Most stories have some deeper message hidden in them. What would yours be?
I'll give some examples here:

Glavas, hunter for hire - The inability to tell where the line between good and evil lies. What appears good for one side may be evil for someone else. There is some evil in good and some good in evil.

Artist's Nightmare - Overcoming a traumatic past and one's own darkness doesn't come easy. The path to acceptance and healing is long and without shortcuts.

Teleios -- means perfect

The story is about perfectionism and acceptance of the imperfection within humanity. It tells about human desire to be perfect vs accepting the imperfection. Question what is the limit and how far it can go when perfsctionism in question lies.

The story had been accused of anti-trans and ultra feminism in a way that it explore idea of "perfect woman"

I honestly don't know yet, I'm very early on in my story. (30 chapters of like a 450 planned)

But if I had to say anything it would be; The Villains Live Here Too

Much of my story is about thirteen individuals fighting an evil force that wants to destroy the world. My thirteen heroes are not all heroic, but do have a vested interest in the world that they live on. 

I wanna play! Let's see...

The Privateer
Hmm... I'm not sure I have a single deeper meaning. The Privateer touches on a lot of different themes. If I had to pick one, I guess it would be: Be good to the people around you, and beat the hell out of the people who aren't good back.

Knights of the Partition
Being a hero isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's painful, costly, and fucking dangerous. 

My Childhood Best Friend is a VTuber!

Everyone you see online lead lives of their own, yet sometimes when all we see amounts to a bunch of pixels, we lose sight of the fact that there's always someone on the other side. Blind faith in what you choose and know to be true can stop you from seeing what's right in front of you.

AH! Yes! All good stories have at least one of three things -- Funny laugh out loud, ha-ha moments, or rock'em sock'em, page turning action...

... or a message we ought to take heed to. Great stories do all three!

So my story called The VocaLords is pretty much rock'em sock'em action, and my story called TRANSCIETY has many ha-ha moments.

But my signature piece called DOTS, here on Royal Road? Besides the laffs and action, DOTS definitely has a message. 
And that message is, according to Socrates - Virtue is its own reward. 😇

But more important, perhaps, is the message that the prophet Jeremiah offers as a converse - 
Your own evil will punish you. 🔥

💖

Ceres's Chaos: Good people do bad things sometimes, and bad people do worse things believing it to be good for their people. And the only way to beat the bad people is do something much worse.

I think there are a bunch of levels of deeper messages in The Last Philosopher, probably too many, but on the deepest level there's question of whether the multiverse can exist without thought?

While I'd usually leave that to English teachers, here we go:

Silver, Sand, and Silken Wings
Communication is key and a family is not bound by blood.

I like to keep what is most important to me simple. More can be said about the events, the why, the antagonist and everything else, but I wish that the reader sees those core things after following Sylph through the adventure.

Legend of the Spellthief - You don't have to steal and lie to have a better life.

Natural Magic is a story about responsibility and family. It's not expressed as strongly in the first draft up here on Royal Road, but Chicken is searching for prestige. He wants stories to be told about him, just like the ones his Auntie grew him up on. He is, in fact, fated for greatness, and the mute Amerigo is sent as harbinger of Chicken's destiny. Along the way, Chicken thinks he finds his destiny in his heritage, gaining great power from an ancient ancestor. Unfortunately, it becomes toxic, driving a wedge between him and his people, as well as between him and his new friend. He has to learn that old modes are abandoned for a reason, despite their obvious efficacy, and that not all heroes get magnificent stories. Some simply have to do the job for any stories to be told.

At the same time, Penelope is coping with being exiled by her orc tribe on accusations of being a changeling. Her non-orcish demeanor drives her family to reject her. In her wanderings, she is taken in by Chicken's community and nursed back to health by his Auntie. When the kobold community is discovered by the new orcish empire being forged of the disparate tribes in the wastelands, she plots with Chicken to return with the orcs, thereby discovering the nearly modern city they have built. Here, she discovers the odd Lord over the city, who is praised endlessly despite his own non-orcish ideas. She has to find the differences between herself and this new leader, hopefully firmly establishing a more inclusive and overall healthier orcish outlook for her people.

Self discovery and relationships define a lot of the undertones for the story. Chicken and Penelope each grapple with their sense of purpose, both for their own personal growth as well as the continued growth of their people.

This was long and overly detailed, but since i'm in the middle of heavy edits, it helped me to think about the overall message I'm trying to send, in between the dumb jokes.

My short story Oroborosaurus on the other hand asks the question: Could evolution happen independantly of our timestream?

The many shades of love. 

