Have you notice a pattern with your characters or stories?

Okay, here we go cx
- magic, magic everywhere;
- loud or energetic main female characters and more calm main male characters;
- almost non-existing romance;
- characters that look like they have a plan but actually don't know what they're doing and they just go with the flow;
- happy ending? the best I can do is not-so-sad or could-be-worse ending;
- usually someone dies;
- the most innocent looking characters are the most dangerous;
- breakdowns, betrayals and characters nope-ing out of the situation deciding that their life is worth more than this (while leaving other characters behind);
- certain interests for characters- usually someone is interested in things like medicine, herbs etc, also writing and gaining knowledge in general; sports? arts? what's that?
- at least one character that other characters find kinda annoying but they still stick around

Loneliness.
Lone wolf types.
Hot blondes.
Hot tall blondes.
Cuddle redheads.

Heh, I wonder why.

I'm of the option your stories should be different, otherwise you fall into being type casted to a story theme. Think of M. Night Shyamalan movies or Tarantino dialogue. It all becomes the same after a while. You can use those characters and themes once because it fits the story. But after that, create new characters to make the new stories different. Most people use similar themes and characters because they don't wanna leave their comfort zone to write things they don't know. If you find yourself always writing strong women, write a weak one. Sweak man all the time, same thing, try strong. Successful writers write different themes to make their stories different enough for people wanting to read them. Why read a story if you can guess where the author is going to go because they have done it 5 times before. Recognize what you are doing over and over and stop.

What makes you think successful writers do that?

I don't think it's a bad thing when there are repeated patterns in author's stories. Especially like things that I see listed in this topic. The story is still different, characters still make different choices, just that certain vibe and themes are repeated. And personaly as a reader, I often read other books from the same author because I want to read something similar. If everything is completely different, I'd feel disappointed. I have my favourite writers because of those repeated patterns, but also writers whose books I avoid because I know there would be themes I don't like there.

Now, that works only as long as the story is actually different and not just the same book but with different characters names, but repeating certain patterns in character creation or mood of the story is fine.

-8 main characters
-Friendless background
-Characters that act somewhat childish/childlike for their age, but can be mature if needed
-An organization of some kind, usually with wishy-washy management
-Pairs of brothers who are opposites in some way
-Youngest cast member having severe mental health issues
-Characters who have weird experiences with gender
-Characters who are terrifying to everyone except their designated bestie
-Little to no romance
-Roughly half of the cast being aspec
-Found family
-Trust issues
-Socially awkward characters
-Multilingual characters
-Token cast member who was famous before the events of the series
-Token weirdo cast member
-Weird family dynamics

To reply to the question what makes you think successful do different stories, its simple. Writing is a craft. You should have a story to tell and then you tell that story. Once you have told that story you move on to a new story. That new story should have new themes and characters different from the old story or you are just rehashing old themes. Everything about your first theme should have been explored in the first story, or as much as needed to tell the story. After that, its done. Look at Joss Whedon, he has a thing for small 105 lb girls kicking the crap out of dudes and a dialogue pattern for his characters. It worked in buffy, then he did it in angel (ok you can give him a pass, it's the same universe), then he did it in Dollhouse, then Firefly.... It's a now boring. The Marvel movies all have the same meta jokes that Tony started doing as his personality. Now every character is snarky, and its boring.

The point here is do the research and be more interested in more than one type of theme. You should have so many different ideas that its hard to just get them down on paper.

Doing familiar themes is comfortable and fun if you like those themes, but do you want to be a writer? If an artist drew nothing but cars, wouldn't you call it boring after a while? It's called expanding your horizons to new things. Plus your next theme might be even better than you current theme. My point was simply don't get stuck on themes.

I feel like making statements about what a writer should or shouldn't do is a little myopic. There are people who work to just perfect a set of ideas, concepts, and themes and there are people who just want to make a body of work that covers a wide range of ideas just to try them. Both have pros and cons but both are extremely valid methods of creation. They're literally just different approaches to craft.

