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If Well Written, Can It Be Ridiculous?

Xaysai

Inkling
Ok, so since I've really been struggling with not writing tropes, I decided the other night to write the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of a trope where everything is, in my opinion, so ridiculous that I've lost control of it.

It's all over the place.

There's no turning back.

Is there such a thing as too original?
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
It's impossible to write a story completely free of tropes. For every one you avoid, you'll run smack into a different one.
 

JCFarnham

Auror
My advice is "don't fall into the trap of avoiding tropes". Then again you already know my opinion on the matter ;)

A trope is a trope, and a trope isn't always a cliche. Even if it is I would still consider using something. People pay much more attention to the cliches when the surrounding material is a badly written. Well I do anyway.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Spending time worrying about tropes and cliches may be one of the biggest mistakes aspiring writers make. There's nothing to be gained by going to site like TVtrope and fixating on what you read there. I'd avoid that sort of thing altogether, to be honest. You won't end up writing a natural story, but rather one that appears contrived and forced at every turn as you try to avoid this trope or that one.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
BTW - to answer your question, the story can be as "ridiculous" as you want to be and still be great. If you think about something like The Hitchhiker's Guide, for example. A lot of the concepts sounds ridiculous on their faces, and combining it all might even be more so. But it worked great.
 

Saigonnus

Auror
I have a short story I finished about a quest for cheese, with all sorts of playful things happening... Has a kobold shaman that rides a miniature cow, a witch who specializes in illusion/emotion magic and a moon elf weaponmaster. Originally it was supposed to be for a contest, but missed the deadline. I did end up finishing it and it's in the editing phase and though I don't think at this juncture it's particularly "Good" who knows what it will be when it's finally polished. :p
 

Devora

Sage
Tropes, to me, are NOT the same as cliches.

Tropes are just common themes and ideas that people can relate to and recognize.

Cliches are devices that are used time and time again as cheap fodder to move a story along.

Tropes are mostly fun and can be manipulated.

Cliches are mostly boring and can't be manipulated.
 
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