THE GIRL WHO COULD TASTE TIME (draft)

02:02 - The story of the boy who could hear numbers

POV - Eske

Quote:And I will never forget what he [grandfather] told me that day. 'At the end of the story, life doesn't start at one or zero. Life starts when it thinks it is about to end.'
The number nine, from all other numbers, was an orchestra of the best sounds a human being could listen to. A baby's coo, the many sounds of water, the swish sound of a ball hitting a net, a child's very first words, the sound of rain hitting the window and finally, the words 'I do'. Number nine sounded like a crowd made of pure human life. And from all numbers, nine was my favourite.

larareispoetry Wrote: THE GIRL WHO COULD TASTE TIME (draft)

02:02 - The story of the boy who could hear numbers

POV - Eske

Quote:And I will never forget what he [grandfather] told me that day. 'At the end of the story, life doesn't start at one or zero. Life starts when it thinks it is about to end.'
The number nine, from all other numbers, was an orchestra of the best sounds a human being could listen to. A baby's coo, the many sounds of water, the swish sound of a ball hitting a net, a child's very first words, the sound of rain hitting the window and finally, the words 'I do'. Number nine sounded like a crowd made of pure human life. And from all numbers, nine was my favourite.

*desperately taking notes and hints to figure out the story* Can he hear his WTL number without a Pi Card?!

M.G Wrote:

larareispoetry Wrote: THE GIRL WHO COULD TASTE TIME (draft)

02:02 - The story of the boy who could hear numbers

POV - Eske

Quote:And I will never forget what he [grandfather] told me that day. 'At the end of the story, life doesn't start at one or zero. Life starts when it thinks it is about to end.'
The number nine, from all other numbers, was an orchestra of the best sounds a human being could listen to. A baby's coo, the many sounds of water, the swish sound of a ball hitting a net, a child's very first words, the sound of rain hitting the window and finally, the words 'I do'. Number nine sounded like a crowd made of pure human life. And from all numbers, nine was my favourite.

*desperately taking notes and hints to figure out the story* Can he hear his WTL number without a Pi Card?!

I can't answer to that question without giving you spoilers, but second ARC ' The story of the boy who could hear numbers' a lot of questions will be answered. Especially that one you made - I'm impressed by the question, actually.

Tales from Tabletop is, at its core, a coming of age story.  I know that's pretty basic, but I'm attempting what I believe to be a more nuanced take.  Based on my own past readings, coming of age stories often times treat growing up as a kind of tragedy.  They often focus on a remorse to losing something we can never get back, whereas my attempt is to show it is natural and something positive. 

The main character, Selene, starts off very child like, in part due to personal tragedies in her life that she could never process.  Part of the story will be her growing up into a fully grown adult woman who has overcome the tragedy and matured while still keeping the positive elements from her childhood. 

On another level, however, the story also deals with the concept of legacy.  In particular the legacy of your ancestors, how their actions have affected how the world treats you and that part of carrying forth that legacy is finding ways to uplift the good and correct the bad, where possible.  Most important though is the acceptance of the relationship between who you are and where you came from so that you can carry forward to a better future, hopefully.

Since this current arc I'm writing is one in seven, we shall see how well I do going forward with each of these concepts. 

A story about finding identity. When someone finds themselves following the ebbs and flows of life until they realise they have no clue what defines themselves in their own mind. Some people that cannot find their own identity find it in what others need for them and that becomes their life.

My story is quite a bit more fantastical and is about the story of someone who was birthed the day they were found, and from that day forward was taught how to fight and how to be used as a weapon. They were taught how to be useful. But why? Why do they fight?

Furthermore it also explores the reasons conflict arises in the first place. How people with differing wants in life will always trample someone else in the process. Is conflict inevitable?

If you like the deeper meaning behind Neon Genesis Evangelion, my subconscious pulled A LOT of inspiration from that show so...Thank you!

In our day-to-day life, we often give far too much importance to things that matter too little. We don't see the forest for the trees, so to say. We always take everything more seriously than necessary, except when we actually need to. And we waste time meandering about. Well, once you're dead, none of that matters. You won't age anymore, you won't evolve anymore. You'll stay the same, no matter how far your soul goes.

So, don't throw your life to the wolves. Live while you still can. Do that which makes you happy, even if society tries to put you back in place. Don't listen. You don't owe them for your happiness.

So long as you're considerate, and aren't truly hurting the people around you with your choices, you have no obligation to answer to anyone for anything.

Don't live a live you'll end up regretting.

People can be very different (and really annoying), but everybody has something to offer.