Major themes of your novel or comic (and links welcome!)

mabelem 2022-08-25 15:10:19 UTC #1

Hey! We want to hear all about the major themes of your novel or comic, and feel free to link your work so we can all check it out!

Our switchblade-and-sorcery web novel, The Dread Eclipse, features lots of over-the-top, anime-inspired action scenes, but also deals with themes of C-PTSD, gender and queerness, multiplicity, intergenerational trauma, consciousness, and enlightenment, drawing heavily from imagery of both Western hermeticism/alchemy and mythology of the precolonial Philippines.

What themes are y’all exploring in your stories, and how?

RainbowCat 2022-08-25 15:48:53 UTC #2

Lots of different traumas (e.g. abuse, losing family members), trust issues, but also personal growth, moving on, finding your place in this world, and love. Those are the major themes that I can think of right now.

AutumnAdmiral 2022-08-25 15:49:14 UTC #3

It's still kind of early in the story for some of this to be apparent, but Godchain deals with themes of the interconnected nature of people and the environment, the necessity of death and evolution and coming to terms with that, understanding the world around you as it truly is, and the pursuit of truth, forgiveness and personal growth. It'll take me awhile to explore them all but they are all planned to be integral to the story as a whole.

ivanskilling 2022-08-25 15:53:16 UTC #4

Your novel sounds interesting! I'll check it out later when I'm free.

My current novel, Romance Uncliched!, is a satire on cliche romance novels/dramas and touches on themes about work ethics, customer privacy, and relationship issues.

Devil's Triangle is my most recently finished novel that focuses on themes like surveillance, parent-child relationships, and the intersection between morality and technology.

Shackles is a historical fantasy set in ancient China that touches on duty to one's country and people, self-sacrifice, and honor.

Finally, Dark Bytes is a scifi anthology that explores many themes related to cyber technology, bio technology, and its impact on humanity.

crufixisan88 2022-08-25 15:56:29 UTC #5

Mine's mostly slice of life, school life, romance, and Christian.

Here are my three series and enjoy!

Enjoy!

RobertBMarks 2022-08-25 16:06:45 UTC #6

Re:Apotheosis is a spiritual sequel to Re:Creators. The approach I took was to duplicate the approach taken by Blade Runner 2049 towards the original Blade Runner - identify the main themes, and then use those themes as the foundation for an expanded exploration.

So, my main themes are:

Why we create, how we create, and how we relate to these creations. This particularly plays out between Atria and her creator, Kaguyama. I don't need to worry too much about the spoiler here now, the secret is out: Kaguyama has Early-Onset Alzheimer's, and it has progressed to the point that he has forgotten the skills he will need to finish Atria's story. So, he CAN'T give her the happy ending he had planned for her, and together they have to deal with this. (And, if anybody is wondering, this is indeed inspired by Sir Terry Pratchett, who I had the privilege of having a cup of coffee with at a Worldcon back in the early aughts.)
How we heal within interpersonal relationships. There are three main relationships that arise in the book, and all three involve characters being made whole in some way. Atria and Kaguyama heal each other - she helps him come to peace with his condition, and he helps her regain the hope she had lost after her best friend died. Jenny Calhoun and The Destroyer are the second pair - she helps him find himself and his purpose (his creator cared so little in developing him that he is functionally a blank slate), and he helps her cope with the massive dose of PTSD that being a monster hunter schoolgirl in a hellworld has caused her. The third, which has only just begun, is between Alice Matson and Captain Infinite - Alice's problems are still a spoiler, but Cap has had his life hollowed out as his powers grew and the people he cared about died of old age, and Alice is the one who helps him reconnect with the world.
This one is found in the title, and the title is no accident. This is a story about how these creations grow beyond their stories once they arrive in the real world. None of them end the book as the same people they started as when they first fell out of their story worlds into our real one. The pivotal chapter in which this is brought to a head during the climax, in fact, is titled "Apotheosis."

But, it should also be said that just as Re:Creators was Rei Hiroe's exploration of his media and creative landscape, Re:Apotheosis is my exploration of mine.

mabelem 2022-08-25 22:04:27 UTC #7

Wow, thanks for sharing. These all sound kind of amazing Will definitely have to check them out!!!

DasIstWunderblyat 2022-08-25 22:15:14 UTC #8

The tagline of the series is "The dead will always have a way to torment the living," so I think it's poignant enough

Other things include: freedom and choices, purpose, inter-generational issues, discrimination and cruelty, morality, emotional manipulation, revenge, etc. ( Though a bit too much, I don't want people to expect it's deep and all)

UrMom 2022-08-26 03:03:50 UTC #9

My comic deals with themes of trauma (Childhood and domestic.), abuse, healing from said abuse, mental health struggles, learning self-care and self-love, improvement, imperfection, identity, regaining autonomy and learning to rely on loved ones. It's a heavy hurt/comfort story that focuses a lot on the 'hurt' aspect for most of it, and the characters are extremely flawed people who say dumb shit, or do dumb things a lot, who end up forever working on themselves. (As we all are.)

I'm always up for talking about my comic, but I'm don't really want to share it.

XiuLyn_12 2022-08-26 03:16:10 UTC #10

My comic "A Bunch of Love Stories" is mostly Romance and Drama themed.
But there's a hint of fantasy in the future and some mental issues (not too heavy because I don't think I'm able to portray such extreme problems).

ratscout 2022-08-26 03:24:03 UTC #11

I will link 2. ^U^

Themes include: Nature vs. Nurture, overcoming base desires, sex (as in gender), wants vs. needs, and love.

