What are the themes of your stories?

[TheMonotonePuppet]

Warning. Much words ahead. Feel free to skip and just do the question. Or not do anything and be a spectator.
What are the deeper, subtler, more pervasive themes in your story if you have one going? I don't particularly mean genre or anything like that. But something that makes a cohesive story and makes commentary that if the reader analyzed your story, there are connections to that said theme everywhere.
As an example, "dragons" is not a theme. But something that consistently pushes the amazingness of dragons, it is even ingrained in their very personality that dragons are awesome and one should become this powerful predator, is the theme "dragons are cool and you should like them because they are powerful and *insert every other adjective to compliment them*" or more simply "power is glorious, weakness is not". Technically, any one word could count as a theme, like romance or smut, but that tells nothing as to how it connects to story or personality.
For some stories, they genuinely don't have a cohesive theme, but that's pretty rare? For example, some stories are written to be NTRs with zero commentary. The logic is so inconsistent that anything you can draw from those is nonexistent.
For my story, I use the theme of lies and truth, of committing to a role. Common questions and commentary I focus on: Does someone's acting out of a personality count as truth or not? Which is better, lies or truth and in which situation? When conflicting views on such a thing clash, what happens? That kind of thing.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Warning. Much words ahead. Feel free to skip and just do the question. Or not do anything and be a spectator.
What are the deeper, subtler, more pervasive themes in your story if you have one going? I don't particularly mean genre or anything like that. But something that makes a cohesive story and makes commentary that if the reader analyzed your story, there are connections to that said theme everywhere.
As an example, "dragons" is not a theme. But something that consistently pushes the amazingness of dragons, it is even ingrained in their very personality that dragons are awesome and one should become this powerful predator, is the theme "dragons are cool and you should like them because they are powerful and *insert every other adjective to compliment them*" or more simply "power is glorious, weakness is not". Technically, any one word could count as a theme, like romance or smut, but that tells nothing as to how it connects to story or personality.
For some stories, they genuinely don't have a cohesive theme, but that's pretty rare? For example, some stories are written to be NTRs with zero commentary. The logic is so inconsistent that anything you can draw from those is nonexistent.
For my story, I use the theme of lies and truth, of committing to a role. Common questions and commentary I focus on: Does someone's acting out of a personality count as truth or not? Which is better, lies or truth and in which situation? When conflicting views on such a thing clash, what happens? That kind of thing.

My theme is Lesbian romance between a person and a vampire is the purest possible! If it is evil, I don't want to be good! There are other themes too, but those are less important!

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

My theme is Lesbian romance between a person and a vampire is the purest possible! If it is evil, I don't want to be good! There are other themes too, but those are less important!

Bravo! LOL!

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Bravo! LOL!

I have another story about the seven sins, but meh...That one has evil vampires, evil slimes, evil monsters, evil goddess, evil people, evil author, etc.

 

[nowme_cres]

Warning. Much words ahead. Feel free to skip and just do the question. Or not do anything and be a spectator.
What are the deeper, subtler, more pervasive themes in your story if you have one going? I don't particularly mean genre or anything like that. But something that makes a cohesive story and makes commentary that if the reader analyzed your story, there are connections to that said theme everywhere.
As an example, "dragons" is not a theme. But something that consistently pushes the amazingness of dragons, it is even ingrained in their very personality that dragons are awesome and one should become this powerful predator, is the theme "dragons are cool and you should like them because they are powerful and *insert every other adjective to compliment them*" or more simply "power is glorious, weakness is not". Technically, any one word could count as a theme, like romance or smut, but that tells nothing as to how it connects to story or personality.
For some stories, they genuinely don't have a cohesive theme, but that's pretty rare? For example, some stories are written to be NTRs with zero commentary. The logic is so inconsistent that anything you can draw from those is nonexistent.
For my story, I use the theme of lies and truth, of committing to a role. Common questions and commentary I focus on: Does someone's acting out of a personality count as truth or not? Which is better, lies or truth and in which situation? When conflicting views on such a thing clash, what happens? That kind of thing.

