Fanfic Themes

[Negrek]

Are there any particular themes you enjoy in fiction, whether reading about them or writing about them? There are a few that I come back to again and again...

How humans relate to other intelligences. In the case of the Pokemon franchise, that would be the Pokemon! In our world, humans kind of stand alone--there are some amazing and intelligent animals out there, but none of them could give humans a run for their money the way Pokemon could. How would human society look different in a world where humans aren't necessarily top dog? How would they handle negotiating with these other creatures with different values, conflicting desires, a completely different outlook on life? The Pokemon franchise presents the idea of "trainers" or of "partners," but there's loads of room for interpretation about how these relationships actually work. Why do humans and Pokemon work together? What happens when they don't? I love this kind of stuff.

All the friendship. I'm usually not big into the Saturday-morning cartoon "power of friendship saves the day" kind of thing, but I love stories about people who are just great friends. Whether they start out that way in the story or the point of the narrative was the friends they made along the way, I'm here for it. Found families, animal companions (cough, we are talking Pokemon here), pretty much any platonic relationship theme is good with me. This one does show up in my stories a fair amount.

People turning into Pokemon, Pokemon turning into humans, Pokemorphs in general, etc. Animorphs may have given me a lifelong enthusiasm for morphing. Who knows? Regardless of where it came from, I love stories about people who are able to cross the barrier between human and Pokemon, whether accidentally/involuntarily as often happens with PMD stories or reverse PMDs or at will the way most shapeshifter-style Pokemorphs work. Part of this is probably enjoying stories where characters are forced to see things from a new perspective or grapple with huge invasive changes to their very body, but let's be real, people with Pokemon powers are cool. Being able to cut loose and breathe fire at people and fly away afterwards is cool. It's just cool. I have simple tastes.

 

[NebulaDreams]

Well, I guess if we're talking about both general fiction and Pokemon fanfiction, I could split it into two sections here:

General:

Coming of age. I love reading stories about this, as they not only hit a point of nostalgia for me (everyone was a kid once after all), it also tends to make for stories with great character development. No matter how old the reader is, they can still relate to the story of someone younger than them struggling to grow up or going through the same issues they did as a kid or teenager. I especially love it when we get to see the full journey and transition from kid to adult.

The nature of subjectivity in storytelling and metanarrative. Since we're living in a post-truth era where the internet has dominated storytelling and every individual has their own stories to tell, I find it really interesting to see how the nature of truth is explored in fiction and how several characters' viewpoints can warp that perception of reality. This can add to a multi-layered narrative, introduce an unreliable narrator and also lead into metanarrative. I also love it when fiction tries to explore how the lines between fantasy and reality are blurred and break the boundaries of the medium.

Society coming together to inspire hope even in dark times. Sounds awfully specific, but in certain dystopia settings where a lot of things seem bleak, there's something I really like about people coming together to try and fix this mess of a world they live in. Whether they succeed or not is up to how cynical the writer's viewpoint is, but I prefer it when it's portrayed as much more hopeful, even if things don't turn out 100% positive for the characters in the end, just enough hope that someday, they can make the world a better place.

Nature vs. Nurture. It's also nice reading fiction that explores this theme, like whether a character is a product of their environment or predetermined by their own genes. This applies to fantasy with non-human characters as well. Speaking of which...

Pokemon:

The line between humans and Pokemon/Pokemon integration into society. There are plenty of routes Pokemon fics can take about how Pokemon are portrayed, but I have a particular preference for Pokemon that are shown to have varied intelligence, from pure feral to something on par with a civilized human adult, or even further depending on the highly intelligent species like Alakazam. Not only does this fix an issue I have with the series not always portraying Pokemon intelligence as consistent, it's also great to see it when fics try to explore how these Pokemon would be integrated into society, especially when there's such a huge variety of species with different needs and values than humans. Some of my favourite fics (I Am Lucario, Alterity) explore this theme, in how they show the divide between humans and Pokemon, and how certain Pokemon try to fit in with humans in various ways (or express distaste for their situation).

Friendship and bonds. The word 'bond' has been used so much in Pokemon that it's lost most of its meaning, but it's a theme that really resonates with Pokemon in particular because of how the trainer/Pokemon partnership is shown to be beneficial for both parties. Fics that actually take the time to develop both characters and explore how they grow together to become best of friends (or battle partners) are great in my book, not only because of the WAFF it gives off, but also because of the dynamics and chemistry it can bring out. Sadly, I haven't seen much original fiction that explores this sort of theme the same way Pokemon fics do. The closest thing to it I've seen in a book is the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik.

 

[Umbramatic]

Hmmmmmm this is a good one... May as well talk about ones that I like seeing as well as ones I use in my writing, though some of these are less "themes" and more "tropes" or whatever.

FRIENDSHIP

You guessed it. I'm kinda neutral on big Power Of Friendship speeches, but the actual fucking power of friendship is a big one. Something about it makes me gravitate toward it more than other kinds of fictional relationships and relationship themes, and it's a big point of Pokemon I think a lot of the fandom outside the fanfic circles understates. In Pokemon fics in particular I gravitate to the relationship between humans and Pokemon in particular, which I find fascinating and again over-simplified by a lot of the fandom.

(Though I like a good romantic relationship sometimes. Especially if it's queer.)

