Personal creative writing themes

[Academia Nut]

This is something of an open letter, so if the mods feel it belongs in another forum then by all means move it, but I feel that it addresses points that are most salient to those that frequent these waters.

For those of you that read my work, you will know that I have a bad habit of dropping stories 'right when they are getting good' as some have observed, to their annoyance, and frequently to mine as well. I have of recent days come up with an expression that encapsulates the issue: Creativity strangles productivity. Scenes, characters, whole worlds will form from the ether of my mind unbidden, embryonic ideas strangling each other in the womb, fighting for attention, fighting to be given form and expression. I will take these bits, and process them. I merge and split, polish and roughen, grow and prune these things into coherent literary objects, but even as I work to give them substance, my mind is ever bubbling, ever coming up with something new to work on. I move on from project to project, rarely able to stay focused, because the pleas of the as-yet unshaped cry out to me stronger than that which is already being worked on. In my mind, the longer I carry a literary object, the more complete it becomes, and the less effort that needs be spent on the mental act of creation, and thus the creative part of my mind begins anew on something completely different. Thus creativity strangles productivity.

This post is an attempt perhaps to curtail that, but the neural pathways are deeply grooved, a fundamental part of self. What I seek to do with this thread is to not speak of the act of creation, but of the raw clay that fuels it. I wish to speak with both readers and other authors about the themes that draw me like a moth to the flame, time and again but in different ways, approaching different facets from different angles, exploring them through the media of fantasy and science fiction.

There are three main themes that draw me, perhaps because I feel that in my own life these qualities are lacking in some way. These themes are humanity, perseverance, and transformation, and I feel I am so drawn to fantasy and science fiction because they allow for the greatest contrast of ideas. Humanity can be compared to the alien, and weighed to find where it is lacking, and where it is favourable. Perseverance can be tested by routinely pitting the hero against epic odds rarely encountered in more realistic media. And transformation most of all can be seen by taking perspectives and actions impossible in reality. Most attractive to me are those characters and stories that take elements of all three categories and blend them into a cohesive whole.

To speak of humanity, I speak of the body, mind, and 'soul', and I most love to examine these by comparing them to something alien, or indeed monstrous. The body, is of course, the gross physiology of who we are, and it can be examined by introducing fantastical creatures to compare us against, both favourably and unfavourably, to show that we are products of our evolution. The mind is the intellect, something I treasure as a sublime gift from our ancestors to be passed down onto our descendents. What a gift the mind, to be able to reason and learn and know, to be unbound by time and space so that we can learn from the past and project our imaginings into the future. And what a tantalizing concept, to compare the mind to that of the alien, be it an extraterrestrial, a computer, an interdimensional demon, or even that of an animal. And finally there is the 'soul', the transcendent qualities that define not just persons but people. Attitudes, ethics, morality, and prejudices, these are all things that compose the hard core of not just a single individual, but the culture they come from. Such a limitless spectrum that can be found, to evaluate the soul when an infinity of as yet unexplored cultures lurk within the imagination, other ways of not just thinking but percieving the world itself, filtered through the lens of the mind and society.

This analogy of body, mind, and soul extends to the other two themes I am drawn to as well. Perseverance of the body is how much punishment can be dished out to the protagonist or even antagonist, until you are left on the edge of your seat, screaming in joy to see just how much more they can take, be it willing the hero to stay strong, or for the villian to finally break. Perseverance of the mind is harder to describe properly, for simple iron will can be viewed as just another aspect of perseverance of the body. No, this sort of persistence is more cerebral, and perhaps harder for the reader to appreciate than the author. Perseverance of the mind is the refusal to give up on an idea, an insistence to chew through a problem with the tools of the brain, working on the complexities and intricacies of something, be it the solving of a mystery, the planning of a coup, or the design of a new weapon system. We then come to perseverance of the soul, which has aspects of both body and mind, for it is the refusal of a person and people to break under constant, repeated stresses. It is the nation that will not bow before the onslaught of an invader despite the horrific cost. It is the man alone in the wilderness who will not break despite the constant struggle for survival and sanity.

Finally we turn to transformation, something that draws me perhaps most strongly, because it is so easy to blend with the other two. It is also the hardest for me, for it is the part most often found with its umbilical cord wrapped about the neck by a jealous sibling, because it requires the commitment to begin with the thought in its larval stage and then work with it so that it can undergo the process of transformation within the story, for all to see. I transform the body through fantastical spells, strange mutations, the addition of cybernetics, and even more mundane things like simple physical training. The mind is transformed by learning, by experiencing strange new vistas, sharing new ideas, and interacting with others. The soul is transformed via revelation and discovery, watching as the new unfolds within an entire society, changing its constituents for better or worse.

