In my quest to find ideas that I can use for my BSSP entry next year, I have been going through my various ‘idea’s files’ and looking at the many, many fragments of stories I have started.
While doing this I’ve started to see a some definite common themes it my writing.
Neighbouring Realms
The most obvious theme (to me at least) is that of other worlds, existing in parallel to our own. In most of these ideas the world is not separated by distance from us, but rather it is next to ours and accessible by some sort of ‘magic gate’.
Examples of this theme in my completed works are:-
- The Way Home, my 2007 Nanowrimo story
- Nexus, my Script Frenzy script for 2008 (which only now I discover I’ve not uploaded to my site!)
- Wolf winter, the initial idea for my failed 2009 script frenzy script
- Midsummer Nightmare, my 2009 Nanowrimo story
- South of the river, this years failed Nanowrimo story
There are many other stories that didn’t get much beyond the first few pages, which all fit this theme. A lot of them come from the world of ‘The Route’ which I first visited in The Way Home. I think since this was my first ‘big’ work, this has had a big influence on my thinking since. Also since it is so huge in scope, it gives me an easy way to put modern day people in to situations which are very strange and alien to them. Also to a lesser degree, the Fay Realm which I first used in Midsummer Nightmare has popped again and again in incomplete stories.
Emergent life
I have always been interested in the idea that we might accidentally create a completely new form of life somehow. And because this life form is so radically different from us, we are not at first aware that it is in fact alive.
Stories that feature this theme are:-
- Datascape, my first ‘real’ story
- The Monastery and other 4912 stories, none of which have yet been completed!
- Again South of the River fits here to, since one of ideas in this story was that the city it’s self was a living thing.
Again there a lot of other incomplete and barely started stories which also fit in this theme. The fact that the first real story I ever finished fits in to this theme, probably has had a big influence on my later works.
Reality is shaped by perception of it
This idea has appeared in an awful lot of my unfinished works, but oddly very few that I have finished. The only one that really touches on this is Bus Station. Also my current ‘top secret’ story project is based around the whole idea that how you see the world effects how the world actually is, both for your self and others.
Exploring the world
No so much a theme this, more a style of story telling. And one that I seem to like a lot. A number of my stories do feature a large element of exploring ‘strange new worlds’. I guess this is pretty much invertible given that I tell all of stories in these other realms. Examples of this style of story are:-
- The Way Home
- The Dark Nebular, my Nanowrimo 2010 story
- Midsummer Nightmare
- Kings Cross, my Nanowrimo 2008 story
I think this style of story telling comes from the fact that I did play a lot of role playing games in my teens, particularly Dungeons and Dragons, which features a strong exploring element in most adventures.
Tags: writing
