Writing Tropes - Blog Posts
I feel like a lot of people don’t quite get what a butler is. The role tends to get rounded off to ‘male servant’ pretty regularly in some media, whereas actually butlers are typically not just servants but chief servants. The butler was generally in charge of either all male servants or just all servants, period, in the household of an aristocrat or other very wealthy person. This meant that butlers have often been fairly powerful and influential people, and sometimes even had a manservant or two of their own.
(Also, fun fact: Mary Roberts Rinehart, the early 20th century mystery writer who is widely credited with popularizing the whole ‘the butler did it’ trope was nearly murdered by one of her own servants, a chef whom she had passed over for promotion to butler. He came at her with a pistol, but it jammed, allowing her chauffeur time to wrestle it away and restrain him.)
reblog if you believe fanfic writers are as valid and talented as any professional writer who publishes and sells their novels
I’m trying to prove a point
Nina Zenik is a whole another level of iconic. She read dark romances and said "I'll do enemies to lovers" and actually pulled it off.
Bad fantasy/sci fi series be like lol All jokes aside this is one of my most hated tropes. Like if you have all these races in your fantasy/sci fi series and then only have humans in your main cast and with the only one or two or so nonhuman races as the side characters or whatever
And the absence of these races isn't an important plot point we're meant to explore/solve Why are these races even here? Just make humans the only race and that saves you the trouble
We need more female characters who channel exhausted single father who is just doing his best. Do you understand what I mean.
She's kind of a loser in a charming, but also in a pathetic way. Wears the same jacket she's owned for 10 years. Really good at some random uncool hobby like darts or scrabble. Terrible at meal prep. Reheats her coffee three times before drinking it. Tries to keep up with slang, but never gets it quite right. Little kids love her, teenagers think she is mega cringe. Hasn't had enough sleep in 6 months.
the holy grail types of fanfic
Rare Tropes
One of my favorite rare tropes is this, kitchen absolutely RECKED, but the most perfect food ever made. It's never used but I find it cute and funny. Here's an example;
Character A walks out the kitchen, covered in stains and spills, the stench of smoke wafting of them. Character B is terrified as a sloppy slice cake is placed In front them. They steal a quick glance at A, who's looking at them with an excited smile. B gives a defeated sigh, and takes sizeable bite of the cake, expecting the worst. It tastes better than heaven.
The best duo >"<
choose one and i’ll write it with characters you choose for me!! i’ll post my characters shortly (or if you want me to write something before i tell you my characters just tell me and i’ll choose ones i think would go well!!)
so cute tender hurt comfort is nice and all, but
enemies to lovers hurt comfort.
"i'm fine."
"you are NOT fine."
"you're running a 103 degree fever and you think you're just going to go to work like everything's just peachy? you're absolutely unbelievable."
"you dumbass! you got stabbed and you didn't think to tell me? you got it infected, you worthless piece of shit!"
"if you fucking die, i will kill you."
"you're eating this soup if i have to force it down your throat."
"you probably think i care about you now. well, i don't. i don't give a shit what happens to you, actually." (proceeds to do everything possible to take care of said person they don't care about)
"you are not sleeping on my couch. get on the bed, asshole."
"i'm not your mother. take care of yourself." (they did not, in fact, let the sick person take care of themself)
"have i ever told you that spending five hours in freezing rain without a coat is stupid? no? well, it was fucking stupid, [insert name here]."
"you know, there's this magical thing called common sense. you've probably never heard of it, but normal people have it, and that's why they're careful while handling knives so that they don't drop one on their foot."
"lie down. that's not a request, that's an order."
"you're going to drink this if it's the last thing you do."
"take your own temperature, asshole. no. no, you're doing it wrong. oh my gosh, just let me do it."
"are you feeling alright?" (clears throat) "i mean, uh, you better not be fucking sick, you idiot."
Lina looked down at the table, she was nervous for when John arrived, she didn’t know if he would even turn up. She thought it would be embarrassing if he stood her up but how they left the relationship they were in felt awkward and wrong. Lina had been blocked from contacting him for about a month or just over and the amount of days she hadn’t slept just worrying about him felt unreal and left her in a daze. The bell over the door brought her back to her surroundings and the smell of coffee hit her fast, and she felt dizzy. Lina looked up. John was standing in the doorway looking around, presumably for her. She raised her arms over her head “Hey John! I’m here!” John looked over and smiled, his hair was windswept and she looked out of the window realising it was a storm outside. The weather said is would be warm with short spells of showers but it turned out to be wrong, once again. John started walking over and Lina stood up awkwardly “Hey Li, how are you?” He asked her. She gave him a shrug and mumbled she was fine, John just rolled his eyes and hugged her. “We can still talk you know, you’re my friend and that won’t change,” he said to her, Lina looked up surprised “Wait, actually?” He flicked her shoulder “Nah I hate you, dummy.” Lina giggled and they sat down to discuss how they had been, making sure not to talk about their relationship, trying their best to start from scratch.
