Welcome to Gaia! ::

Gaia Forums » Artist's Corner » Writers
<3 </3
Reply
1 2 >

Enduring Member

12,450 Points
  • Conventioneer 300
  • Firestarter 200
  • Lavish Tipper 200
Offline
Is it weird to have a reoccurring symbol in your story and you yourself are not sure what it means?
If you do have a reoccurring symbol, should you give it a meaning? Or is it like the theme of the story, where it will eventually reveal itself on its own?

I have this in my story. Either I put something in there specifically to be that symbol, or sometimes I find myself doing it accidentally. Is this a bad thing?

Edit: Discuss symbols in your stories and what they might mean or if they mean anything at all.

8,700 Points
  • The Perfect Setup 150
  • Risky Lifestyle 100
  • Conversationalist 100
Offline
It's fine. I'm pretty sure most authors don't have a clue what their "symbols" mean until someone points it out, then they wink and nod.

Enduring Member

12,450 Points
  • Conventioneer 300
  • Firestarter 200
  • Lavish Tipper 200
Offline
Klaark
It's fine. I'm pretty sure most authors don't have a clue what their "symbols" mean until someone points it out, then they wink and nod.

Lol, that's good to know.

Offline
I usually understand my own symbolism, but I am open to other people interpreting it. For example, I use the recurring imagery of glass, such as in windows and mirrors, to make the point that my character sometimes feels as if he's trapped in a glass cage, looking out from a world he's not a part of.

Offline
I'd just let it flow naturally and wait to see what happens at the end. You can always revise later, but see where nature takes things before you go messing with what might be a good flow.

I don't usually do anything like that intentionally in my work, it comes later farther along in the process and that's okay, that's what revision and editing is for. My first draft is to just have fun and crank it out, then I can get to the hard work.

Enduring Member

12,450 Points
  • Conventioneer 300
  • Firestarter 200
  • Lavish Tipper 200
Offline
jj1027
I usually understand my own symbolism, but I am open to other people interpreting it. For example, I use the recurring imagery of glass, such as in windows and mirrors, to make the point that my character sometimes feels as if he's trapped in a glass cage, looking out from a world he's not a part of.

Oh, that's beautiful. I like that.
I do have a few elements that symbolize different things, but they are not so reoccurring. But the one reoccurring one (I may be going crazy here) is a half moon. Whether it's a crescent, or a half circle, I've put it in there a loooottt. Like shapes of key things, my protagonist ends up getting a crescent-shaped scar, and a lot of other weird stuff. O_o

Offline
The thing about symbols is they can mean different things.

Should you give it a meaning? Everything and anything can have a meaning. The reader just has to apply one to it. You could have just mentioned an empty chair to let he reader know they're dining alone, but the reader may take it another way.

Just like themes, you aren't going to always notice symbols in your writing. Some you may and use. Others may just appear in there.

Dangerous Enabler

Offline
I'm fairly deliberate with a lot of my symbolism, because theme and tone are where I start building a story, a lot of the time, and symbolism ties into that. I also try to use consistent symbolism as relates to different characters, because it reinforces characterization. For example, if a character has ties to Norse myth, symbolism of yew and ravens, allusions to caves and shadows and sunlight (Plato's allegory of the cave) would make less sense.

Some of it ends up flowing fairly naturally and then I notice it and reinforce it, but I try to be conscious of the symbolism I'm incorporating, including the meaning. It's not necessarily a bad thing to not know exactly what you're saying with your recurring images, but it might be something you develop more or attach more meaning to later.

Enduring Member

12,450 Points
  • Conventioneer 300
  • Firestarter 200
  • Lavish Tipper 200
Offline
phantomkitsune
I'm fairly deliberate with a lot of my symbolism, because theme and tone are where I start building a story, a lot of the time, and symbolism ties into that. I also try to use consistent symbolism as relates to different characters, because it reinforces characterization. For example, if a character has ties to Norse myth, symbolism of yew and ravens, allusions to caves and shadows and sunlight (Plato's allegory of the cave) would make less sense.

Some of it ends up flowing fairly naturally and then I notice it and reinforce it, but I try to be conscious of the symbolism I'm incorporating, including the meaning. It's not necessarily a bad thing to not know exactly what you're saying with your recurring images, but it might be something you develop more or attach more meaning to later.

That's a good way to look at it. I'm hoping my symbols will eventually reveal what they mean later, and then I can just reinforce it like you said. :T

Fanatical Cultist

Offline
jj1027
I usually understand my own symbolism, but I am open to other people interpreting it. For example, I use the recurring imagery of glass, such as in windows and mirrors, to make the point that my character sometimes feels as if he's trapped in a glass cage, looking out from a world he's not a part of.
(Ohmigawd it's a Vash!)
That's a nifty concept. I would be interested in reading something like that.

I'm with Icehawk here. The capacity for readers to blow your "intended" symbolism out the window is insane. What you intend is not necessarily what they'll get out of your writing. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion.

But in terms of things I've toyed with lately, birds are probably the biggest right now. It's to be expected--the protagonist is from a nation that worships birds as gods, so naturally she's going to see symbols and heavenly influence based on the presence of birds or feathers. At the same time, what birds represent in-world are not exactly the same as their various "meaning" in the real world. Nor do I always use the most common/well recognized meanings (the swan is my biggest offender. Happy day! You saw the bird of love and grace! Except you didn't. You saw the bird associated with foresight in regards to death and hypocrisy. Don't that just suck?) So while the character interprets one thing, I'm working on another.

