Tropes: Favorite/Least Favorite?

[Chessie]

I typically hate time travel of any kind, period.

Can we not get into bashing creativity here? It begins in this very way ("I hate this...") and the conversations get heated, time after time.



Tropes are instrumental in communicating with readers. It's how we do so in the first place: the reader recognizes a trope and is secured on the type of story they're reading.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Can we not get into bashing creativity here? It begins in this very way ("I hate this...") and the conversations get heated, time after time.



Tropes are instrumental in communicating with readers. It's how we do so in the first place: the reader recognizes a trope and is secured on the type of story they're reading.

It's a topic about favorite and least favorite tropes. That's my opinion about a particular trope.^ I'm not sure how you're getting bashing creativity or tropes as a whole from that.

 

[EmilyMcIntyre]

Least favorite has to be the basic sexist trope of the vixen/slut, coupled with a typical male hero character. Oh but there's the OVERDONE "Chosen One" (I was bitching today with my cousin, who's also into fantasy hardcore, about how ludicrous it is that the chosen one is always totally underserving, whiny, and otherwise uninspiring.) Just once I'd like to see it not work out for the chosen one, or somebody prove that nobody needs a chosen one.

Favorite... I really enjoy the classic Wise Fool and Sad Clown archetype. I love how this trope almost any time it's referenced immediately offers the concept that there's more to anyone than meets the eye. How sadness is laced with joy, and vice versa.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

All this makes me wonder what our favorite tropes say about us.

 

[Ban]

All this makes me wonder what our favorite tropes say about us.

That I want to change my haircolor and drive wildly around in a wasteland?

 

[Draconianwriting]

there are an incredible amount of different tropes out there. i am honestly not sure which one to choose, but there are certainly many ways to find new ones for writing stories. my favorite is tvtropes. i have spent quite a number of hours looking around of it.

 

[FifthView]

I have difficulty isolating favorite tropes because most good examples have bad examples, so execution and other factors play a major role in my enjoyment. But I'll shoot off a few:

In the fantasy genre, I do love the whole training-up/magic school/battle school trope.

I love the underdog kid who becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle.

I love the nurturing mother or father figure, the loyal friend, the band of brothers.

I love the minor villain who transitions into a type of antihero as the story progresses–not as MC but side character.

I love mysterious lands outside the main land, with strange magics and inhabitants and histories. I like for those lands to remain somewhat mysterious, no matter what else happens involving those lands.

I trend toward elemental, innate magic rather than the learned type. It's not recipes learned from a library of books.

 

[evolution_rex]

Favorite... I really enjoy the classic Wise Fool and Sad Clown archetype.

I love the underdog kid who becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle.

I love the minor villain who transitions into a type of antihero as the story progresses—not as MC but side character.

Yes! I love these.

 

[Seira]

I don't know of there is a good or bad trope in any Genre because I think if they're done well all can be quite good and useful and of cause cliche are cliche because they work.

I get a bit bored of the one prophecy but again that's because of the writer not because of the trope itself.

 

[Annoyingkid]

Not sure about most favourite, but least favourite is "Man with boobs".

Topics like these: https://mythicscribes.com/forums/wr...er-female-characters-*-lets-keep-civil-*.html

OP:

I think Debra Morgan, Jennifer Carpenter who should have won an award for her role, is a great example of a female character with agency, who kicks ass without being a man with boobs.

In one way Debra Morgan plays into the stereotypes of a woman. She is very emotional and often makes choices based off those emotions. She deeply wants to have a meaningfull relationship with her brother, she has daddy issues and regrets not having a meaningful relationship with her father. She needs to be rescued. She really wants the approval of others.

Because a female character who makes decisions based on logic not emotion is really a man. Only possibility. Don't need rescuing? Must be a man. Not pining for a relationship with a man? You kidding? Total man.

 

[Aryth]

I get excited about stories where characters are thrown into new cultures/lands. Not only am I exploring a fantasy world the author has created, but the main character is exploring as well.

