Your Story As A List Of Tropes

[Svrtnsse]

Okay, so I managed to finish another outline already. It's been a good day. Here goes.

A Prey's Vengeance
Naked on Arrival
He's back. (except it's She)
Broken bridge
Noble Fugitive / Hero of another story.
Fight scene
The Cavalry / Revenge / The hunter becomes the hunted.
Back to Back Badasses
Fire-forged Friends
Let's Get Out Of Here
Memento MacGuffin
Train escape (yes, again)

What I'm finding as I'm thinking about it is that using a chronologic trope list like this helps me get a good overview of the story.

This is especially noticeable in this case where a significant part of the first act isn't included in the list. I didn't find any tropes for the events between Naked on Arrival and He's Back, and while I know what's happening there the gap in the list is quite noticeable.

If I were to make up my own trope names (which I have avoided so far - don't ask me why), that series of events would look something like this:
Naked on Arrival / Lost in the Wild
Stealing Back What's Mine
The Long Way Home
She's Back

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Have to say that Crapsaccharine World is a favorite of mine, and one I tend to gravitate toward in stories.

My current WIP just lost the Saccharine veneer.

 

[Svrtnsse]

So far a lot of my tropes seem to evolve trains and various types of escapes.

As I'm writing this I'm thinking that this is something I should try and embrace rather than subvert. Maybe I can try and tie it in with the theme of the story in some way.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

Some more tropes have appeared in Hollowed [at least, in the new part 1 I'm working on]:

Beautiful Void
Reality Warper
Symbiosis/Cloning Blues
Naked on Arrival/Fetal Position Rebirth
What Measure Is A Non-Human [except that literally none of my characters in any of my books are human...so...] What Measure Is A New Life-Form?

 

[Svrtnsse]

Been out of touch for a bit. Here's the trope list for the 7th part in the series:

That Last Date
Whole Episode Flashback.
Childhood Friend Romance
Unfettered?
Aborted declaration of love
Not good with rejection / Ax-Crazy
What did I do last night?
Did not get the girl

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

Oh, yeah, I forgot to include Childhood Friend Romance in my big list.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I think Childhood Friend Romance is probably one of the defining/motivating tropes for the entire series of stories I'm working on. That's kind of what sets the whole thing in motion. It doesn't figure in that much in the individual parts of the series though, which is probably not a bad thing - I hope.

This is the list of tropes for part five of the series.

First Train to Anywhere
The Chase
Fire-forged Friends / Salt and Pepper
Damsel in Distress
Friend or Idol Decision
Memento Macguffin
Damsel out of Distress

What I'll probably do at some point is compile al of the trope lists on a page on my blog to use as a kind of reference. That'll make for easier linking as well.

 

[Svrtnsse]

...and another one.

From a chronological perspective this is the first story in the series, not counting flashbacks. I put it in the sixth spot though as it's not all that interesting in its own right, and as the events it sets into motion are a lot more interesting. Here goes:

Holy Hangover
What did I do last night?
Not quite dead
Inciting incident
Didn't think this through.
Keeping Secrets Suck
Bearer of bad news.
Let me get this straight.

(yes, my characters are being hung over again - it's the first time in this story (and I don't mean chronologically))

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

Hollowed is sort of Childhood Friend Romance mixed with Love Triangle Deconstruction [since all three characters love each other--or so it seems], but then there's a sharp twist into Tomato In The Mirror and Unreliable Narrator. I love mega-twists; there's multiple ones in every one of my stories.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Next one. This is part of the main series, but it's also part of a sub-series within the series as the initial story turned out to be too long and complicated. I split it into smaller parts and here's the first of four.

MU #1 - Escaping the wrong way
Mysterious Past / The Cartel / The Exile / Price on their Head
Checkpoint Charlie / Walk into Mordor / Let's Split Up, Gang
Hillbilly Horrors / Deep South
Traveling salesman
Doesn't Trust Those Guys
Split and Reunion
Torches and Pitchforks
Escape / Big Heroic Run
Memento Macguffin

Going pretty well even though I got a bit distracted. The troping in the middle is a bit vague, bot I feel like I've got good enough picks to get a decent overview of the story.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

^Your stories sound very interesting just from reading the tropes!

 

[Svrtnsse]

^Your stories sound very interesting just from reading the tropes!

Thanks.
I was kinda hoping that would be the case. The trope list feels a bit like it distills the essence of the plot and leaves out anything that isn't directly related to it. It seemed like mostly a funny little game first, but it's actually being quite helpful now.

 

[Aurora]

Thought I'd add some in, if that's ok! From my WIP:

-Alpha hero
-Class warfare (royal setting)
-Disguise
-Forbidden love
-Orphan
-Scars

 

[Svrtnsse]

Thought I'd add some in, if that's ok! From my WIP:

Of course, it's an open thread. Anyone's welcome to contribute or show off what they're doing.

I'm getting vibes of a bit of a love story across barriers. The Class is one barrier, but possibly also the scars?

Looking at the list, I'm thinking the romantic parts are the alpha hero and the orphan, but there's no saying which belongs to the upper and which to the lower class - which is kinda cool.

 

[Aurora]

Classy scars? Yes, they're both barriers. It's not the happiest love story and I actually think it might end terribly for the couple involved. He's the alpha hero and she's the orphan from a lower class, a servant. He's a noble. Assassins may or may not be included. (they are)

 

[Svrtnsse]

Classy scars? Yes, they're both barriers. It's not the happiest love story and I actually think it might end terribly for the couple involved. He's the alpha hero and she's the orphan from a lower class, a servant. He's a noble. Assassins may or may not be included. (they are)

I was thinking it'd be something like that, but it also struck me it could be the other way around. With one of them being a disfigured (scarred) upper class orphan who falls for gang leader or something like that.

I was also thinking Phantom of the Opera.

 

[Aurora]

Oh, I see what you mean! No, I'm referring to emotional scars.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Gotcha. That works too.

 

[Aurora]

So if you cut open her chest, you'll find a gigantic scar across her heart muscle.

 

[Svrtnsse]

That's it, now I'm gonna listen to Nick Cave.