IWSG: Themes in Writing

 

Best of luck to everyone and anyone participating in NaNoWriMo this year! (I'm trying to finish some current WIPs instead). Welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group post for November. You can learn more about the IWSG on their website.

 

Our hosts for this month are Kalpana, Kim Lajevardi, Rebecca Douglas, Jennifer Lane, and Cathrina Constantine.

 

 Here's our question for November: As a writer, do you have favorite themes you like to explore in your stories? If so, what are they?

 

One of the themes that I like to explore is group dynamics. You can see some of that in my novel Twinned Universes. The main character, Paul, is a teenager, and his sister and friends are very important to him and the decisions he makes during the story. My fantasy series, The Season Avatars, focuses on a quartet of young women, each with a distinct type of magic that is more effective when they work together. 

 

What are some recurring themes in your stories? Feel free to share them in the comments. 

 

Finding Themes While Reading

One of the books I'm currently reading is called The House Witch by Delemhach (though I may be done with it by the time this post goes live). As the title suggests, it's about a male witch (the term applies to all genders) named Fin whose skill with domestic magic enables him to become a royal cook. 

As I've been reading this book, I've noticed that several sets of father-son relationships are mentioned. There's Fin and his abusive father, the king and prince Fin serves, a family that burdens their male children with embarrassing names to toughen them, and probably more. There's also an important brother-sister relationship. All of these relationships deal with the power imbalance between the people involved. 

Echoing this theme is the difference in culture between the main country, Daxaria, and Troivack, a neighboring country that is planning to start a war with Daxaria. There is little to no love between family members in Troivack; in fact, the sister I mentioned earlier is originally from Troivack and only learned to love when she came to Daxaria. The book is part of a three-part series, and fortunately my local library has all the books. It's just a matter of getting to them, along with all the other books I want to read.

At this point in the series, it's too early to tell if the family theme will be the most important theme throughout the entire story. But it'll give me something to watch for. 

Have there been any themes that jumped out at you in the books you've read recently? If so, feel free to share them in the comments.