Musings on the transcendence of theme and other pretentious writing things like that
Oh, and here's some food for thought, while I'm on the subject of writing. Do you guys notice that you tend to have the same themes and ideas running through your various works, or is every story a completely new adventure, or some of both?
I ask because, having recently reread Good Omens and now reading American Gods and Sandman concurrently, I've been noticing that the really cool thing about reading a bunch of Neil's stuff all at once (besides the awesome factor) means that you get to see how all his stuff tends to tie together thematically--the nearly solitary protagonists, the prevalence of death, the ties and allusions to mythology and religion, etc. Someone actually asked him about this today during the 1B1T Q&A hour, and he said that yes, "they all link up around the back." And I thought, well, if I'm noticing this in one author I greatly admire, I expect it or something like it is true for a lot of us who write.
So--does your writing do this? I don't necessarily mean the same phrasings and speech patterns, although feel free to talk about that as well because lord knows I have a tendency towards that; I'm talking more about the overarching ideas, the things that creep in without you even noticing or the themes that might make one type of story more interesting to write than another. I sometimes think mine does, but I'd be hard-pressed to say if that's because I'm just writing the same story over and over or if it all adds up to something bigger. (No, I'm not asking for petting or validation here. I'm really curious about your stories, not mine.)
I definitely notice with some fandom authors that you can usually tell it's "a(n) [author's name] fic," but with other authors, their various fics seem to be connected only by the name attached to them. What about your fics? What about your friends, the people you read, or the people you beta for (if you beta)? Feel free to also talk about Neil or other pro writers if you find it relevant. (Neil Gaiman is ALWAYS ON TOPIC here.)
And since I seem to be addressing it in a roundabout fashion, here's a great article on theme, thanks to celtic_cookie, who linked it to me. ♥
I will even attempt to answer every comment on this post! I know, right?
I ask because, having recently reread Good Omens and now reading American Gods and Sandman concurrently, I've been noticing that the really cool thing about reading a bunch of Neil's stuff all at once (besides the awesome factor) means that you get to see how all his stuff tends to tie together thematically--the nearly solitary protagonists, the prevalence of death, the ties and allusions to mythology and religion, etc. Someone actually asked him about this today during the 1B1T Q&A hour, and he said that yes, "they all link up around the back." And I thought, well, if I'm noticing this in one author I greatly admire, I expect it or something like it is true for a lot of us who write.
So--does your writing do this? I don't necessarily mean the same phrasings and speech patterns, although feel free to talk about that as well because lord knows I have a tendency towards that; I'm talking more about the overarching ideas, the things that creep in without you even noticing or the themes that might make one type of story more interesting to write than another. I sometimes think mine does, but I'd be hard-pressed to say if that's because I'm just writing the same story over and over or if it all adds up to something bigger. (No, I'm not asking for petting or validation here. I'm really curious about your stories, not mine.)
I definitely notice with some fandom authors that you can usually tell it's "a(n) [author's name] fic," but with other authors, their various fics seem to be connected only by the name attached to them. What about your fics? What about your friends, the people you read, or the people you beta for (if you beta)? Feel free to also talk about Neil or other pro writers if you find it relevant. (Neil Gaiman is ALWAYS ON TOPIC here.)
And since I seem to be addressing it in a roundabout fashion, here's a great article on theme, thanks to celtic_cookie, who linked it to me. ♥
I will even attempt to answer every comment on this post! I know, right?