What reoccurring things do you have in your writing?

[pengwenn]

Are there themes, people, objects, actions that reoccur in your writings from piece to piece. After this was brought up in Mudge's blog I started to think and take a look at my writing. Apparently I always have a character that doesn't want to say anything. It's hard to pull of the silent type with the written word, but I think I'm getting some good practice at it.

[xcheck24]

water. There's always a lot of water and water images in my stronger pieces of fiction and poetry.

[bfsooner]

I have a lot of mother/daughter relationships in my writing as a broad theme.

[TheMudge]

As we mentioned in my blog, I tend to do stories of redemption. I also have a lot of flawed heroes--people who do the right thing for the wrong reason, for example.

[LilacWine]

I have identity issues, manifested in things like dual realities, characters with no names and others who hide their true name or identity and yet others who invent another life or self.
I also like to do literal takes on things like a man who buries his wife alive and writes "She is not Dead" on her headstone.

[Mlou]

Eeeew! Lilac.
Mine is a technical recurrence. I use way too many....way, way, way too many...exclamation points. And have to go back and week out 90% of them. I wonder if I really talk like that and don't realize it.

[pengwenn]

If you want to get into the technical part I find that I use the word "that" way too much. Even that last sentence has it when it doesn't need it. That word just keeps popping up in my writing.

[xcheck24]

I used to be the same way, gwenn. I would put in stories "Mayor John Smith said that. . ." and the "that" isn't needed. I was able to fix it, tho, by training myself.

I had a teacher in high school who wouldn't allow you to use the word "this" in a sentence. Then the editor who beat me down over "that." So my column for the paper? It was called "This and That."

[bfsooner]

From a technical standpoint...I really...really...like to use ellipses...if you can't tell from reading any of my posts on this board... I have to restrain from overusing them in my writing.

[xcheck24]

I use them a lot in posting on boards too, bf. But when it comes to writing I tend to overuse the DASH! -- -- -- hahahaha

[LilacWine]

I will admit to a slight infatuation with semi-colons.

[Mlou]

Aaaack, bf...you shouldn't have reminded me of ellipses! Here I have illustrated my two worst sins.

[pengwenn]

I will admit to a slight infatuation with semi-colons.

how can you not with the thing winking at you all the time.....

[CycoMerlin14]

Dashes, ellipses, and tangents. I seem to have no organization when joining one thought with another.

And I love love love emphasizing my point by repeating a word over and over and over again.

And beginning my sentences with prepositions.

Also beginning new paragraphs with desperate "also's."

And italicizing words that I would say with more... emphasis.

[Delaney]

Elipses... not than anybody would notice...

[JillStar]

I never... ever... use ellipses; it's against my... uh... beliefs? I also have about 400 Arabian Stallions in my back yard, if anyone is interested in making a purchase.

My stories have flawed characters... often a man who is a great hero, but unable to deal with some small thing from his past.

I usually include comic relief and/or light sarcasm because the seriousness behind the plot drives me nuts before too long.

I tend to create women characters who are at one extreme or the other... they are either strong and more intelligent than their male counterparts or they are weak and submissive; often times, they are both.

Since I write fantasy the most, I am constantly trying to come up with some new, never used before, special thing that is the main goal of the characters. So far, everything I can think of has been used: a ring, a wand, a crown, a necklace. Perhaps I need to create a special laptop computer as the prize? Probably already used though.

[Anblick]

I tend to have unexpected endings/major twists that are believable for my stories...

[Jamie Ford]

The em dash––is my best friend.

[timberline]

The word "just" (just so you know) keeps creeping in, and then I just have to go back with a weed whacker just to cut the garbage.

And metaphors that run amok, sliding around in my head until they line up at my mouth for an orderly exit only to find my brain has already walked down a flight of stairs to get a beer and pizza.

I won't even speak of suffering the embarrassing tragedy of similes.

[novicescribbler]

My nemesis is up. For instance stood up, sat up, and ran up instead of stand, sat, or ran. Sometimes I need to use it though, so I have to watch out when I cut it. As in:
He held up his hand.
He held his hand.

[funkywriter3]

My stories always have a character questioning his/her place in the world. It could just be a transition I am going through considering my role in society.

[JillStar]

I've heard, funky, that writers often write about their own life... or fantasies they have about what their life could be.

Maybe that's why one of my stories has a red headed woman desperate to overcome her villains in life while finding her super-powers turning her into a hero. But along the way, she does things I have often thought would be fun or irresponsible rather than keeping my feet on the ground... and STILL come out as the hero!

[hyperfine]

I have an overabundance of names that begin with C or K. My stories are full of Catherines, Christophers, Katrinas and Karls.

This, I think, is from my life. I know a lot of people with those kind of names.

[longfinkillie]

I tend to kill off the protagonist. It's really frustrating when writing in my diary or an autobiography. It's almost a reflex. Right now I'm writing a "Guru book" for a lifecoach that's airing on PBS. My first instinct was to kill him off. Try doing that with a title like "Relax and Focus."