All-Encompassing Central Idea

My mother has said on numerous occasions that Steven Spielberg must have a lot of father issues. Her reason is that if you watch almost any movie he's made, it generally has a character with father issues in it. I can see it.

I saw Coraline the other day, and noticed a similar pattern about Tim Burton. His movies always seem to be about a single character who is disenfranchised (or bored) with his or her world, finds another one, then finds out that the other world is not what he or she wanted at all, choosing to go back to the first one as a wiser and happier individual. I enjoyed Coraline, but as I watched it, all I could think of was The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride.

This thought has been on my mind for years now, and I have come to realize and accept that all of my dramatic (i.e. not comedic) stories have an all-encompassing central idea. My stories are always about two groups of people who are at war because of different beliefs that they have about the other group. They fight, one wins, the other is annihilated. Sounds easy and boring, right?

I think that Tim Burton's movies have been interesting and worth watching. The same goes for Mr. Spielberg. The specifics within each story make them interesting. The characters, the action, the qualities of the two cultures, the differences between them, and the actual actions and repercussions are what make a story interesting.

If you have an all-encompassing central idea, be aware of it. If you know your stories tend to have a big picture in common, make sure you aren't writing the same story every time. If you can, make this central idea work for you. Find the variations that are possible and write about them.

Or, you can take a page from Alan Moore's book and do the exact opposite. As he says, once somebody even thinks that they have an idea of what your style is, do something completely different. Are you the person who writes hard-bitten detective stories? Then write a romantic comedy. I do have to agree with that. Even if it doesn't turn out great, it will definitely keep you on your toes.