What themes do you try to communicate in your story?

In my story, some important ideas I try to discuss are...

How inborn characteristics and societal roles do not define who you are as a person (a message against labeling and identity politics).

The fundamental absurdity of hereditary monarchies and their increasing irrelevance in an emerging global capitalist economy.

The unintended consequences of the Protestant Reformation and its reshaping of Europe's political systems and power dynamics.

The struggles of individual nations to adapt to an expanding and increasingly interconnected world.

The underlying similarities between people in all cultures and the futility of conflict between them, but also the enigmatic nature of one religion or culture in the eyes of another and the dissonance of values in their authority figures that make conflict inevitable.

History repeating itself and the tragedies caused by ignorance of it.

The personal tolls that must be endured by people in positions of power, and how it effects them.

Oman that is some deep political stuff.
I try to hit on stuff that revolves mostly around emotion and character.

The diverse and yet similar ways traumatic pasts affect different people.

The struggle and effort it takes to change a sick mindset.

Moral is not black and white, but gray, and sometimes you have to do wrong things for the right reasons.

You can use your sins and flaws as strengths rather than weakness.

The two main characters start out as obviously good and obviously evil. As the story goes on, it is revealed that one is not mindlessly cruel as she seems and the other's morals tend to keep him from doing the right thing. So one is about character reveal and the other is development.

"Fate is forced upon each of us. Purpose you must rip from the hand of destiny and claim for yourself."

Yeah, you are right about that. I think the 16th century saw the genesis of a lot long-term historical trends that characterize the modern world, and I think some of my points are things that really need to be said in this day and age.

I try to keep my commentary about these things relatively subtle so the story can still be enjoyable and not overly dark and cynical (it is after all, fundamentally a swashbuckling adventure), but I hope it is still thought-provoking.

*You need to create your happily ever after. Your not gonna just get it, because you want it. It takes time.
*Love is blind. "The heart wants, what the heart wants" 

- Seeing all the sides of the story, not judging, forgiving.
- People hurt each other because they're scared. Help them see that they don't need to be scared.

Also, it's... not really a theme, but most of my stories have just, completely gender-neutral societies. Fashion is gender-neutral, neither sex is seen as more suited to any particular task or path in life, etc. Obviously, same- and opposite-sex pairings aren't treated differently.
They tend to have long hair, and wear a lot of jewelry, so a lot of people always think my male characters are girls. I think that the general ways everyone tends to be in these societies happen to be what most real-world cultures would consider only appropriate for women, but I don't think that's the case. I think everyone should be more like that... so that's why I write my characters that way.
They do sort of mention it, a bit, like, Evindr has to make Julien's hair longer with magic, and Julien doesn't have his ears pierced, so Evindr comments on it briefly like, "Your world's standards are so inconvenient," but they don't make a big deal of it.

There's also no fighting in my stories. It's also not a theme, just an absence of something that I think people expect, like the gender thing.

I have quite some of them, but the most important theme in my story is that not everything is as good/bad as it seems - but that doesn't mean the complete opposite is true either. Things are simply too complex to be categorised like that. Oh, and discovering who you are and what you value most is a big one too.

Apr 24, 2017 21:34:26 GMT -8 lavendermintrose said:

They tend to have long hair, and wear a lot of jewelry, so a lot of people always think my male characters are girls. I think that the general ways everyone tends to be in these societies happen to be what most real-world cultures would consider only appropriate for women, but I don't think that's the case. I think everyone should be more like that... so that's why I write my characters that way.

I totally never understood where the idea of long hair and jewels being feminine even came from. Like have the people that think that ever opened a history book or?? The vikings had like braid manes and also... Versailles. Need I say more.
My story is historical fiction so I do have to follow some sort of roles just for the sake of accuracy, but I also battle them in many ways. I have a female pirate captain and I make it clear that she struggles with being a woman in her position, but I also try to portray her as a healthy balance between feminine and masculine. She smokes cigars, has ratty hair, dirty nails, etc. but she also wears well-fitting and intricate clothing, as well as rouge on her lips. Basically, what I imagine a woman pirate would likely be. Personally... I'm kind of proud of the progress I've made here because she started out years ago as very feminine, but over time I started to realize how unrealistic that would be.
Then, there's the main character, and he definitely has a lot more stereotypically feminine traits, including long hair and the way he fusses over it. Not really in a vain way, but because he was raised to appear presentable. He's more of the "damsel in distress that think they're being clever but is really just upping the danger stakes for everyone involved" type. It's almost like beauty and the beast in some ways, but with switched roles. And it isn't that the "beast" needs to be taught things, it's that she already knows but buried things like dancing and manners down to portray herself as the captain she needs to be. He doesn't make her totally change character and be all nice n stuff because I HATE when they happens with a fiery passion, but he teaches her that it's okay to be both. She is still a fearsome leader, but she doesn't keep the facade 24/7.
Anyway now I'm ranting lmao

