What are your consistent writing habits?

[Leyelle]

Have you noticed any themes that keep reoccurring throughout several (or all) of your stories?

Here are a few of mine:

1. Interracial/inter-ethnic couples: the main couples are usually not the same ethnicity as each other. (Welsh and Cameroonian girl x French and German boy, Malaysian guy x French girl, African American woman x Vietnamese man)

2. If it's speculative fiction (any genre) then it is probably also psychological thriller and/or body horror. I don't know why this is such a consistent theme throughout my spec fiction.

3. Siblings are very relevant: I only have one novel released right now where neither of the MCs have siblings, and there are still extremely relevant siblings in the story (friends of the female lead.) In my comic strip series, neither of the leads have relevant siblings, but the villainess and her sister are relevant, and the MCs' bffs are also siblings.

I have more, but I'll start with these lol.

Read Damsel in the Red Dress :: Damsel in the Red Dress | Tapas Community

[kyupol]

1) all three of them got angst in some way shape or form. Go play Linkin park or something when you read my comics

2) parental figures either missing or just bad

Read AngHell Dela Blackpill | Tapas Web Community

[ArtGremlin]

Main characters that look slightly more/less than their actual age. Nothing like “I’m immortal so I look 10 but I’m 300” stuff. The error margin is like 10-5 years or something. Two of them have actual reasons, the other three are just special lol.

Always male main characters. Idk writing a guy as the main focus just appeals to me more.

There also tends to always be a female character who is pretty much the catalyst to the story going anywhere. Mev kidnaps Ian, Sabrina gets kidnapped, Penelope gives away info about Victor, Axel accidentally blocks Felix’s luck, and Tami… idk what she does but it’s important probably. Star Hunters is the exception (no maidens lol) (also most of these characters are from stories I haven’t posted)

[nene]

Mine is romance I don’t think I can write a story without romance

[EncryptedWriting]

Let's seeeee...

All my characters have trauma of some sort, all MC have to be supernatural/ have some sort of monster aspect, and I am not a big romance guru. There always is some major, devastating death that I laugh manically while writing. Every. Damn. Time.

[Lensing]

Cheating is a theme that´s part of all of my relationship stories

[Crusoe]

Consistency?? Where!

Jk, my projects vary wildly but I guess if I need to point to a few consistencies, I'd be:

1) Cryptic titles that are about the core of the story. Feathered Fall is about how Milo is given an easy out from their employment as matchmaker when they fall into temptation rather than a typical fall from heaven. Fair, no Fair is about whether you think actions by certain characters are justified, especially when you get new information on their motivation etc.

2) Queer characters. Other than the 100 word stories of Lucky Draw all my stories feature queer main characters, even my comic Robin!.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

I just like my non-human humanoid creatures so much. Same with magical/supernatural abilities.

[Leyelle]

I write a lot of these too

@Crusoe I'm also a sucker for cryptic titles lol, especially when they have long and complicated explanation that no one will ever be able to guess unless I explain them, probably

[applebun]

Siblings are important in my writing too! Older siblings protecting younger siblings, the other way around, adopted siblings, twins… everything. In fact, in every story I’m currently working on, it’s the sibling of the protagonist that makes them start their journey.
And the dramatic death thing with the maniacal laughter… I’m very guilty of that too though I do a different thing more often, which is making the character actually survive whatever horrible incident I write them into, but making it affect them for the entire rest of the story. That way, I get more cute character interactions where they take care of each other. Funnily enough, my friend and co-creator has the same consistency, so in the story we are currently writing there are (uhhh let me count) at least 10 such situations, lol.

[Leyelle]

Siblings are important in my writing too! Older siblings protecting younger siblings, the other way around, adopted siblings, twins… everything.

yes! we need more wholesome sibling moments. I'm looking forward to writing more for Andrew and Alicia but I loved writing the flashback bonus chapter when she was 9 years old and he was 5 because it was so cute

[Leyelle]

Oh!

friends should annoy the heck out of each other. That's what friends are for.

Kattar and Alicia drive each other nuts. Dominic's sisters drive him nuts. Andrew drives Jinho nuts. Chili has literally been driving Texas nuts the entire comic so far.

Read Sketchy Business :: Adjectives... | Tapas Community

[skidiggy]

Ooh, love this question.

So far, it'd be between my romance novel "Apparent Secrets" and my action fantasy novel "Of Lowlifes, Lutes, & Liars." Here goes:

• Ladies in the Spotlight: The main character is female, and the majority of the story features her struggles, windfalls, and shortcomings. There's plenty of male characters to go around, but ladies take the center stage for the majority of both stories.

• It's a Hard Knock Life: Poverty is front-and-center in my stories. For Apparent Secrets, the MC is battling to survive health problems and bills in the big city. In Lowlifes, the MC struggles with living on the streets of Old Sarzonn as an outcast half-breed in a city that hates everything she represents.

• Can't Win For Losing: If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. Have you ever met someone who only got the fuzzy end of the lollipop? These MCs go from one catastrophe to another, barely surviving brushes with death, failure, eviction, and more!

[Leyelle]

Can't Win For Losing: If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. Have you ever met someone who only got the fuzzy end of the lollipop? These MCs go from one catastrophe to another, barely surviving brushes with death, failure, eviction, and more!

It's a Hard Knock Life:

Me realizing I do this to my OCs a lot too TT. Poverty isn't a central theme in the novels I've released so far, except for in Alicia's childhood, but it's pretty central several of my currently unreleased stories.

[Juniper_dG]

Over the years, I've noticed that water is a consistent important presence in my stories. It can be an ocean, a lake, rain (in If I Never Saw the Sun), even a bathtub, but water always plays a part in characters' introspection and growth.

Read If I Never Saw the Sun | Tapas Web Community

[Leyelle]

I write a surprising amount of scenes revolving around bathtubs lol

[Juniper_dG]

I do all my best thinking (and sometimes writing!) in the bathtub, so it tracks!

[Leyelle]

Aye. They're always introspective moments for my characters lol

[skidiggy]

We sure like to give our characters a tough time.

[megumibex]

1. Romance: I just like it. Can't imagine writing something without romance.
2. Another world: other than a few things I wrote as a student, I've never written anything set in the real world. I like to craft a setting that couldn't really exist.
3. Happy family/drama family: So far, all the novels I've (almost) finished have had a dynamic where one of the main characters has a very ideal, happy homelife, whereas another comes from a very tense, difficult background. I think I just like the contrast, and the difference in worldviews this facilitates. I also like fixing/ redeeming members of the drama family by the ending.
4. Stories about the 1%: I like to write about royal families. Mainly because it's a good way to put a lot of external pressure on the MC, it allows me to describe a lot of fancy dinners, ballgowns, and palaces, and family drama is always elevated when there's a title on the line.