Tropes

[meridian_rose]

So, I saw this great bingo meme by somniesperus - it's a sort of twist on trope bingo where instead of getting a card you make fills for, you fill in a card with all the tropes that you (un)consciously write! Smaller fandoms and dialogue heavy are two of mine that closely match their card. Fade to black sex scenes is another trope I use. Under-represented characters feature in original fic (asexual/bisexual/childfree/etc); female authority figures is another. For LotS fic; Cara rolls her eyes (though to be fair, that's canon). Hair kink. Any others you can think of? What tropes do you most write?

Comments

[pristineungift.livejournal.com]

Alrighty then, here are mine:

From a list of Fic Tropes:
Better Than Canon
Dark Fic
Draco In Leather Pants*
Everyone is Bi
Fan Verse
Gender Flip
Kid Fic*
Original Character
Stockholm Schnozzing

Things not on the list, but are recurring themes in my fic:

No One Is The Hero/Shades of Grey

An Opening Scene Description Is Repeated In the Ending/Mirrored Scenes

Start With a Quote, End With a Quote

Rumors and Folk Songs

Everything Sounds Like Knives, And Looks Like Blood

Open Ending

It Wouldn't Be a Party if Nobody Died

Villain/Rare Character POV

Transformation (Yer a Wizard, Darken/Yer a Demon, Kagome/and so on)

Siblingcest (not sure if this counts if it only applies to LotS and GoT)

======================================================

*I like to think I avoid this one, but realistically it's in there at least a little.

*Not sure if I really count for this, as only one of my 'kid' stories revolves around the kid. But I've done a Darken/Cara kid twice, gave Jennsen/Haden Renn and Lexi, and done a deliberately trope-y Spock/Kirk kid. So.

I was going to put redemption too, but when I stopped and thought about it, the only time I've ever actually redeemed a villain was in the Blood Trilogy. The other times I just leave them... villainy. (Not counting the fics where the show redeemed the villain before I ever got my hands on them.)

[meridian_rose]

Quotes are definitely a thing I associate with your fics! :)

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

You can really spend a lot of time on the trope website ;)

Anyway, here are a few I'm pretty sure I use:

Curtain Fic
Fix-it Fic
Next Gen Fic
Kid Fic

Better Than Canon
Draco in Leather Pants
Alternate Universe
Even Evil Has Standards
Family Drama
Disfunctional Family

And this one, not on the list:
Story Within a Story

[meridian_rose]

tvtropes is dangerous! I didn't go there this time, just tried to think of things I often use. It surprises me that Story Within A Story isn't there though (it itself is Older Than Dirt for one thing). Family Drama, definitely :)

[meridian_rose]

OK on re reading, not sure if you meant it wasn't on the list at the site or it is one you like but don't tend to use (not on your list), but there's a couple of options for that trope

Show Within a Show: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShowWithinAShow?from=Main.StoryWithinAStory

Nested story: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NestedStory

:D

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I think the second one, the nested stories a la the Arabian Nights, is more the trope I prefer.

It's funny, really: everyone always warns against clichés, but a lot of the tropes I use are things I like to read/find interesting, and a trope is just a cliché before it's gotten too popular.

[meridian_rose]

Yes, trope are important :D They are core elements of story telling.

I think we both use 'story within a story' to some extent, though it could be argued as 'nested story' whenever our characters talk about the stories, myths, and legends that exist in the fictional world (Cawfry, Hero of the Southern Isles, for example) :)

[et-tu-lj.livejournal.com]

What a cool idea!

My tropes:
Small fandom
Poetry/Mythology reference
Rare character POV
No one is the hero
Important friendship/relationship outside of the main pairing
Repressed characters who deny their emotions
Fade to black sex scenes
Triangles, where they love more than one person but only act on one
Abuse/trauma in character's past

[meridian_rose]

It's fun to think about your favourite/commonly used tropes :) I'm more about triads than triangles :)

[et-tu-lj.livejournal.com]

How would you define your triads? I'm thinking triangles isn't really the right word, at least how most people use it. That seems to mean likes 2 people, can't decide, and picks one in the end, which is not at all what I write. For me, it's usually, has strong connections to 2 but doesn't admit love, figures out love is more complicated than yes/no, accepts both are love in their own ways. Not in sexual relationship with more than one though, to be distinguished from threesomes. I write the pattern often enough for it to definitely be a trope for me, but don't know a term that conveys it clearly. To my friends I call it ; it's complicated. lol

[meridian_rose]

We both agree on how triangles work :D
For me Triads would be threesomes with sexual relationships A/B, B/C, and A/B. But that doesn't cover all triangles, like the ones you describe!
I had a discussion and poll once about threesomes and tagging; do you expect A/B and B/C or just A/B and A/C? Do you expect a definite threesome ie A/B/C having sex at the same time(I do for threesome tagged fic).

What you describe is something that I enjoy very much because love and relationships *are* complicated and people are complex! Triangles are dull as I expounded on in a poem once, because there's the "Bad Guy" and the "Good Guy" and the woman is supposed to be with the usually more bland Good Guy (and settle down to be his submissive partner) which doesn't leave room for all the adventures and alternatives that exist in your kind of triangles or my triads, or the sort of things can that can happen if one partner is gay or bisexual or asexual, etc :D

We definitely need more terms for these things. Some people whine about having to learn new labels but we need them to facilitate these kind of discussions beyond "it's complicated" :D
I'm going to go away and think about it some more! :D