Creator Thumbprints

[OfficerSting]

A Creator Thumbprint is, according to TV Tropes, a recurring item that appears throughout a writer's works. For example, I love mythology, so my stories most often have some sort of fictional mythology behind them.

I was wondering, does anyone here do something similar?

[LadyRushia]

-Magic systems that somehow involve the four (or more) elements
-Largely female MCs except for one or two stories
-Christianity
-Parents dying or not being that awesome

[Ante Bellum]

Steve the Mailman.

[Atria35]

Romance. All of mine have to have romance.
Fantasy worlds. I also hate writing stories that take place in this one.

[Rusty Claymore]

Well, all my story concepts have charaters who are indomitable about what they believe. Course, that may not qualify.
My other is devastating pasts that the character doesn't talk about and can't rectify, they just have to live with it and do their best not to let it affect them.
Probly my only other one is a general lack of info about the MC. I give the rundown on the Support or second characters, but the MC is revealed slowly or not at all.

[bigsleepj]

• My stories tend to have a noir element in them (detectives, mysteries, or characters struggling with guilt, desire or such)
• Loner heroes
• Eccentric characters
• Characters either doubting their faith or trying their best to do the right thing
• Sarcastic writing style (utilized mostly in short stories)
• References to more obscure movies and books (subtle or direct)
• Hermann Wertzel, a recurring character (usually mentioned, seldom met) who is a parody of a real life person, albeit an affectionate parody.

[Asuka Neko]

Really weird, quirky characters. I have a lot of them, like a girl who is very pretty and almost perfect-looking but has a pet catfish that loves her and despises her boyfriend and she also owns a lot of shotguns. I think she's one of my weirdest. I also have a girl named Shrew who is six feet tall and wears size 13 boots that have magical properties (and fuschia lightning bolts on them) and a narcoleptic elf.

Yeah. We're all mad here.

[ShiroiHikari]

So far, both of the stories I've tried to write have had shy MCs.

That's about it really.

[FllMtl Novelist]

I leave thumbprints all over the printed-out drafts. And fingerprints, too. XD But seriously:

-Female protagonists (if she's not the lead, she's the second most important character)
-Fantasy elements (all but a few stories I wrote have obviously fantasy stuff going on)
-Romance ("write what you know/have experienced"? Who does that?!)
-Some errors that are absolutely mortifying when I realize them. DX

Really weird, quirky characters. I have a lot of them, like a girl who is very pretty and almost perfect-looking but has a pet catfish that loves her and despises her boyfriend and she also owns a lot of shotguns. I think she's one of my weirdest. I also have a girl named Shrew who is six feet tall and wears size 13 boots that have magical properties (and fuschia lightning bolts on them) and a narcoleptic elf.

Yeah. We're all mad here.

Are they all in the same story? o.o

[Asuka Neko]

Are they all in the same story? o.o

That would be really interesting... sadly, no, they're all from different stories. Maybe I'll write a story sometime where all of the characters are really absurd and quirky and ridiculous.

[Destroyer2000]

I do the same:

-Mostly male main characters.
-Romance stories of some sort.

I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them at the moment.

[rocklobster]

I have a couple:
1. I tend to name a female character Joanne quite often. This is because I had a friend in high school named Joanne and I think this is a good way to honor the friendship.
2. I used to have characters with meaningful names. It got too difficult to keep this up, so I kinda dropped this practice.

[FllMtl Novelist]

That would be really interesting... sadly, no, they're all from different stories. Maybe I'll write a story sometime where all of the characters are really absurd and quirky and ridiculous.

Kinda like Baccano!. XD

[Arvin]

Haven't written that many works yet, but mine tend to have:

*Gods descending to the mortal world and joining the main cast.
*Sci-fi-grade civilisations in a decidedly magic-centric fantasy setting. May or may not be justified, but the latter cases were only when I was a kid.
*The Quest

[Seto_Sora]

Structuring in three or triangle is typically my Creator Thumbprint. It will appear in the structure of the story (trilogy or three parts), in character's names (my characters almost always have three names), escalation, villains, alliterations, images, triangles, etc.. The reason for this is that I believe three represents completion. It is a rise and a fall to resolve. it is a perfect triangle, or imperfect, but always dependent on itself. It is stable, reliable, structured.
another hidden print is that number sequences within a story will almost always (except for years and dates) logically equate to 6 or 7. And the equation would be quick way to know if the chararcter or device is good or bad. Often good or Theo related things will equate to 7 or be 7 while evil or man centered things will equate to 6 or be the number 6.

SDG

[FllMtl Novelist]

I tend to plan for a sequel, too. Not because I think, "Oh I'll do all this cool stuff later", but because my stories seem to occur in big chunks. I guess in some cases, I could just think of 'em as "part one", "part two", and so on in one book, but I like to think of them in terms of books instead. XD Maybe it just makes me sound more accomplished?

[Blacklight]

I think these tend to show up in many of my concepts:

1. Girl+guy team, and one of them is "superpowered" or powerful in some way, or has something otherwise supernaturally unique about them. The other can also have something supernatural about them, but in a different way. (And the more "normal" one is usually the main character.)

2. The supernatural+fantasy elements. Anything can happen. Anything.

3. Some search for some thing or another, especially with the girl+guy team mentioned previously. It seems my characters are always looking for something in order to accomplish something bigger.

4. Violence. I don't really know how I could explain this...

5. Other worlds that are somehow "attached" to earth.

6. Mythology/folklore or fictional culture that is tied to the things happening "now" in the story.

Others show up, but it would be difficult to explain some of them.

I also plan books in a series sometimes. I don't know if it's considered a good or bad idea, but one story in particular is supposed to be a trilogy, and I plan the events happening within each part.