Thursday, October 11, 2007

Patterns, Themes, and/or Motifs

At some point, I remember reading something where Russell Crowe was explaining his band and he said that all TOFOG songs are, in some way, love songs. Say what you will about him being tempermental, he's also got a poetic sensibility which I have a lot of appreciation for. Besides, the guy knows what he's about, and not everyone can say the same.

We all have certain things we keep turning back to. Sometimes we realize it, sometimes we don't. Thinking about the thesis has made me think harder about the trends in my own writing, the types of conflicts, characters, and other things that I like.

For instance: I'm fond of redemption stories, characters who are emotionally detached, birds, and a bit of the magical/mystical.

What about you? What kinds of patterns do you notice in your writing? How prominent are these themes/motifs? Do you embrace them? Try to break away?

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I seem to like making stories about the freaky style of fringey folk...

I love this blogging thing. Writing non-fiction has done a lot toward my finding of my own voice.... I'm sure I would never have thought of it by myself. So thank you, ether, subconscious mind, and folks.

Lydia said...

It would be really interesting to further analyze one's themes, ie what does it mean, or say about a person and writer, to return to the same themes.

Redemption, birds and the mystical! What is that symbollic of in Ali's subconscious mind? Somehow those themes really seem to fit who you are. But why? The common thread, at least to me, is freedom.

My own reoccuring themes are religion, feminism, and dreamscapes. Hmm...

Ali said...

Freedom, huh? I like that. :)

Minion GIR said...

Mine seems to be the relationship between mothers and daughters. And searching for what we want in the wrong place.

Go figure.

Mishell said...

I write about kids, a lot, but I have stories about adults, too. Most of the time the kids are faced with issues that kids shouldn't have to face, and the adults just seem like over-grown kids. I call what I write "Life Grotesque." It's the part of life we don't let others see. (But I have noticed a leaning towards magical realism, as well.)