I noticed the other day when starting work on another novel that most of the stories I write seem to have similar themes--even if the stories themselves are completely different from each other. I noticed that:

1) My novels always seem to have an existentialist theme going on. In the sense that there's is no life after death and no meaning to life, so you have to give your own life meaning through the choices you make.

2) The male protagonists are often guided or protected by a strong female protagonist that sees them through all the hardships in their lives (score one for feminism, lol!). At the same time, the male antagonists are usually being controlled by a female, or are trying to avenge the death of a loved one.

I don't deliberately set out to do these things, they just seem to happen naturally. Admittedly, I am a bit of a existentialist myself so I can understand the first part. The second part though you can probably either take it or leave it--but to be fair, that's pretty common in a lot of modern (and even not so modern) literature. (Macbeth, for example)

Does any other writer find themselves putting the same themes in their novels? I'd be interested to find out if I'm alone in this or not.