What are your central themes?

[VinnieD]

I've been milling this over in my head for a few days, and wanted to ask. What are the central themes in your writing? Maybe a lot of people don't think they have one, but I've noticed, that even when people don't try to insert themes, they tend to pop up from the writer's subconscious.

I think the central theme in AntiBunny is ultimately the notion of identity. What makes an individual an individual. I started with non-humans to examine that point. Simply being human isn't enough to define identity. For instance the main character Pooky's gender is left a mystery because I wanted to explore the concept of gender identity with a character who utterly lacks masculine or feminine behavior and see how people react. Another character has a case of dissociative identity disorder, giving me another angle to work from. It's the concept that I explore through different characters, and I'm yet to fully find an answer, so in a way writing the comic is also a philosophical experiment for myself.

[Cope]

Man, it'd take ages to go through all the themes of Atavism. It had so many themes that they kept tripping over each other and ultimately tumbled down a flight of stairs into a wading pool of whipped cream.

Cerintha is much simpler; it's just about the inevitability of death.

[Spaceprincess]

I wanted to deal with the issues of transition from a childhood to adolescence. not the physical aspects of puberty but the social and emotional. it was such a crazy time in my own life I thought it would be a good subject for a comic. mixing the silly slap stick with this under lying theme of strong emotional change.

as for my other comic its a continuation of that but transitioning from a teen to an adult. she's 17 and being thrust into a crazy adventure she's having to learn to deal with reality with more maturity, more than she usually has.

[Aerones]

Family.
And acceptance.
Family and acceptance.
And mayhem.








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That looks like a very bad haiku. Mostly because it's not one. It just kinda looks like it.

[RobboAKAscooby]

With Sh!t Happens R, the main focus seems to be the group dynamic and the contrast between friends' personalities and how seemingly different people can be great friends - example Max is generally laid-back (Sammi's vomited on him twice and he hasn't got mad yet) and tries to be a good person but his friends (especially Roy) make it hard for him, Roy is fun-loving and distractable but also extremely loyal although he likes to tease Max as much as possible and yet these two have been friends for years - and I try to tackle that without devolving to cliches.
Also there's a bit of my hatred of womanisers that always comes through and exploration of the different romantic relationships.

With Maelstrom Heart a big part is about Love - romantic, friendship, family and even just love for what they do - and the positive effect that music can have and how holding onto even the smallest positive thing can help you through a dark time.
Personal development as well, the journey a person takes - Westley for example, even by the end of book one he's gone through quite a journey, even though he gets the girl (hardly a spoiler the hero gets the girl) he loses/nearly loses quite a bit and learns a lot about his own faults.
There's also a bit of fear and regret and "doing it for the music" vs "doing it for the power/fame/money" and honestly it gets complicated without giving away the whole plot.
And again group dynamics come into it - I would have to do a flow chart to even try and explain the relationships here.

Flying Tigers I'm not too sure yet - probably more of the same but from a different angle - but there's definitely some touch on the trials of homosexuality by default since the main character is a lesbian, also probably the struggles of teenage years and highschool (again be default of the cast being teens).

Basically I write about what fascinates me in life - the good, the bad and the funny of the human experience.

[Adorabledesolation]

I was about 150 pages into my script, when I realized every single character had extreme daddy issues. (My father had just died and it obviously leaked into my story.) I went back and rewrote sections and now my theme seems to be about loneliness and being alone. One character is terrified of being alone, another is alone because of a curse, another is an exile far from home, and another is the only one of his kind. What does all this say about me?

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

Also there's a bit of my hatred of womanisers that always comes through

You don't say!

Adorabledesolation, I think it's pretty normal to have your characters reflect upon you personally, I don't think it's a bad thing either. I know my characters are all people I can identify with, or at least could at some point in my life relate very directly to. It feels sometimes that when two of them are interacting, it's just me talking to myself. Pretty cathartic, I think.

Recurring themes in my own work, I would have to say a celebration of the mundane. I have never been a fan of fantasy (although I enjoy some sci-fi to a certain extent) and so my stories, written or drawn, always take place on this planet in a reality mostlly akin to our own (I did once try to write a story in a fantastical standpoint, but it crashed and burned before I could even write the first page, I was so embarassed about how stupid and pretentious it was turning out! And I tried to write a ghost story once, but it also was quickly dropped). So, generally, normal things happening to normal people, with a dash of hyperbole thrown in so that it isn't entirely bland.

Like Scooby, I also enjoy watching various character types play off of each other, and how their interactions inspire growth within themselves. Relationship dynamics fascinate me, as well as change over time.

Also like Scooby, there's a lot of romance going on (though it may not be particularly evident), as most of the stories I write tend to be about relationships which tend to be of the loving nature. This I find strange because I generally avoid movies/books/comics to do with romance as I find them to often be trite and bland, which I realize isn't always the case at all, but it's just a bias of mine. Love (of many different kinds) and the effects it has on people and their behavior is very important to my writing.

Hrm... I suppose denial is also a pretty heavy factor in my writing. Many of my characters have a flaw that they refuse to acknowledge or own up to, although they are quite eager to point out such flaws in others. Battles of man vs. self, as a result, are pretty frequent. How people cope with their problems and such.

I'm certain there's more but I can't quite think of them, and I also don't want to hog the thread. TA-TA THEN

[McDuffies]

I noticed some time ago that loss of innocence is the theme that somehow features in most of my comics. I also always have some sort of criticism or mockery of machismo mentality.
Not a theme itself, but I often have comics set in somewhat exotic places or time periods.

[robotthepirate]

Hmm. I'll do me good to think about this.

Behind all the politics and future-history lessons my comic is about letting go of all the hatred and blame you have about your circumstances so that you can get over it and start to do something about it. "Forgiveness" in a word. Or it will be, I haven't got anywhere near that far yet.

So far I think we're at the stage of "hehe, the characters are funny because they're all round"

I just learnt my something new for today.

[Adorabledesolation]

It is funny how themes show up in writing, whether you planned it or not. There is no escaping from it.
Has anybody here decided on a theme first and then built around it?

[IVstudios]

Inhumation: "Hell is other people." But, you know… in an optimistic sort of way.

Island Hopping: Happiness comes from within.



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World Warp: Hey! Did you hear about this internet thing? It turns out that ANYONE can make a web comic!

[Yeahduff]

Alienation, power dynamics, generational strife, gender expectations, etc.

[Lostmind]

I hope the theme of Demoralized Logic is the unusual as normal. But more than likely it's about the instability of life. One minute the characters are living normal lives the next they're fight each other.

[Derek Dragomir]

Mostly your everyday Shonen.
And then there's non-glittery vampire's from space...
And human genesis.
And... obscure plot, hiding over basic plot.

Go, Derek! Go! I love my character!

[Risky]

Hm... exploration is a good way to get yourself killed? Race isn't equivalent to alignment? Elves are cool?

The main, central theme is kids have no idea what love is.

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

Identity, joy, despair, expectation, alienation.

[peterabnny]

I don't think I have any themes. I think my comic format isn't conducive to having them. *shrugs*