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[The Worst Username]

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[b]Do you think that a story/novel/book needs to have a theme?[/b]

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Do you think that a story/novel/book needs to have a theme?
It's a good thing to have. It adds depth and usually is what makes a book a 'classic' though honestly after reading the classics, it felt like the only thing there was a moral or theme and not a good story. I think in many cases a good story will have a theme, if you focus on having consistency, it's probably difficult to avoid a theme. But it should be something woven into the fabric of the story while your writing it, not icing on the top. So no, it doesn't need to have a theme, but it does add another dimension to the story if there is one in there. If it's well done it'll leave a larger impression on your audience.

[Silver Pandorica]

Do you think that a story/novel/book needs to have a theme?

It doesn't really need to, in my opinion, but like Free said it adds depth and makes the story more interesting. For example, I never really had a theme in any of my stories until "Caught In The Rain." Now I'm focusing on that story and it's to bring attention to homeless and mistreated youth. However, I'm also making sure to make a good story out of it. All in all, I think a theme can be key to a good story which pulls the reader in and makes them feel, and it's hard to write a story without a theme, but it's not absolutely necessary. I would say, it's recommended?

[winged-backpack]

Do you think that a story/novel/book needs to have a theme?

I font think that you necessarily have to read or write a theme into a book, but some themes are just present without you realising. I don't think it's possible to write a book without some themes appearing.
I also think that some genres of book can just automatically have themes in them anyway. Most dystopias have the theme of totalitarian governments or power. Most sci-fis have the theme of war, or some kind of dispute. The genre could even be the theme sometimes.
I like a book with a lot of themes, especially the ones you don't notice until you read it again. Like, you don't notice it at first, but the Harry Potter series has really big religious undertones, which becomes way more apparent the more you think about it.

[Ranger of the North]

Hey, sure!

Okay, bear with me as I'm lousy at naming characters/places so I usually just use placeholder names while writing so I can procrastinate naming things.
Also, the beginning of the story is rather dark so I'm afraid I can't go into details about that, so I just say that after this part:
- My 'heroine', Ida (pronounced 'ee'-da) (hey, I named this one! Go me ) has a legit reason to be furious with the antagonist (I'm just going to call him that, cause Ida is the main character).
- The antagonist, who is the leader of a country (country 1 for now, sorry about this ), has basically lost his mind and fallen back on the things he learned from his father. Only that was a complete different era.

Back in the day country 2 was an enemy of country 1, however there has been peace for years. So, the antagonist, who really just wants to protect his people, makes the mistake of heightening their defences and the border control between the two countries. Now Ida, who is from country 2, sees this as perfect opportunity to ruin his reputation. She starts spying on him and reporting her findings to her country's old allies, basically falling back into the 'old days' as well.

These allies don't take it the way she had anticipated though: they see her as a heroine who is risking her life to warn the world that a superpower (country 1) has a mentally unstable and potentially dangerous leader.
In response they send troops to protect some countries that used to belong to country 1: a fatal mistake. The best antagonist wouldn't have invaded them, he thinks they are still his! There was no problem, but now there is. Obviously he sees this as an invasion and in response he sends troops as well to 'defend' these countries. Ida takes this opportunity to make things escalate even further and brings the old resistance group in these countries back together.

Basically in this story what happens is that one person starts basing his choices on an era that is no more. This leads to a series of events that end in the return of this era. The antagonist is truly trying his best to be a good leader while the protagonist who everyone sees as a brave heroine is really the one stirring things up.

So, in the beginning of the story I mainly focus on a few characters, their lives and relationships, and only later on do I get to the big picture. It was a story in which I mainly wanted to experiment with the psychology of my characters. I also wanted to show that a seemingly insignificant (to everyone outside my main characters I mean, on a personal level it was devastating) event can have a large impact on the world as one thing leads to another and creates a snowball effect.

That sounds really cool! Man, must have been super complicated trying to figure that all out XP c:

[anxious ghost]

In your opinion, what's the best thing you ever wrote?
Chapter three of War of Kings.

Do you think that a story/novel/book needs to have a theme?
Eh. I have trouble with themes.

So, my sister tends to help me a lot with my story, since two of the chars are hers. And we were up brainstorming all night and she had an idea.
It was a brilliant idea. It also ended up with us crying for literally two hours straight. Because one sad idea led to another and so on. The problem was that they were all achievable and all worked with the plot, so I couldn't just say "no that wouldn't work". And then, because I was way too sad and needed happiness, so we figured out a way to fix all of it, without scrapping it or messing up the plot.
It was GLORIOUS.
Also, another ship went canon oops.
Here's a thing I wrote last night. Putting it really small cuz I think it's kinda spoiler-y?

She walked up to the castle. Something was different, but she couldn't quite place it.
There was a statue of her that looked centuries old; the odd thing was, she'd been there when it was built.
The main hall was so familiar, yet so foreign at the same time. Portraits lined the walls, going back generations.
She froze. A portrait of Kritanta, Lyra, Selene, and Hyperion. The two were just kids then, before Selene disappeared. Last time she'd seen it, it was being painted. Tanta had hated having to sit there so long.
Now it was faded and fraying.
Then she turned, and he was there. Tanta's bright blue eyes, staring back at her.
"You're too late."

[BucketORandomness]

*is literally stalking RPs to avoid writing*
*writing is due for an update in four days* I got time c:

[Greenleaf]

In your opinion, what's the best thing you ever wrote?
I actually have no clue. I like the things I've written recently but I'm not that pumped over them. If I had to choose something, though, then I'm pretty proud of that Hunger Games fanfic I wrote once called Nomenclature. It's kind of funny because I'm not even in the fandom, but I jotted it down and ended up liking it a lot.

I have always regarded names to be sacred, in a way.

A name was something that made you unique. Even if you happened to share a name with someone else, the story, interpretation, and person behind it was always bound to be different. You identified with names; they were what would stick with you for the rest of your life. This was part of the reason why name-changes were also important, for choosing a better-suiting addressor for oneself would be a decision that usually stuck until one's death and beyond.

Never had I thought that my own name would ever betray me, but there it was. Drawn from a slip of paper in a large glass bowl amidst countless others. Tumbling from the lips of the heavily painted and bewigged man onstage, so changed from his natural appearance to the point that he was more exotic creature than human. The sound of it hung in the air, echoed off the stage and bounced off the walls of the square, making its way into the audience's ears, then mine.

It's a year old, though, so it makes me a bit sad that I'm not producing things of this quality nowadays.

Now that I think of it, I'm also pretty proud of another thing I wrote with the working title Ella. It needs a lot of revision before it can see the light of day, though.

[DeMaizu]

*is literally stalking RPs to avoid writing*
*writing is due for an update in four days* I got time c:

Oh, gods, I feel you. I've got a bit of a cushion, but it's really not much, and I'm pretty sure mine needs to be uploaded tomorrow. *inward panic*

[Bilaz]

That sounds really cool! Man, must have been super complicated trying to figure that all out XP c:

Whoops, I saw I apparently deleted a sentence I was typing in that previous post but accidentally left one word, 'best' lol. xD So that's why that's randomly there, I'm not trying to say I wrote 'the best antagonist ever'

But thank you so much! I did put a lot of time and effort into it and it's still far from done. I'm really liking where it's going so far though.