Shapeshifter Shenanigans And Human/Non-Human Relations

Another big one. Exploring things that can be human or not or something else depending on the circumstances and what that means for them and non-human perspective on humans is fascinating to me. This is another big draw of Pokemon and Pokemon fic since there's a bazillion non-human species and some of them are even shapeshifters!

Big Stupid Crossovers

This should not be surprising given the amount of crossover fics I've done. I just like seeing different stories getting mashed together in some horrible amalgamation, okay? Pokemon has its own canon crossovers, AND is extremely crossover friendly due to the fact you just need an excuse to shoehorn in the titular critters and you're done. (WAAPT has a field day with this.)

Dumb Fantasy Tropes In General

Because I unironically like the base LOTR/D&D races and trappings and shit. (Just not when people make them racist or whatever.) I'm just a sucker for fantastical worlds with not-quite-human individuals and magic and shit. Pokemon straddles the line between fantasy and sci-fi but I push it further in the fantasy direction in my fics.

Furry Shit

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I just think anthros and sapient animals are cool OK? >_>

 

[Dragonfree]

The biggest theme in The Quest for the Legends is imperfection. Everything is messy and complicated; the legendary Pokémon that the main character grew up regarding with awe are just individuals with their own issues and flaws and petty obsessions, and there are no grand plans or complicated gambits underlying the core mysteries of the plot, only a pile of mistakes and regrets and desperate, hasty actions with far-reaching consequences. Plans fail, not because they're foiled by some genius counterstrategy but because they just made assumptions that accidentally turn out to be wrong. Though I can't say I've seen much other fiction with this as a prominent theme, it's something I just find kind of poignant - characters just being people, and being wrong, and making mistakes, because that's what people do.

Like others here, I'm a huge fan of friendship, characters just caring about each other. But I'm also a big fan of when it's a bit messed up. Characters who care about someone else far more than they care about themselves or others, leading them to destructive actions (or almost so); friends who hurt each other and have a falling out and end up fighting while still aching for what things used to be like. Conflict! Drama! Mistakes! (Mind, I'm also extremely on board with friends who just unfailingly love and support each other and would never. I like both. Both is good. Also bad drama and conflict between friends is terrible and needs to go away. I want tragedy spurred by their deep-rooted issues, damn it, not drawn-out miscommunication for no reason or random petty jealousy with no deeper roots purely to put these characters at odds. Actual psychology pls)

Speaking of, characters struggling with themselves in general. Flawed people with an array of defense mechanisms, lashing out when hurt, pushing away people who could help them, being self-destructive.

Overall, I guess the biggest overarching theme here is people being flawed and messed up and real. And friendship.

Another recurring theme that I find fascinating, and features heavily in both TQftL and its spin-offs and a bit in Morphic, is how people deal with mortality. Death is scary, and the ways that people cope with it are endlessly interesting to me.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Aaaaa, everyone's hit a love of really good ones! How humans relate to other intelligences and the line between humans and Pokemon are two that I'm particularly fond of. (Heck the former is a big part of the reason why I'm adamant about having humans in my dinosaur story.)

So, as for the themes that I like writing about? Let's start with the big ones:

The illusion of control. LC is a story that is absolutely saturated with characters that are constantly planning and scheming and looking to control that which fundamentally cannot be controlled. The only thing I love more than intricate complex plans is plans gone wrong. Not necessarily because anyone screwed up or was outsmarted or anything. But because some things just can't be accounted for, no matter how hard you try. And seeing characters react to watching the control come unraveling in front of them is half the fun.

Pressing on in the face of futility. I absolutely love it when characters are faced with a totally impossible goal that they cannot possibly accomplish... and yet they keep trying anyway. Refusing to accept that it truly is impossible until they've exhausted all options. I love it--can't get enough of ridiculous, foolhardy determination.

Determinism. The flip side of the above. What does it mean to truly know that you cannot succeed no matter what you do? Does it mean anything to press on anyway? If you already know you're going to fail, is there any point in trying? Is the struggle itself worth it? If the future is already written, what point is there in doing anything? These are all questions that are really, really hard to answer, and I love grappling with them.

Nothing is meaningless. I love writing about characters who feel small and insignificant and powerless, and delving into the ways that their actions can shape the world around them. Not because they have some hidden power deep within, but simply because they're a living being taking action and making choices, and those choices can have far-reaching consequences. I know that sounds mundane, but I just like to think about how impossible it is to live life without affecting others people, even in ways you'd never expect. Even the least important person in the world has the power to change others' lives. Everything, no matter how small, is part of the larger whole that is the universe (yeah, you can blame FMA for this one lol.)

Self-sacrifice. I'm a sucker for characters who are willing to throw away absolutely everything in pursuit of their ambitions. What happens when you sacrifice absolutely everything for a goal? How much of yourself can you lose before you stop being a whole person?

Conflicts between mortals and gods. It should come as no surprise that Princess Mononoke is responsible for this, but I'm pretty much incapable of writing anything that doesn't feature this as a major theme. Mortals trying to surpass gods, gods being afraid of mortals--yes plz.

 

[Katanaeyegaming]

In my main story Darkheart Era. The main themes of that story are the horrors of war, Morality and the psychological traumas of the modern world.

In other stories I have themes involving things like convicts that are reforming themselves, The son of a criminal enterprise choosing to fight off his fathers organization after coming to terms with what horrible things he was doing.

Even with all the darker subjects I cover I try to make them have a deeper overall message. Plus not all stories are dark anyway although that is what I enjoy writing.