Finding Themes in Fiction
I’ve had the opportunity to really think about the characters I’ve worked with the past 12 months. I’m always interested in the themes that come out in a writer’s work, my own included. Writing is, at least for me, a form of therapy after all.
I was able to identify several common themes in the lives of the last five main characters I’ve worked with. they all live on the fringe of social groups, either from being new to the area or from being shut out or misunderstood. they all struggle with the desire to feel accepted, even though some of them already are. None of them want to be liked so much they would compromise their personal values.
The most profound thing they have in common, though, is loss. Lillian loses her independence; she must learn to trust the friendship of others if she is to succeed. Charley loses her best friend and a few dearly held beliefs. Raelyn loses any hope of normality along with her innocent view of the world. Evan is poised to lose his marriage. Liz…well, Liz loses everything but her life.
The stories are very different as are the personalities, circumstances, and eras of the characters. Their losses and reactions to them have one common thread. they all draw from some aspect of the losses I have experienced personally.
As I look at the common themes in my fiction, I recognize more elements in myself. The characters all deal with their losses in a far different manner than each other or their writer, which I also find interesting.
How much of your own experience makes it into your plots or your characters’ lives? Are you aware of it at the time or only in hindsight?
There are definitely bits of me in all my characters, I draw from everything around me and even though they deal with things in different ways, have different things going on for them, they are a part of me, undeniably.