Racism is good, and if you are not a racist you will die

 

[zephyrzane]

I think part of the theme of mine is that, at a certain size, an empire becomes impossible for a centralized government to effectively govern without autocratic or cruel practices.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

The theme for my story is:
Things are not the way they should be, and they need to be set right.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

Racism is good, and if you are not a racist you will die

...What?

I think part of the theme of mine is that, at a certain size, an empire becomes impossible for a centralized government to effectively govern without autocratic or cruel practices.

That's a really cool theme! I'm impressed you're taking that on! I don't really have the 'political writer' chops to do that.

 

[zephyrzane]

...What?

That's a really cool theme! I'm impressed you're taking that on! I don't really have the 'political writer' chops to do that.

Oh, I don't know that I have the chops to do it either, so I can't promise that I've addressed it effectively. But, all you can do is try, right?

 

[georgelee5786]

As an example, "dragons" is not a theme

@Prince_Azmiran_Myrian i got bad news

 

[Rhaps]

Infinity in the Void - Freedom in the Abyss' theme is one I'm really proud of, "the more human you are the more inhuman you become". Being in the Wh40k fandom make me realizes human are so fucking evil deep down, being on a planet that forces humanity to fight for their survival from before "human" was even a thing to today, we fight everyday even if we don't know what fight we are fighting. Yet even if we are bad deep down, we are still capable of doing good things for each other, fighting against our own nature because it is the right thing to do for those around us and ourselves.

Blood Demon of the Whirlpool's theme is "Even the kindest of soul can become evil", a story about how pushing someone who is kind in nature can make them doing things they were not capable of before. Spite is a good motivator, and hatred is even more of a motivation. I took Naruto's theme of "the Cycle of Hatred" to another level, anyone no matter their agenda, their personality can be suck into it and only perpeptuate the cycle even more. It take only one bad day to break a person, and this fanfic's MC is one such case.

 

[DataNerdX]

Lying has consequences, but sometimes it's for the greater good.
What we think of people may be completely different than how they truly are.
Adulthood is a much grayer world than childhood.

 

[Syringe]

Several big ones here:

1. Human psyche
- and how little we actually know about it/how different it can skew a person's perspective of life, meaning, etc. This also extends to how different we may be to other races in fantasy worlds. While we may have morality, things like humanoid insects (driven by phermones, etc) are a slave to their instincts.

2. Self discovery and destruction
- and I don't mean it in just a gender bend way, or anything like that. But I mean how people and entities change over time, discover other facets of themselves, grow, etc. It's paired with self-destruction as well to test how far people are willing to bend against their ideals/ethics/aspirations and dials it up by a thousand. People are challenged to overcome their fatal flaws or become a living manifestation/monster of it.

3. Abrahamic religious themes
- Underneath the hood you'll find parallels to religious text. I thought it would be interesting to put a twist on what we know in a different world, for example, the 7 trumpets are used as an emergency/alarm system, Angels are more than what they appear, the idea of salvation (albeit in a very twisted form, and a more pure form by other agents), the idea of the Original Sin, Garden of Eden, fall of man - And so on. Hell, one of the main antagonists is literally named Iscario who also happened to betray someone as one of 12 apostles. Alot of things have an underlaying religious background/vibe, but not the kind that preaches it. Rather, it's just there as a parallel. Lots of symbolism with apples, trees and birds.

4. Lovecraftian
- Mostly in the form of forbidden knowledge, and man vs their psyche. Throughout the story the majority of the world remains misinformed as a measure to prevent certain atrocities/horrors from arising. Technology in a world that doesn't know what electricity actually is/its processes corrupts people, and those that wield those powers are seen as deities.

5. Clash of ideals
- The world in a way reflects what history would have looked like with access to slightly modern tech, etc. It's an Isekai so the MC is always at odds with the world's inhabitants regarding how they treat human life (since they're a medical professional to boot). The clash of two very different morals and ethics and values of life are prevalent throughout the story. It's like if you were to go back a couple hundred years and tell them that slaves are bad. Who's going to be on your side?

