While I cannot be accused of writing the same book over and again, I have noticed that I tend to return to a set of themes that are tattooed in my soul.
· Reluctant
hero/reluctant messiah. Ordinary
persons thrust into extraordinary events must rise to meet great challenges.
· Outcasts. A character who doesn’t fit
in because of some extraordinary trait (werewolf, Neanderthal, giantism,
psychic abilities) learns to accept and love herself while coming to terms with
other people. These abilities cause self-conflict. Often the character is
afraid of her own power and tries to keep it secret. By the end of the story,
the character has usually learned how to cope with her powers. I
loved Tarzan: The Legend of Lord Graystoke.
· Larger-than-life
characters. Similar to above. The character is a musical genius, a painter, an
explorer, a gladiator.
· The underdog. The character is
abused, but at last wins justice (or revenge) and triumphs.
· Discovering an extraordinary world
(lost civilization, alien race, etc.) or a revelation which
shows this world to be more beautiful and terrible than had been noticed (the
wake-up slap to the head).
· Love will find a way = characters who
fall in love and stay together despite major differences (the professor and the
waitress, the prize-fighter and the gentle vegetarian, the rationalist and the
mystic, etc).
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