When I was younger I read a lot of Dean Koontz. I never read any Stephen King, but that’s a different post that will probably never happen.

Anyway, I read everything I could find about Mr. Koontz. And then waited for new books to come out so I could devour those. I beleive this was around the time ‘The Door to October’ came out (Fascinating premise, btw. At least I thought so. The unsolvable riddle when pondered in sensory deprived conditions becomes solvable and then anything is possible, which is bad for a psychologically traumatized child). After a while I started to notice a trend in every story. This was before I was familiar with things like tropes and themes and formula.

But I started to notice all the male leads all fit a similar profile. The female leads, same thing. There was the same cast of supporting characters, varrying by one or two people, but fairly consistent. And of course, every story was a horror/psychological thriller.

I think a lot of readers have favorite authors for that very reason. Even if they can’t put a label on it, they’ll read everything that author produces because part of them enjoys those shared similarities from book to book.

I’m not quite like that. I don’t know when it happened. Possibly about the time I discovered it in Mr. Koontz’s writing. And most recently I discovered it in Chuck Palahniuk’s stories. His isn’t quite as obvious, and he’s still an amazing writer, even though the graphic details in his writing don’t do it for me. But his male and female leads, and the underlying romance, always shares a common thread from book to book. I shouldn’t say that. ‘Diary’ wasn’t quite that way. ‘Diary’ is one of my favorite books of all times, for the record.

Because I’ve become bizzarly hyper-aware of this, I see it in my own writing, too. My male leads follow one of two patterns. I tend to have the reluctant but undeniably effective alpha, or the almost-but-not-quite omega. Or a blend of the two. My women always work, and tend to be a bizarre blend of self-aware and stand-offish, regardless of how shy/outgoing/pretty/plain they are.

I don’t tend to write child characters. Or married couples. Or large families. 90% of the people in my imaginary universes are in their late 20’s (or act like it), single, and enjoying the life that single people in their late 20’s are supposed to according to popular sitcoms.

And if I were to tell you the theme of every novel I’ve finished in the last five years, it would be “Big brother is watching and in control, and Bob and Sally don’t like it. So they make their own choices and tell Big Brother to go shove it. Who knew thinking for onesself could be so sexy and liberating?”

I suppose I have some sort of subconscious desire to not be ruled by corporate america for the rest of my life. Which is funny because my lifestyle dictates that exactly the opposite will happen to me.

I ponder this occasionally and it doesn’t really bother me. Or it didn’t until about a week ago. I have two separate novels. One I’m just wrapping up and one I’m just starting. I came up with these ideas at two very different times in my life. The one I’m just finishing has grown and evolved and is only loosly what it started out like.

The one I’m about to start is completely unrelated. It’s almost a different genre, and again I came up with the characters and the basic concept at a very different time than the first novel.

And then I saw this:

Ronnie loved that her empathy translated to physical sensations when she was in a mortal body…

versus

One of the doctors Taylor’s mother had taken him to had called him an empath. He didn’t know what it meant, but he did know he wanted the foreign feelings to leave him alone.

Contemporary/Urban Fantasy versus Dystopian/Cyberpunk Sci-fi

Angels versus Technology

And somehow my main characters are both empaths.

Technically, I could change my new story and not have it fall apart. Not only just because I haven’t written it yet, but because…for lots of reasons.

I just don’t know if I want to.

Is it bad to have two characters in entirely different worlds and universes sharing such a distinct trait? Or am I overthinking this?

And on a personal note – what is it that has me fascinated with people who can read other people’s emotions? (Or maybe don’t answer that one 😉