Apr 25, 2017 9:52:06 GMT -8 kjalëo said:

Apr 24, 2017 21:34:26 GMT -8 lavendermintrose said:

They tend to have long hair, and wear a lot of jewelry, so a lot of people always think my male characters are girls. I think that the general ways everyone tends to be in these societies happen to be what most real-world cultures would consider only appropriate for women, but I don't think that's the case. I think everyone should be more like that... so that's why I write my characters that way.

I totally never understood where the idea of long hair and jewels being feminine even came from. Like have the people that think that ever opened a history book or?? The vikings had like braid manes and also... Versailles. Need I say more.
My story is historical fiction so I do have to follow some sort of roles just for the sake of accuracy, but I also battle them in many ways. I have a female pirate captain and I make it clear that she struggles with being a woman in her position, but I also try to portray her as a healthy balance between feminine and masculine. She smokes cigars, has ratty hair, dirty nails, etc. but she also wears well-fitting and intricate clothing, as well as rouge on her lips. Basically, what I imagine a woman pirate would likely be. Personally... I'm kind of proud of the progress I've made here because she started out years ago as very feminine, but over time I started to realize how unrealistic that would be.
Then, there's the main character, and he definitely has a lot more stereotypically feminine traits, including long hair and the way he fusses over it. Not really in a vain way, but because he was raised to appear presentable. He's more of the "damsel in distress that think they're being clever but is really just upping the danger stakes for everyone involved" type. It's almost like beauty and the beast in some ways, but with switched roles. And it isn't that the "beast" needs to be taught things, it's that she already knows but buried things like dancing and manners down to portray herself as the captain she needs to be. He doesn't make her totally change character and be all nice n stuff because I HATE when they happens with a fiery passion, but he teaches her that it's okay to be both. She is still a fearsome leader, but she doesn't keep the facade 24/7.
Anyway now I'm ranting lmao

YEA! Am not 100% turned on by man who have long hair, or wear jewels..BUT! Am not-not turned off. It just seems men today, that try to capture this era fail..as the clothing/jewelry come off as being "cheap" or poor cheap fabric..Why am not into Victorain/Edwardain (aka Gothic scene) Man. As most Woman/Man by from crappy wholesale stores. And a blouse would be say 50.00 when a good nice looking blouse would be 100 something..

I have long hair, and I wish I could dress like the way you described every day, but I do not have enough money for a whole wardrobe of such things of a sufficient quality, so I only wear what little I have to conventions and stuff like that. Besides, the people I have to work with already frequently laugh at/ poke fun at me and tell me I look like a girl.

clockworkmultiverse.deviantart.com/art/New-Boots-671034839
clockworkmultiverse.deviantart.com/art/New-tights-646594236
clockworkmultiverse.deviantart.com/art/Elizabethan-outfit-first-attempt-573785418
clockworkmultiverse.deviantart.com/art/Elizabethan-outfit-more-casual-ish-perhaps-573786652
clockworkmultiverse.deviantart.com/art/Elizabethan-outfit-with-jerkin-574229263

Apr 29, 2017 18:26:41 GMT -8 clockworkmultiverse said:

I have long hair, and I wish I could dress like the way you described every day, but I do not have enough money for a whole wardrobe of such things of a sufficient quality, so I only wear what little I have to conventions and stuff like that. Besides, the people I have to work with already frequently laugh at/ poke fun at me and tell me I look like a girl.

clockworkmultiverse.deviantart.com/art/New-Boots-671034839
clockworkmultiverse.deviantart.com/art/New-tights-646594236
clockworkmultiverse.deviantart.com/art/Elizabethan-outfit-first-attempt-573785418
clockworkmultiverse.deviantart.com/art/Elizabethan-outfit-more-casual-ish-perhaps-573786652
clockworkmultiverse.deviantart.com/art/Elizabethan-outfit-with-jerkin-574229263

HOT!