10 Ways You Know a Story Was Written by Me...

I ran across an interesting concept on another writer’s blog. She’s much better known than I am, so this topic is more pertinent to her than me, but she said to pass it on, and since it grabbed my attention and made me think, I will.

I’m still debating whether everything on the following list is in every story I’ve written. I write romance: contemporary, historical, paranormal and science fiction—and occasional mainstream stuff, too. I think it’s fair to say that much of the following applies to most stories I’ve written. The few examples I can think of that totally defy the pattern are all a) unfinished and/or b) unpublished.

One final disclaimer: if you’re a shrink, professional or amateur, don’t even try to pick apart the neuroses behind these themes. Seriously. I’ve got my own MA in psychology. If I want analysis, I’ll pay for it.

1. Some character, somewhere, will have serious Daddy issues. Dad may be abusive, remote, disapproving, completely absent, an unrealistic saint or a psycho…but for at least one character, he figures highly somehow.

2. Mom is either really okay, or doesn’t figure much at all, for anyone—unless of course she’s the central character. Then she’s a powerful lady who probably has Daddy issues.

3. Children don’t stay with birth families. They are fostered, orphaned, adopted, on their own, stepped into blended families….but seldom with both the birth mom and dad.

4. Generally accepted ethics, beliefs, long standing customs and traditions— particularly god(s), their religions, priests and priestesses—are challenged as to existence, relevance or motives…but not accepted/followed without question.

5. People don’t stay put. They move around. They immigrate. Or emigrate. Or go on long journeys. But they don’t remain quietly in one place.

6. Someone's sexuality has been abused. Sometimes through rape, sometimes in other forms. Sometimes through enforced ignorance, repression and denial of innate human needs/desires, which is an insidious, too-often socially acceptable form of sexual abuse.

7. Heroes want to make everything okay for heroines. Heroines won’t let them. This is grandiose on his part anyway. He’s probably got too many commitment issues to make things really right for anybody. If he doesn’t, she does. Can we pair grandiose delusions and commitment issues in one item?

I think so. It’s my list and they’re my stories.

8. I identify more with male protagonists than female. Does this come through to the reader? I don’t know; I thought I’d throw it in here though.

9. There will be violence. Violence or the threat of it is very likely to be or have been a fact of life for one or more central characters, but in every story someone will die from it or come damn close.

10. Sex will not be the answer and will probably take place before it “should”. (I’ve been accused of throwing people into bed together “too soon”. What’s that about anyway? Is there a universal time line? Aren’t we all just fumbling around, doing the best we can? Oh, sorry. That’s another rant, for another day.)

And the random question for the day, from the profile section of the blog--I really like this feature, can you tell? -- is:

You've been entered in a shadow puppet contest. What's your best pose?

Oooh, I like this one. But--this is a family blog. You do not want to know my best pose. And I don't want to put it out there on the web. Nobody's payin' me for that.