I was reading over TeacherWriter’s blogpost about themes in writing, and I thought I’d share some themes I’ve seen in mine. Now, they aren’t in everything I write I believe, but they do show up pretty often.

Dreams

Dreaming

Dreams are a big one. You know how J.K. Rowling considered Hermoine as a character of herself within the Harry Potter series? You know, always trying to keep Ron and Harry out of trouble, but always very nerdy, bookish, and knows the trick to get out of said trouble? That’s how dreams typically work in my piece. Sometimes they’re a clue to the dreamer about what’s really going on, sometimes its divulging an underlying fear of theirs, and sometimes its just a wacky acid trip that makes little to no sense. But they’re my way of telling an important plot point in an indirect manner. Sometimes the reader understands the point before the dreamer does, and sometimes there’s no point at all. Still you get to share in the dreamer’s experience and try to pull it apart.

Many of my story inspirations come from dreams I had. The basic premise that began Suzie’s Nightmare was based on a dream I had about what I was scared of as a kid. Its amazing how the world can be turned upside-down in a dream, but you still have to return to reality afterwards.

Mirrored by David Reeves @ Flickr

Lies

Falsities, deception, misdirection, these things play a huge role in my stories. Sometimes they’re the main theme of the piece. This has burned me many times in the past, so its only natural that it comes out to play as a major force within my stories. Sometimes its one of the main forces that are urging the protagonist forward, and sometimes they’re the ones that are being fooled.

Either way, lies and deception play a major part. And its oh so much fun to see how characters react when they realize they’ve been duped. If you’re looking for something to make your character do a 180, that’s definitely a nice piece to keep handy in your toolkit.

What kind of themes do you all have in your writing? And branching off of that, what other items do you like to keep handy in your toolkit? “Break in case of story emergency,” what would you store there?