I love all these things, and there is perhaps a core idea that rests within much of my work, an ideal that I frequently return to in some form that allows be to explore these three themes all at once and with all facets at once. While not always fully expressed, or present at all, the best description I have of this combination is the 'transhuman partnership metamorphosis'. A character encounters something that changes him, body and soul, while interacting with something alien in such a way that tests their humanity, and indeed what it means to be human. The man with cybernetic implants and an AI in the back of his mind, struggling to hold onto his identity while simultaneously wondering if perhaps a better one might emerge. The demon hunter with the possessed sword that is slowly corrupting his mind and body, yet he refuses to relinquish it because it is the only thing that lets him fight his foes on equal footing. These ideas are fertile ground for my mind, places to explore for not just the hero's journey, but the villian's downfall.

I present these words to you as an exploration of the self, and as the start of what I hope may be an interesting conversation. What themes in stories draw you, as a reader or as a writer? What do you think of my thoughts on my thoughts, half formed as they are? I do not quite know what exactly I wish to talk about in this thread, only that I know that I wish to share these ideas and feelings somehow, lest my skull burst from the dammed activity within.

[open_sketchbook]

I really like pitting utopias against distopias, because it creates such wonderful interactions between characters. It gives both sides great motivations to oppose one another (I typically write military stories) and also makes for excellent contrasting characterizations. Though the leaders of the distopia, and their goals, are usual evil, the people under them are just doing their job, and the enviroment they live in requires a proactive paranoia that looks like malice to the idealistic utopians.

[ray245]

I find myself getting drawn to stories where the protagonist isn't anyone special in the larger chain of events, and isn't the chosen one.

Instead of telling a sci-fi war story from the perspective of a hero that somehow managed to change the tide of war for instance, tell it from the perspective of a person who works in logistics.

Tell us stories about the troubles faced people people who didn't see their friends and comrades dying in front of their eyes on a daily basis. Tell us the experience of people who didn't get to see any major explosions being used in front of their eyes.

[White Haven]

The biggest problem I have when I write is that I typically (not always) start with a long chain of hows and whys, the answers to which breed and have little litters of questies that all demand more answers of their own. Once I work out the wherefores of a society/world/character/philosophy/wingding or whatever, I'm left half at a loss regarding what to do with it and somewhat unmotivated to find out. I've got notes scribbled for a half-dozen concept settings, sometimes with plot outlines, sometimes just the origins and workings of a government, sometimes a half-chapter here and there. Living was really an anomaly for me, and one I took great enjoyment in. I quite like to write, and it was a project that held my interest and kept producing ideas until its actual natural conclusion.

Essentially, I am a perpetual motion origin story that occasionally tries to chain into something else without much luck so far.

[Junghalli]

Creativity strangles productivity. Scenes, characters, whole worlds will form from the ether of my mind unbidden, embryonic ideas strangling each other in the womb, fighting for attention, fighting to be given form and expression. I will take these bits, and process them. I merge and split, polish and roughen, grow and prune these things into coherent literary objects, but even as I work to give them substance, my mind is ever bubbling, ever coming up with something new to work on. I move on from project to project, rarely able to stay focused, because the pleas of the as-yet unshaped cry out to me stronger than that which is already being worked on.

I sort of have this too. My mind is constantly coming up with all sorts of ideas that I find interesting, but the bottleneck is the motivation to actually turn those ideas into an actual story and then actually write it. Although for me a big bottleneck is that I do a lot of revision so I like to think a lot about my work before I actually commit to anything.

Thinking about both things I like to read and things I like to do as a writer:

Stories that take an interesting premise (especially from science but also possibly from fantasy) and expand on them with logical extrapolation appeal to me. This is one of the reasons I like hard SF.

I like stories that try to get away from the herd a little bit. I like to see authors tackle things that haven't been done before, or take things that have been done before somewhere very different (like Peter Watts with vampires). I like it when authors get outside of the comfort zone a bit.

I like speculative fiction that could actually theoretically happen in the real universe.

One idea that I always find fascinating is how the Other would see us. So I like it when fiction explores this.

[Vastatosaurus Rex]

The biggest problem I have with writing is that I have a hard time continuing stories I've started. It's especially likely to happen when I review what I've written so far and realize its (often fundamental) flaws. Another part of the problem is that I get excited about one idea and then grow tired of it and feel like switching to another idea.

Another problem I have is coming up with a diversity of subjects to write about. As someone with Asperger's Syndrome, I have a fairly limited number of interests, but I don't want to be writing about the same subject matter over and over again. If I do, the people critiquing my work will grow sick of it.