#overarching themes

[byoldervine]

Writing Tips - Overarching Themes

A lot of stories like to have overarching themes, such as themes of redemption, acceptance, ruthlessness, love, etc. But how do you come up with the themes for your story?

1. Don’t lose the plot. What kind of journey does your plot take your characters on? What do they achieve and what do they learn along the way? Off the top of my head Miraculous Ladybug doesn’t do a great job at portraying an overarching theme of ‘love conquers all’ when love repeatedly causes problems for the heroes (to the point of “It was our love that destroyed the world” being one of the most memorable lines) and only seems to benefit the villains. Let the plot help keep you on the right track

2. Ask a question. There are tons of themes that rely on asking a question and pitting two different virtues against each other; traditional vs modern, redemption vs damnation, nature vs nurture, etc. The theme of the story is then watching one conquer the other, or finding out where the balance lies between the two if that’s more applicable. ATLA was, of course, very good at handling the nuances in redemption and damnation; it showed people learning they need to change, people wanting to change, people choosing not to change, people trying and failing to change, and even people with the capacity to change only if they take it. The episode The Southern Raiders is also a masterclass in nuance in revenge vs forgiveness, and ultimately allows the audience to form their own conclusions

3. Add a twist. One thing that really intrigues me about EPIC: The Musical is how the overarching theme is ruthlessness vs mercy - with the lesson being that main character Odysseus needs to be more ruthless. You don’t get a lot of stories that teach ruthlessness as the good and correct answer over mercy, that you should kill a defeated opponent rather than letting them live, and that makes the story so much more interesting and unique. If you can think of a way to intentionally twist the expected outcome of your overarching theme, see if you can make it work within the story

4. It’s overarching for a reason. Make sure your overarching themes are evident in the story and impact the characters and their decisions, as well as the consequences for such. Hazbin Hotel has an obvious overarching theme of redemption, and you can see it in the way each episode plays out that redemption comes into it, whether it’s Vaggie regaining her wings when learning to fight for love rather than vengeance, Charlie giving Alastor the chance to work in the hotel despite knowing he doesn’t believe in her goals, Husk encouraging Angel’s character growth and his true nature, etc. Almost everything the characters do relates back to the theme of redemption and betterment

5. Reward the theme. Maybe in the past characters have been burned before and no longer believe in your overarching theme, but the course of the story changes their perspective. The Owl House has overarching themes of non-conformity and individualism and acceptance of those who are ‘weird’ or different, and they all culminate in Luz finally feeling understood for the first time in her life after never feeling that way. Attempts in the past to be understood have often been met with people labelling her as the weird kid or her being punished, and then throughout the story there’s a lot of people that accept Luz, but in more of an “I don’t get what you’re saying, but I get what you’re trying to say” kind of way; acceptance and understanding aren’t quite the same. And lacking acceptance has negative impacts in the story for good and bad characters alike; Luz is at her most powerful when she accepts both the human and witch side of her rather than comparing herself to Azura, Amity’s potential for redemption comes only when she accepts Luz as a witch, Belos loses his power when he’s no longer accepted by others, etc. Characters are rewarded for following the overarching theme and punished for straying

[canisalbus]

✦ Picciriddu ✦

[teratomatica]

you always land on all fours

[varilien]

you know me, in the way that matters most.

[picopubbydawg]

in the absence of comfort

[skipppppy]

Going through my old unfinished art and I completely forgot that before I made English Willy I had another kind of fan story/pitch/whatever that was about the people working the closing shift at the fnaf 1 location in the late 90s. And each person had managed to bond with one of the missing kids in one way or another so instead of fighting for their lives they were running a really fucked up robot daycare. I feel like I should do more of this the designs go hard

[art-soboro]

a flood of miracles wouldn't be enough because you called my name

[fan-girls-r-us]

This is possibly the most powerful moment in the series thus far— I will die on this hill.

[nitw]

ever since we first saw the green room in the sweepstakes stuff it wasn't lost on me that the room is split between 2 couches, the left one suspiciously green with yellow stripes, and the right one colorless and shabby - and there are stars plastered all over the place. so i figured that whatever this room would be for it was a clear parallel to kris and asriel's room.

.......................... y'know, all the explicit mentions of kris' home life aside, isn't it interesting that we spend so much of chapter 3 doing challenges and quizzes and winning prizes?

[thegroundhogdidit]

the reason we know fandom wiki isn't accurate is because it straight up said that gus isn't just as weird as shawn, he just goes along with the antics. fuck right off. he's just as weird IF NOT WEIRDER than shawn. yes he's the "responsible one" but having a job isn't mutually exclusive with being batshit. gus is Weird and Strange and his idea of a good superhero is a guy who tap dances and throws sand in people's eyes

[yunogf]

alternative covers for NCT 127's original cyberpunk game 2 BADDIES

[the-why-of-wonderworld]

A rough draft of something that I want to begin fleshing out this upcoming month! Thinking about Balan and Lance and their revealed forms, and what that might mean for their past and possible future forms. I want to draw a "hatted" form of Lance, based on the design patterns I've noted between him and Balan as far as contrast is concerned, and a potential future "nega" form of Balan, which may derive from his "hidden" self, based on what we've seen with Lance. It's all so interesting to think about :D

[judgmental-eyebrows]

my type of ship: a highly intelligent woman who is clearly In Charge and her half tamed boyfriend who glares at anyone who looks at her wrong.

[colorsandwords]

Spoilers for The Magnus Archives under the cut. Both for plot stuff up to season 5 and for overarching themes

Does anyone else ever obsess over the fact that The Magnus Archives makes you, the listener, complicit in the horrors?

I believe we’re sucked into it the same way Jon is. Sure, you know that everything you’re hearing is because it was recorded on a tape recorder, but that’s just a fun framing device(?). (I think it counts as an epistolary narrative? But those usually refer to books that are written as a collection of letters or journal entries). It’s not until you get deeper into it that you realize it’s a bit weird just how often the tape recorders show up and start recording at the perfect time.

Then the characters start addressing you. You the tape recorded, you the listener, you the Watcher.

Blaming you for what’s happening. For just listening, Watching, as they suffer. Enjoying their pain and finding it entertaining. And you can’t refute their accusations, because this is entertaining. We wouldn’t be listening otherwise.

And through conversations, first about Jon’s nightmare walking then from people trapped in Eye fearscapes, it’s made very apparent that Watching isn’t a neutral action. It makes the suffering worse to know that someone is Watching you but actively choosing to do nothing. Is even enjoying your torment.

You could turn it off.

You could stop listening.

It wouldn’t get Rusty Quill to make a happy ending with a fluffy epilogue where all the characters that died are revived and all their problems are resolved and all your favorite ships are living in domestic bliss. But it would stop them from tormenting the characters worse.

But you won’t do that.

You like Watching them.

[qkmlh]

Do you think the only two things Dean would consider his, wholeheartedly with his entire being, would be Sam and Baby??

[wileycap]

sitting here wondering: which name did Ekko write?

Powder, for the person that could have been? Powder, for the better world he got to glimpse? Powder, for all that they deserved and just didn't get?

Or Jinx, for the person who was. Jinx, for the world he fought for. Jinx, for everything they got but didn't deserve.