People will go to the writers who play with the same ideas because they have a fanbase of people who know what this creator delivers and enjoys it. If people were entirely uninterested in repeats, then why would so many of these types of writers be massively successful across nonfiction and fiction, in both mainstream and intellectual circles?

Some people will inevitably find it boring but also numbers don't lie.

Side note, even people with seemingly very different-looking stories end up having a lot of thematic overlap across completely different aesthetics and genres. I've found that to be true for me, personally which is weird because my work ranges from goofy lil strips to horror graphic novels. But I think because of that, the readers I have for one genre or one book make a pretty easy transition between most of my works even if it's not exactly up their alley at first.

My main protagonists are always morally ambiguous individuals( I'm referring to the MP and not the supporting cast that may also be considered main protagonists)
They are never viewed as a good person in my story by the cast but rather someone that has potential to do good

-People attempting to adjust to a new normal after lifechanging disaster
-Unlikely allies who become the most important people in each other's lives
-Empathy for things judged unimportant/monstrous
-Brilliant person with a big heart but no social skills teams up with a charming person who's secretly a trainwreck
-Magic system based on symbolism and social perception
-Somebody loses the skill they thought made their life important/meaningful

On the thread discussion on whether you should vary themes
1. I don't think there's anything wrong with popcorn stories. I love Sherlock Holmes stories, and some of them have messages, but some are just fun mysteries.
2. If you do want to write something that communicates a specific idea/message/vibe, that's not the same thing as a theme. Like... I do a lot of stories about adjusting after disaster. It's a theme I'm really interested in, but they aren't all saying the same thing. You can write a million novels about, like, the death of a loved one that explore grief, yet are about ENTIRELY different things. Some of my favorite authors like to take one theme and hold it up at different angles to explore each facet.
3. Sometimes, especially for web stories which can operate more like TV shows than novels, a series is a platform to play with a lot of ideas!

For me

• Main characters that have a close relationship to the villain. This is a big trope in my writing because I find writing character dynamics like these insanely interesting (ofc each relationship is different in terms of the personalities as well as whether the relationship is platonic, familial, authoritative, romantic etc...) that also being said:
• Villains that practically are secondary main characters
• A generally dramatic and serious storytelling style (I do include humour but most of what happens is supposed to be taken seriously)
• Murder/ murderers
• Life or death stakes
• Main characters dealing with some sort of past trauma
• Family drama
• Morally grey/ weirdly sympathetic villains

And also in regards to the very interesting discussion here- I think there's a balance of stepping out of your comfort zone while still making something you enjoy. I know that if I find a story is too similar to something I've previously made, I'll usually find another route for the story to go.

But like a lot of people have their own interests and I know for me personally I wouldn't wake up and go "I guess I'll write a slice of life comic where the conflict is that the mc misworded their love confession!" because I do not enjoy writing stuff like that. There's absolutely ways to make each of your stories different from one another while still sticking to your interests, but at the end of the day enjoying what you make is the most important.

That doesn't mean you can't try doing something different, but it will most likely align with some of your writing patterns because it's usually based on what you enjoy writing.

I guess for me, those are the things that do (and will) pop up in my stories when I write:
-female leads
- at least one "too cool for school" character
-slightly annoyed or snarky main or side characters
-brown haired leads or having green color in their design
-funny faces or comedy in general sprinkled in there
-not admitting being super best friends despite the fact they can't live without each other
-classic shirt and jeans outfits
-Mostly only happy (or bittersweet) endings : P
-Dorks
-some sort of moral but not being in a preachy way with story arcs
- and some sort of sad backstory for some characters

I guess that is all unless I forgot something (again...).

• Early life trauma
• Deep insecurities
• Not appreciated by their peers
• Kind of socially awkward.
• A lot of inner life
• Scars serving as clues to identify their occupation.

-All tragic backstories
-Has PTSD
-Has no energy at all
-OP

Comparing my current series to my own private kid-teen-tween drawn comics

• 95% are anthros
• 100% male protagonists
• Has something to do with battle or kung fu or magic, directly or indirectly.
• 'Shounen' themed.
• Most are introverts or awkward at socializing