Do you guys write about the same thing over and over? (short stories)

So, maybe this is just me, but I'm guessing it could be true of other short story writers. For those of you who write shorts, is there a certain kind of story you keep writing or trying to write? I don't mean writing the same story, but more writing the same kind of story. I'm not sure this is making sense.

Personally, I love a good bank robbery. I've probably written a bank robbing story once a year for several years. I am yet to sell a bank robbing story, but it is something I keep trying.

Of course, I write other stories about other things, but, again, I love a good bank robbery. I'm not exactly sure why I am drawn to this, but as my previous attempts would show I certainly am.

Do any of you have something like this? If so, what sort of stories do you write on repeat like me with the bank robbing? Why do you think it is that we, as writers, do things like this?

 

I hope this doesn't say anything about me as I practice robbing banks in my short fiction.

 

Themes vary, but I do like being able to sneak snakes into stories.

 

I guess I haven't written enough to develop a tell yet...

 

I would say my themes vary as well. Personally, I don't bother myself with theme. I'm banking on it just showing up if it needs to and I think this approach has worked for me.

As for my bank robbing, there are millions of ways to rob a bank and a million reasons someone would rob a bank. I really try and think outside the box with this one. And, though the plot is about robbing a bank, the actual story is always about something different if that makes sense. I'm hesitant to call any of it a theme. I think my writing is more direct. If there is a theme there great, but that's not something I worry about or give much thought.

 

I wouldn't call it a tell so much as a kind of story you get excited to write. I think this applies particularly to short fiction since those of us writing short stories are probably writing a lot of them. I've been trying to write a good bank robbing story for a long time, with many different approaches, characters, and outcomes. I find writing these both fun and challenging. Of course, the majority of my stories have nothing to do with bank robbing, but one of these days I hope to pull it off and have a big payday of my own.

Is there a certain type of story that you enjoy writing enough to create different stories out of the same idea? This is more basic than theme. I guess in my case it's often the setting of a bank that I keep revisiting.

 

I've written a whopping ten shorts and flash pieces (five just in the last few months. I guess I've been in a mood.) So I may not have written enough to say what tendencies I have (aside from everything turning out bleak AF, lol) Several of those were written to prompts, too, so of course they wouldn't be about the same thing. So far, everything I've written has been an experiment in voice, genre, mood, whatever. I haven't been interested yet in telling the same sort of story. If I continue to write shorts and flash, it will be interesting to see if patterns emerge.

 

I'm not a short story writer , but I think every author has "earmarks" as it were and it's just part of an author's voice. Personally I write friends-to-lovers romances a lot , usually have some sort of gray morality characters and have certain time periods I write in a lot, among other commonalities .

 

My themes are similar I've noticed but they technically don't seem the same because I shift about in different genres.

 

Sometimes it's one of those subconscious/accidental things. In my first collection, I had recurring themes of isolation, empty places, abandoned buildings/houses, characters taking long walks and a lot of introspection, etc.

In my current collection, I have a lot of cryptic and threatening dialogue - but that is intentional to tease little bits of the main plot and serve to build up to the finale. It's a collection, but reads linearly to build up to the main/overarching story.

Maybe it goes back to the "write what you know/what you feel" idea. But I think having common themes or similar scenarios in short stories is, well, common.

 

I think I get where you are going with this. I think it would be better stated as story theme, or perhaps genre. A good crime story can be enjoyable. And a fun thrill ride if done well.

 

I've been thinking about this.

Nearly all of my stories have human struggle at their core. I know all stories have that to some degree but it's more... pronounced in my stories? I guess that's the right word. I say so because the struggles of my characters tend to be quite strong and sometimes a little unusual.

I remember that story I wrote about a misfit kid who has a horrible home life and goes to a musical world to escape it and find happiness. One genre or another, my stories are about stuff like that: struggling character finds a place to belong and be happy.

Sometimes I'll have sad/bad endings to these types of stories. That has never gone well in terms of reactions.

 

I’ve written a few stories and poems about people surprised by how much they love their children at first sight (based on this having happened to my mother). Also poems about people regretting the time they wasted, about the beauty of parenthood, children, and tradition, and about the ugliness of the modern world.