings/Hello, Goodbye: First experiences are often exciting or nerve-wracking, but not always: first crush, first kiss, first day of school, first heartbreak, first gray hair. Last experiences are often bittersweet, and remind us of our own mortality: last day of summer, last visit one's childhood home, saying goodbye to someone for a long time, or forever. While we are usually aware of firsts at the time, lasts often pass without being recognized for what they are, sometimes until long after the fact.

6. Location, Location, Location!: This theme could involve travel, but also different kinds of places closer to home, or even home itself. Setting can shape our experiences and understanding of events in different ways. (probably more room for interesting AU settings in this one than canon-compliant stories; I'll admit, I'm not hugely attached to the idea.)

7. The Mind: dreaming, psychology, perception, imagination, mental illness. Not to mention Legilimency and the Imperius curse. Just a random idea to consider. Maybe too abstract and esoteric.
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