But other than that, I don't normally try to incorporate any kind of symbolism into my work. Sometimes my IJ or my beta-readers will pick up on something and then I might try to work with it, but for the most part it's unintentional.

Unless a character associating an item with a symbolic meaning of his or her own counts?

Prophet

Offline
Some of the time I only understand my own symbolism later on. Occasionally I even orchestrate my symbolism to match my themes before I even write the thing. Other times I add in symbolism because my subconscious just wants to do so and then when it comes to editing I think- "Nope! Nopenopenopenopenope. Not working!"

Enduring Member

12,450 Points
  • Conventioneer 300
  • Firestarter 200
  • Lavish Tipper 200
Offline
General Phade

But in terms of things I've toyed with lately, birds are probably the biggest right now. It's to be expected--the protagonist is from a nation that worships birds as gods, so naturally she's going to see symbols and heavenly influence based on the presence of birds or feathers. At the same time, what birds represent in-world are not exactly the same as their various "meaning" in the real world. Nor do I always use the most common/well recognized meanings (the swan is my biggest offender. Happy day! You saw the bird of love and grace! Except you didn't. You saw the bird associated with foresight in regards to death and hypocrisy. Don't that just suck?) So while the character interprets one thing, I'm working on another.


That reminded me of something I saw (for realz, here, like I actually saw it once) and decided one day I would put it into a story just because it screamed some form of symbolism to me.
I saw this absolutely magnificent bird--I'm not sure what kind it was--that just looked exotic and beautiful. Mostly black and white, but with long red tail feathers and breast. I was in the city, so it looked like it really didn't belong there. Maybe escaped from a zoo or something. But as I was admiring the beauty of it, I noticed it was eating something in the street, and when I got closer, I realized it was a dead animal--like a cat or a possum. And I am pretty sure it had not killed the animal itself. It looked like it had just happened upon some roadkill.
It was really weird. Such a pretty bird eating something so putrid. Seemed like it had to mean something. o-o

Enduring Member

12,450 Points
  • Conventioneer 300
  • Firestarter 200
  • Lavish Tipper 200
Offline
Sathael
Some of the time I only understand my own symbolism later on. Occasionally I even orchestrate my symbolism to match my themes before I even write the thing. Other times I add in symbolism because my subconscious just wants to do so and then when it comes to editing I think- "Nope! Nopenopenopenopenope. Not working!"

Lol, that's how I feel most of the time.

Eternal Sex Symbol

44,250 Points
  • Alchemy Level 10 100
  • Battle: Mage 100
  • Battle Hardened 150
Offline
I haven't really played with symbolism much until recently. It's more prominent in one story in particular. The story focuses on the characters trying to find a magic rock that could bring life to their dying land, and it represents god/faith/organized religion. Many of the characters and events in the story represent things that relate to religion. The main character is someone who needs the hope it provides. She has no idea if the magic rock works or if it even exists, but it's the only hope she has to keep the members of her village from dying of starvation. Many members of the village don't think it exists and that she's insane to risk her life to go after it. They meet a character later one who has figured out how to control the power of the rock, and uses it to claim he's been chosen by a great spirit to explain and enforce rules. It's all a lie, of course. He just wants power and money. And so on.

I've also got some moon symbolism going on. It's introduced as something the main character uses to tell the passage of time, so the more cycles it goes through, the faster they need to finish their mission. And, foreshadowing. A lot of the most negative events in the book happen during either a new moon or when the moon is small, while more positive ones happen at full or nearly full moons.

So yeah, I've just done basic stuff so far. But I'd really like to keep playing with symbolism. I've been throwing more little bits into stories, but the magic rock story is the only one that's like, all about the symbol.

Enduring Member

12,450 Points
  • Conventioneer 300
  • Firestarter 200
  • Lavish Tipper 200
Offline
marshmallowcreampie
I haven't really played with symbolism much until recently. It's more prominent in one story in particular. The story focuses on the characters trying to find a magic rock that could bring life to their dying land, and it represents god/faith/organized religion. Many of the characters and events in the story represent things that relate to religion. The main character is someone who needs the hope it provides. She has no idea if the magic rock works or if it even exists, but it's the only hope she has to keep the members of her village from dying of starvation. Many members of the village don't think it exists and that she's insane to risk her life to go after it. They meet a character later one who has figured out how to control the power of the rock, and uses it to claim he's been chosen by a great spirit to explain and enforce rules. It's all a lie, of course. He just wants power and money. And so on.

I've also got some moon symbolism going on. It's introduced as something the main character uses to tell the passage of time, so the more cycles it goes through, the faster they need to finish their mission. And, foreshadowing. A lot of the most negative events in the book happen during either a new moon or when the moon is small, while more positive ones happen at full or nearly full moons.

So yeah, I've just done basic stuff so far. But I'd really like to keep playing with symbolism. I've been throwing more little bits into stories, but the magic rock story is the only one that's like, all about the symbol.

That sounds pretty cool. I like that. O:
Gaia Forums » Artist's Corner » Writers

Quick Reply

Submit
Manage Your Items
Other Stuff
More
Get GCash
Offers
More
Get Items
More Items
More
Where Everyone Hangs Out
Other Community Areas
  • Guilds
    fan clubs for the stuff you love
  • Chat
    chat in real time with other Gaian's
  • Art Arenas
    browse & rate gaian art galleries
  • Clans
    play zOMG with others
More
Virtual Spaces
Fun Stuff
More
Gaia's Games
Mini-Games
More
Play with GCash
Play with Platinum
More