Thursday Theme Day

Coffee. 

In my superhero series, book three to be exact, a new coffee shop opens, and the kids start to frequent it.

In Never Eighteen, Kaylee works at Starbucks in the Barnes and Noble.

In Lockdown, the police officers are offered coffee by the shooter's mother.

In Cheesy, there is always discussion between Cheesy and her father over coffee.

Not so much in the current WIP.

Any other themes that frequently end up in your work?

Thursday Theme Day

Soccer (or futbol if you're anywhere but in America).

From now to January, my family lives, loves, and breathes soccer.  It's only natural it would end up in my novels.

Someone is always a soccer player, be them a main character, or an aside.

In Never Eighteen, Austin was a soccer player until his illness made him too sick to play.

Any other themes seem to land in your novels every time you sit down to write?

Thursday Theme Day

Theme interests me.  I like to see what kind of things repeat themselves in writer's stories.  I have a new one I hadn't noticed before.  Skateboarding.  I remember in the first book I wrote, I superhero series (some of you may remember it from ABNA) there was a skateboarding character.  Then in Never Eighteen, one of Austin's best friends is a skateboarder. 

Now in Sad, my main character Syd, is an avid skateboarder, along with her friend Zach.

I'm not really sure where the skateboarding theme came from.  I guess I've always been interested in skateboarding.  I like to watch it on TV.  It looks so freeing.  I've always wanted to try it, but I think I may be too uncoordinated (and maybe a little too old now).

Bob Biniak, original Dogtown Z-Boy

And I LOVED Lords of Dogtown.

Plus, when I was younger, I kind of liked the skater boys.  So there's that.

Tell me about one theme that reoccurs in your writing?

Megan

T Tuesday. T is for Theme

Themes.  Do you have some that run through just about every one of your novels?  Here are a few things that I see me constantly writing about, whether they play a major part or a supporting role.

Soccer: I love soccer.  I love watching my kids play soccer.  I used soccer in the MG series I wrote (my very venture into novel writing), it also had it's supporting roll in Never Eighteen (NE).  It makes sense because every weekend for about nine months out of the year I am either watching one or two games a week.

Coffee, particularly Starbucks:  I'm addicted, so this just makes sense.  In the MG series, they have a favorite coffee shop, in NE Kaylee works at Starbucks.  In Lockdown there is a scene with the shooters mom and the police where they talk over coffee.

Death:  Yep.  I'm starting to think I may be obsessed with or at least fascinated by it.  People die.  I've killed or made someone gravely ill in every book I've written be it nemesis, best friend, or the entire cast.  I think in my WIP (work in progress) I won't kill anyone, though my protagonist is fascinated by death.

Teen social issues: Eating disorders, domestic abuse, drug abuse, alcoholism, depression, sexual assault, homosexuality, violence, I've written about all of them.  The sad thing is, teens face these problems every day whether it's their own issue, or someone close to them.

So, what reoccurring themes do you find running through your writing?

Do share.