These are a few of my favorite themes

As a recovering English major, I’ve always thought of themes as belonging in literary fiction. You know, serious writing. Not stories about a woman with a time portal in her basement (Vanishing, Inc.), a woman in the crosshairs of a serial killer (Delta Dawn), sentient navigation equipment (“Woe is Me, Poor Child, for Thee”), the devil coming down to Stockton (“The Fine Print”), or a serial killer who leaves corpses in cacti (“Adam Carmona and the Case of the Saguaro Ripper”). Stories like mine have tropes, not themes, right?

Wrong.

Genre fiction can and does have themes. And (shocker) literary fiction has tropes. Including the classics. Especially the classics, because that’s where a lot of tropes originate. Lookin’ at you, Bill Shakespeare.¹

I’d love to tell you that, like a good English major, I plan my stories around a particular theme, but I’d be lying. My stories usually get started through some random bit of inspiration, usually beginning with a dream or a What If (“What if someone stuck a body in the saguaro in my front yard?”). The theme develops as I write, and sometimes I’m entirely unaware of it until I’m partway (or all the way) through a story.

Before we get into a few of my favorite themes: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are Kalpana, Kim Lajevardi, Rebecca Douglass, Jennifer Lane, and Cathrina Constantine. Please stop by and leave them some comment love. Each month our fearless leader (Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh) gives us an optional question to answer. This month’s question is, As a writer, do you have favorite themes that you like to explore in your stories? If so, what are they?

A few of my favorite themes

Now that I’ve been writing fiction for about 12 years², I’ve discovered that several themes (and tropes, figures, and motifs–I’m too lazy to apply that MLA article I mentioned in Footnote 1 to make a careful distinction) reappear in my work regularly:

Domestic violence, sexual assault, and other forms of violence against women

There’s a lot of criticism in book and author communities regarding writing about these topics, usually because it’s often done carelessly or badly, or some author decides that rape is a convenient plot device or character development tactic for the man in her (it’s almost always a her) life. I try not to do any of that, and I try not to sensationalize either. I write about these topics because they are horrifically common experiences for women across all socioeconomic strata, and they shape the way we are socialized almost from birth, as well as how we live our lives.

Dysfunctional families

Same as above–horrifically common, and I’m a product of one. My husband is too, and we joke about how that which did not kill us gives us great stories that horrify people from “normal” families. Those experiences also make great fiction fodder. Do people from normal families ever even become writers?

Found family

Found family is family you choose rather than those you share blood with. Many of us from dysfunctional families spend our lives–or at least our childhoods–building and nurturing the kind of deep friendships that substitute for the supportive familial relationships we lack.

Religion in general and Christianity in particular

I’ve always been fascinated by religion–how it can be a force for tremendous good and appalling evil, and how it affects the inner and outer lives of people in profound ways. I have a bee in my bonnet about fundamentalism and the harm done when people prioritize dogma over human lives, but I don’t just bash religion. I do, however, probe it and examine it, sometimes with disturbing results. I confine my work to Christianity, since that’s what I have personal experience with.

And yes, I actually am a lot of fun at parties. I work out all this trauma on the page so it stays out of the rest of my life 🙂

Writing News

I was sick for about a month and a half, and work has been challenging, so writing has taken a backseat yet again. That said, I do have some writing news to report:

My deployment to the Query Trenches has been extended

In September I entered #PitchDis, a pitch contest for authors with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses and got several agent likes (including one from an agent who already rejected my project, LOL). A like is an invitation to query, so I did. Picked up some new rejections for my ever-growing collection, and then, last week: a partial request! Now I’m back to refreshing my email every 1.9 seconds.

Send help.

Open House serialized on Substack (free!)

I woke up the Sunday before Halloween with what we literary types refer to as a Wild Hair. I decided to serialize one of my stories on Substack, a suburban gothic horror novelette called Open House³ that I wrote several years ago. I posted one part per day with the last one dropping on Halloween. It got a little bit of attention⁴, and I picked up 5 new subscribers, so… not bad. Wanna read it? Of course you do! Check out Open House on Substack.

Still waiting to hear about the Malice Domestic anthology

I’m still waiting to hear back on the short story I submitted for this year’s Malice Domestic anthology. Authors are supposed to be notified sometime in fall or winter, with publication scheduled for April. I am now refreshing the submission status page every 1.9 seconds.

Life Updates

Keeping this short, because my life right now is basically work and recovering from work. Long-Suffering Husband and I took a cruise to Hawaii in September to celebrate our 35th anniversary. Unfortunately we had some mild but annoying health issues that left us with cranky stomachs and a lot of fatigue. Fortunately, a cruise ship is a great place to lounge around when you don’t feel well. Also had some weather issues in Hawaii (i.e., hurricanes) that caused us to miss Kauai and Maui, but we still had a good time. Pics coming whenever I get time to go through them.

We’re both well now and enjoying the mild fall weather. It’s always wonderful when the Fresno heat goes away.

The Memery

It’s November, which means it’s out with the pumpkins and in with the turkeys.

I’m a proud member of the 88%.

And finally, one for the Texans:

And on that demented note, I’m outta here. May your turkey be moist (and unarmed) and your pants loose.

1. The classics are also where a lot of themes, figures, and motifs originated. If you want to channel your inner English major–or just become an insufferable know-it-all–you can read up on the differences between themes, tropes, figures, and motifs in the MLA Style guide. I am not responsible for the impact of that information on your future social life. ↩︎
2. How the hell did that happen? ↩︎
3. Learn more about Open House in this post. ↩︎
4. A very little bit. A very, very little bit. ↩︎