6. Cogito: I think therefore I am, and the Sum of our Parts are Greater than the Whole | and lots of distinction between Schools of Psychology
- Throughout the story the psyche can dominate the physical in the form of magic and a literal breakdown/corruption of oneself. The smallest piece of a person can overtake them entirely and define them as a monster, which is seen as the ultimate tragedy. Certain schools and teachings of psychology are brought up in reference to events, but its never clear which one is the true defining school of thought.

Probably a hundred more...

 

[Gryphon]

I have a lot of different themes, but the ones I focus on the most:

The idea of how there is no such thing as fighting for justice
Family can come from many different places
The effects of both physical and mental isolation
That war is never truly over, it just comes in different stages
True peace is a pipe dream but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive for it
Pessimism ultimately leads to a path of tragedy
Gods and Demons are more similar to each other than one may think

 

[DubstheDuke]

The consistent messages that I've always tried to show in my stories?

Actions speak louder than words.

People will always try to look good publicly, even when they're a horrible person in private.

Corruption is everywhere, and the person at the top is always the most corrupted. Otherwise they wouldn't be at the top.

Nobody is truly good or evil, we're all just a mix of the two. Some lean more ways than others.

There are no heroes in this world, and anyone who tries to be a hero is delusional and doesn't realize that they're just the villain in someone else's story.

The people who 'never give up' are the ones who will end up going insane since they're never willing to compromise on anything.

You can't become anything you want, even if everyone tells you that you can. Sometimes we have to settle for reality, and no matter how hard we try, we can't get everything we want.

Always telling someone yes will create a person who doesn't know how to deal with being told no.

If you work hard and are diligent, you will succeed. But only if you aren't so stubborn to the point where you want everything. You have to be willing to make some changes to your plan along the way if you want to achieve your goals.

The difference between a child and an adult is that an adult realizes that they aren't the center of the universe. And there are many people in this world who never grew up.

If you make your way to the top through betrayal and cheating, then you'll lose your position in the same way.

A man is only a King so long as his subordinates are willing to serve him.

Everyone has a hierarchy of importance. There is not a single person in this world who considers all lives to be equal, no matter how much we delude ourselves.

"To have control over a person is not to take everything they have, but to leave them with just enough so that you still have something left to take away."

 

[RobBanks]

Explosions.

Friendship.

*censored*

Hateship.

Ow the edge.

Explosions.

*censored*

Tony Pizza sends his regards, etc.

Everyone is dead.

The Pizzanet was hacked at some point, I think.

Someone brought a toaster to gym class for some reason.

That's all my two braincells were able to recall.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

Trauma and dealing with the consequences of your actions.

 

[Bobple]

My first story isn't too complicated when it comes to theming, first story and all that. But it has some simple themes of importance of family (found, friend, or biological) and how "complications" with ones family (Death, neglect, wanting them safe and away) can cause bad decisions to be made. But it keeps these things very simple cause I'm just trying to write first.

ALSO, you can get away with anything with a good PR Team! (This is more a running joke, made from some real life jokes with some friends which I just put in my stories for a laugh)

But I do have a story slowly cooking (which won't probably start until near the end of the year...). With the themes of: (Which some of themes manifest quite literally)

- Family and its importance. The value of connections but also how those ties can be misused and abused.
- Wishes and desires, and how they can shape oneself for the better or worse.
- Dealing with the unknown, not on a Lovecraftian scale but a more down to Earth level. Of most of the time the answer you've been using are just the results of some dude throwing darts a dart board.
- The consequences of selfish & selfless desires and actions, in general but with a small emphasise on those irrelevant.

There some others, but it's still in the developing phase.

 

[TotallyHuman]

wasn't my life was all about a pursuit of the meaning of life and how far one can go when they find it.
magic of love was, obviously, about what is love. Or rather where selfishness meets love.
supreme formation would be all about how demons are really awesome and you should love them because they are awesome and amazing and totally incredible.
What I'm currently planning is about accepting your own self

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

wasn't my life was all about a pursuit of the meaning of life and how far one can go when they find it.
magic of love was, obviously, about what is love. Or rather where selfishness meets love.
supreme formation would be all about how demons are really awesome and you should love them because they are awesome and amazing and totally incredible.
What I'm currently planning is about accepting your own self

Wow... huh. I don't know why, but I didn't expect that from you of all people.