Themes include: Technology, religion, finding meaning, and what makes a human.

ccmatta 2022-08-26 03:33:18 UTC #12

It being a BL it has the basics: two boys in love. As they are teens, there's their sex discoveries, their first experiences with someone else. It has fluffy, it has sexy scenes, it has it all xD

Now for the plot itself. it deals with mental health. Childhood trauma, self harm, mental illness, substance abuse, an insinuation of sexual abuse, friendship, relationships, the impact of mental illness in said relationships, suicide and it's impact on people, overcoming difficulties, fears and traumas. It's basically a journey through a sick mind and it's chaos.

TheLemmaLlama 2022-08-26 05:08:27 UTC #13

The main theme of God's World is love for your creation :]

As for my ongoing comic bitwam - I've already talked about that, though I ended up restructuring the plot of some arcs quite a bit since then - the new themes they reflect are as follows:

Arc 1 - People try to minmaxx/optimise and find exploits when playing games, but rarely apply that strategic mindset in real life.

Arc 2 - Self-sacrifice born of self-condemnation. The difficulties of breaking someone's dangerous and unhealthy narratives.

Arc 3 - The dangers of being responsible for others.

Arc 4 - Defending your boundaries, and manoeuvring yourself into a position where it's safe to let someone who's hurt you back into your life.

MickC 2022-08-26 10:29:25 UTC #14

The major theme of my work is about an obsessive relationship.

Note: I do not condone Gilbert's actions throughout the diary.

Christy_Oshima 2022-08-26 10:36:52 UTC #15

Well, even though it is a BL romance story with some hints of humor around certain cliches (like straight guy falls for another guy and crossdressing), there are several themes as: family issues, toxic relationships and physical / psychological abuse, friends that turn into lovers, childhood trauma but also self searching and overcoming emotional boundaries.
I would love for anyone to check it out and see for themselves

Archetype_Moon 2022-08-26 12:57:24 UTC #16

My story was inspired by the works of Neil Gaiman and Kinoko Nasu, so my themes range from heroism, revenge, magic throw in some cosmology and environmental themes and you get Luminous Marble. Or at least that's the attempt to do.
Anyways, here's my link if anybody is interested in reading it.

mabelem 2022-08-26 15:49:12 UTC #17

Ahhh! We just finished watching The Sandman. Also Nasu is one of our inspirations too! Urobuchi as well.

Btw you linked the dashboard by accident! Get your correct link up there, we wanna check it out!

SargentAlchemist 2022-08-26 16:22:54 UTC #18

Most of topics on KoH is about aceptation and the power of will through every kind of action... I like to think that there are things in life that can put us through the wall... the calm and the aceptation of situations is one of thr best ways to past through every hell... thanks for reading...

Description: After an ancestral lethargy Soulivur, a young calmaster, wakes up amnesiac in a future where beings called “abstracts” are corrupting the logical order of life and the universe. Soulivur will have to fight them and get his memories back with the help of Primordial, his robotic assistant,through the universe and beyond looking for a legendary item called HOPE.

A manga-like handmade webcomic in black and white!

R.n.P 2022-08-26 17:45:50 UTC #19

My comic explores the theme of finding meaning in life, especially in regards to younger people

stiatent 2022-08-26 18:07:04 UTC #20

I'm still early in series but lots of themes are explored over time
The main is sibling kinship- as the main story follows brothers Owen (12) and Evan (21) who also happen to be straight and gay siblings. The brothers genuinely love each other but over the years they grew apart due to age-gap and different interests, the situation in story revives their once close bond.
Aiming for 3-4 seasons, season 1 follows the brothers but it becomes a group dynamic similar to the likes of ninja turtles, power rangers and voltron by season 2.
Maturity/Responsibility are major themes as- Owen is dependent on his parent's decisions, Evan is usually reckless.
They become carriers of a virus that mutates others into monsters, it also affects them psychologically as they unwillingly cause an outbreak. There's a Superhero/Shonen theme as they make the decision to fight off the monsters and other threats with their immunity and 'unusual symptoms' that come with their strange condition.

Sound as a tool/weapon/instigator - heavily inspired by ancient cultures who saw music/sound/vibrations as a physical/spiritual enhancer. The brothers' strange condition activate after hearing an eerie Hum broadcast across their town one night.

some of the themes hidden below because they spoiler-ish

CLICK for Other Themes

Family and Forgiveness - Without spoiling too much, their mom is another major character (with more in common with her sons).
The dad and Evan have an argument in an early episode, the extreme conditions of the outbreak causes him to rethink his perspective and also be impressed at the Man Evan has become.

Friendship, Team-work, Trust, Survival, Trial & Error, Love
are other themes that occur as they encounter other characters. Trust is a big deal as there are carriers out there with nefarious intent and many look suspicious.
Evan has feelings for another carrier named Xun who was an ex-assasin and becomes the brothers' mentor so there's a Gay/BL element
Xun manages a Gay Lounge and a few people tied to the lounge have also become carriers. The Gay lounge also acts as the heroes' base of operations.
Owen is the supportive sibling and later in story he also encounters a girl his age and has his 1st crush.

Ancient Gods/Ancient Technology vs man/modern technology- "The mythos of the story is Ancient beings had knowledge to expose themselves to specific frequencies and so became the Gods". Modern man tries a synthetic recreation which comes with it's own bag of issues.