Motif's in your work

The other wiki states a motif is "any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story".

In my romance, set over the course of 30 years or so, Lucy always 'leaves' Gabriel - either literally, their break up when they were 17 and 18, or anytime they are together when they have to go different directions, even as a couple - he drops her off after their first re-union date, so when she goes into her block of flats, he is left alone in the parking area, etc. Even if I wrote a scene in a supermarket doing the weekly shop, she would be the one nipping into the next aisle to pick something up - she moves away from him, not the other way round.

Which do you use?

edited 16th Feb '12 2:44:22 PM by LastHussar

Nope. I've generally had the feeling that motifs tend to push the Rule of Symbolism too far.

Edit: Actually, this is an over-generalization - I'm talking about motifs of the kind described in the OP. Certainly there are motifs of some kind that I use at places.

edited 16th Feb '12 6:29:53 PM by nrjxll

Eternal has three, in somewhat different spheres. In the most grotesque sequences, the concept of a vertically impaled corpse has obvious, disgusting implications (particularly for the character doing the impaling.) In the most emotional sequences, cold implies loneliness. Either way, the phrase "It's what we all deserve" shows up a lot, originated by one character and picked up by all the characters she influences.

In Innocence Lost, many of the characters have a sort of supernatural premonition before their deaths. I suppose it could be described as a near-death experience, as it often comes right after they're badly injured, but before they are actually killed. It takes the form of a kind of shared dream, as the character in question walks through a wheat field with a black sky and a ground soaked with blood.

In terms of representation, it essentially symbolizes the shared human condition, but what it means specifically for each character tends to vary.

~shrug~

I have many more, but that's my favorite of them.

In my epic Lucky Star fanfiction (which sadly you can not find anymore), I had characters crying of tears of blood for no given reason. It was to symbolize that all the characters were slowing dieing from their sadness.

Since then I don't use any motifs in my stories because i just don't see the point anymore.

Land of Nod prominently features Stars as a motif. Hardly surprising when you consider a good portion of the story takes place in a Dreamland and the deuteragonist, the titular Nod, is himself an Anthropomorphic Personification of a star.

My Pokemon fanfiction, The Ballad of Greg Thomas, is about a Pittsburger from our world, a normal grown man with a job, wife, and child, finding himself lost in the Pokemon world(to be specific, Unova) through a freak accident, and he tries to find a way home.

The motif of Greg's personal story is that of isolation. He is lost in a strange and dangerous world, and his primary stick as a Pokemon OC is that he fights the nasties by himself, with a pipe wrench, a Beretta, etc. He had lived life feeling that there was something more, and when his life was taken from him in the blink of an eye, he realises that you don't know what you have until it's gone. Unova is utterly alien to him, to the point that when he sees Ho-Oh after he is transported to the world of Pokemon, he attempts to rationalize it as a bird caught in a freak industrial accident.

He does get involved in Team Plasma's plot to seperate humans and Pokemon, but his biggest motivation for opposing N and the team's members that he simply does not want to die scared, tired, and alone(in fact, he chooses a third option when forced to take sides between truth and ideals). His allies are few and far between, mostly Unova's Gym Leaders and Juniper, Fennel, and Alder. The world all but hates him, as shown when he is attacked by the Musketeer Pokemon(sans Keldeo) in the midpoint of the story.

edited 16th Feb '12 8:33:49 PM by Fourcartridge

I didn't know that a motif possessed in your work! I didn't even know that an in your work was something that could be possessed!

(Check apostrophe usage next time, kthnx)

...I can't believe I didn't notice that until now.

While my Mons story is still technically in progress, the common motif is uniqueness of an individual, and how one person will never be the same as the next, even if there is no One-Steve Limit. The Mons themselves are unique to them individual, each being made from an aspect of a person (Their interest, strongest emotions most felt, personality, among other various things) and even the Mons themselves are unique, with there never being two of the same in appearance.

There is also a bunch of Animal Motifs in the clothing of both the heros and villains. An example being the main character going from normal human clothing, to wearing a set of clothing the resembles his strongest Mons

edited 17th Feb '12 7:50:31 AM by draconiansuperior

Arrrgh. I'm usually a complete PITA when it comes to "Apo'stophe error's" Perhaps I need to become a grocer...

Sorry!

Wordkeepers, partially thanks to the word "word" being in its title, has a number of motifs relating to the words we use and definitions. Words with multiple meanings come up a number of times, as do unusual words, loanwords, malapropisms, etc. Admittedly it's a good deal of linguistic Author Appeal, but I love words, and wanted to do things with some of the more unusual and strange words I know. Plus, I find it fun to talk about the ways in which we use language and stuff. I do try to rein it in a little, though.

I think at least couple people here are getting their "motifs" and "themes" mixed up. A motif can convey or reinforce a theme like "aging" or "isolation" or "insincerity" or whatever, but it's otherwise a little less abstract than that. For example, the play on lightness/darkness/clarity/obscurity is a majorly widespread recurrence, from Milton to Shakespeare to modern literature, but the ideas it communicates might dramatically differ from work to work. It's more of a loose evocation of an idea than the idea itself. Though I could be mistaken.

Thanks, Noodles. I was wondering if I was missing something. It appears motif seems to mean different things to different people.

Here's another one. Lucy is a Meaningful Name, as it roots in Latin, 'Bringer of Light'. In one scene Gabriel is sitting in the dark staring at his computer (he has been working, and didn't notice day turn to night) when his phone goes. I assume his phone is like mine, and when the screen is on gives off a surprising amount of light. Her phoning him literally lights him up.

Gabriel's life is 'in the light' when she is there, and in darkness when she isn't.

edit

Just reviewing my MS, and found I've managed to do it unconsciously, and by allusion. Their first proper 're-union date', he is in the hall way of her block, which being a public area is bland. She opens the door and she looks stunning - she brings colour to the drabness.

edited 20th Feb '12 4:34:40 PM by LastHussar