Survival stories are really fun. I love watching characters think outside of the box and become resourceful to overcome challenges.

To be honest, once I read the word "prophecy" within the first chapter, my interest in the book deflates. Perhaps I just haven't read enough solid fiction that involves prophecy.

 

[Malik]

Least favorite: The Lost Prince.

If there's an orphan in a fantasy novel, you know goddamn well he's The Lost ****in' Prince. Bonus points if he fulfills a prophecy along the way.

All time favorite: The Combat Pragmatist.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

But the literary types who "discover" them and write about them (I'm looking at you, TV tropes) have an air of superiority and condescension that rubs me the wrong way.

I agree. I went on TV Tropes for awhile, to check it out, and then felt rather annoyed by it all [especially since naming everything as a trope kind of takes the joy out of writing].

 

[evolution_rex]

I feel no such sense of superiority at TV Tropes, in fact they spend a good deal of time explaining why tropes are not inherently bad and that they should be used as tools. Yes, they write their articles humorously but it never feels like it's mean spirited in my opinion. They're just people revealing patterns in storytelling, and knowing those patterns can come in handy.

 

[Chessie]

I feel no such sense of superiority at TV Tropes, in fact they spend a good deal of time explaining why tropes are not inherently bad and that they should be used as tools. Yes, they write their articles humorously but it never feels like it's mean spirited in my opinion. They're just people revealing patterns in storytelling, and knowing those patterns can come in handy.

Agreed. TV tropes is actually a very useful tool. Basically, tropes= plot devices. Don't use them if you don't want a plot. J/s. Also, tropes help writers effectively communicate with their audience. It's the execution that really counts.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I feel no such sense of superiority at TV Tropes, in fact they spend a good deal of time explaining why tropes are not inherently bad and that they should be used as tools. Yes, they write their articles humorously but it never feels like it's mean spirited in my opinion. They're just people revealing patterns in storytelling, and knowing those patterns can come in handy.

Their articles aren't mean-spirited. It's just a bit disconcerting to learn that everything is made up of tropes and that there are no truly original ideas, I suppose. But it is the truth.

TvTropes has given me some good ideas at times, or just food for thought.

^edit: in fact knowing your tropes can help you know how to be MORE original by repurposing tropes or using them in an unusual way. Or just exposing you to tropes it's never occurred to you to use.

You see, the upside of there being no truly original ideas is that there are a LOOOOOOOOOT of ideas. And nearly infinite ways to combine them into stories.

 

[Devor]

I don't think there's anything wrong with tvtropes. They're interesting. They can be fun. It can also be a huge time-sink, like wikipedia on hyperdrive, with all of the embedded links, if you let it.

Whether it's useful is another question. I think that depends on what you use it for. I personally enjoy reading about tropes such as the five-man band, or evil empire, or character roles such as the muscle, the dragon, the lancer, or 6th ranger. It's useful, for me, to consider which kind of role different characters take in a group, or even a conversation, and especially to think about where there's still room to add new characters.

As an aside, I wrote articles Rebooting the Chosen One and the Dark Lord, both of which are kind of my favorite and least favorite tropes at the same time.

 

[valiant12]

I love sci fi tropes.
I think I have mentioned it alredy how much I love FTL ships, diflector shilds, bio punk organic space ships, clonings, AI, crazy AI, not so crasy AI, nono tecnology, huge lasers etc.

 

[Tort76]

Dragons favorite and hated trope. Wise or just a beast. Good or bad. Is it really a trope but fantasy without dragons are they really fantasy, but a dragon automatically kicks you to fantasy


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[Mike Chara]

I found it mildly amusing that the last two books I read (Dawnthief, Magician), have the quintessential Gandalf within the first chapter, with a pipe smoking wizard. Doesn't make them less fun if they're done right though, have to say I agree with desmon above: it's all about how well the writer does it.