Trope of the day is... exes to friends. Not all relationships have to end badly, not all exes have to hate each other. Being amicable exes who still trust and respect each other and who are just better off as friends should be more included in fiction.
Elle looked at Mina, struggling against the grasp of the chains against the wall. Mina sobbed as Giles grabbed her hair “Tell me how you fucking found me,” she made eye contact with him and spat in his face. Giles raised his fist to hit her and Elle braved herself for seeing her friend be hurt but Mina grabbed his wrist “Touch me and I promise you I will destroy you.”
ok but enough of that “touch her and i’ll kill you” trope, i want my badass female main character to have “touch ME and i’ll kill you” energy
reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something
haunting the narrative, but like, in a literal sense.
Torturing the author and existing in the spaces between pages. Breaking the forth wall to call them a cuck for trying to kill me.
Is that anything
listen I love me some good time travel fix-it
but a time travel fuck-it up more…
🤌
god i really fucking love the fated mates trope, i can't lie. there's something so beautiful about fate or the deity of the world crafting you and another person to be the perfect complement to one another. your souls knew one another before you even met. the universe saw everything you could ever be and then found someone to be the counterpart to all of those. it makes me imagine the creation of the characters from the "deity" or from "fate" as being so involved and caring. aligning characters like matching pieces of broken glass together, or sewing together two pieces of fabric. every jagged piece or hole or pattern or stitch is made for you to be with someone who can love you for all of those flaws and faults. that will always, always be beautiful to me.
Unrequited love || Cloud Strife
Character: Cloud Strife, Final Fantasy series
Warnings: angst, Hanahaki disease, mentions of blood/death
Summary: Your unrequited feelings for Cloud were weighing heavily on you. You were suffering not only emotionally, but also physically, to the point of death.
WC: 976 words
You've been extremely frustrated during the last few days. Your hands were entangled in the silky strands of your hair, to the point you were tearing hairs from your scalp.
For years, you've had feelings for Cloud, but you knew without asking him, that those feelings weren't mutual.
Every single person you told about your troubles, all advised you to confront Cloud about it. But, you weren't going to do that. What point was there in doing so? He had made it very clear to everyone around him, that he wasn't interested in relationships and all that.
You tried to push yourself past these feelings with every last ounce of energy you had, but it was harder than you had expected. Every time you tried to look the boy in the eyes, you felt like throwing up. And because of that, you had decided to try to avoid him at all costs.
And just like any other day, you found yourself sitting at the bar of Seventh Heaven with tears pooled at the brim of your eyes. Just the thought of Cloud made your heart break into a million pieces, but luckily, Tifa was there for you to take your mind off of things.
''Hey, cheer up! Don't stress it too much, okay?'' You heard Tifa's voice yell from the other side of the room. Tifa's ability to sense how you were feeling from such a distance shocked you. You nodded, biting on your bottom lip as you muttered out a soft 'yeah'.
Tifa walked up to you, lifting your head up a bit as she wiped the tears from your cheeks. ''You know, maybe Cloud does share your feelings. He'd prefer it if you told him instead of keeping it to yourself.'' She remarked as she softly patted your back.
''I don't know, you know how he is. He probably doesn't want to hear me whining to him about my feelings.'' You replied, heaving heavily as you picked up the glass of whiskey in front of you. You gulped the final bit in one go, coughing as a result of the scorching sensation in your throat.
''Well, I need to go out for a bit. Don't do anything stupid, okay?'' Tifa chuckled, waving you goodbye as she hurried slowly towards the door.
As soon as you heard the door fall shut behind you, you ran to the toilets. Your head was dangling over the toilet, spewing blood-tinged petals out of your mouth. You felt sick to your stomach. Not just when you saw him, but even if you thought about him for just a second.
The petals covered in blood were floating in the toilet, the sight making you throw up even more. This feeling was crushing you on the in- and outside. Just a few weeks ago, you started throwing up the petals out of the blue. When you searched up what this meant, you found yourself reading all about the 'Hanahaki disease'.
Unrequited love.
Once you read this, you knew for sure, that Cloud didn't feel the same. Everyone tried to reassure you that it was just all in your head, but it didn't change the way you felt.
Your train of thoughts were interrupted by someone knocking on the door.
''It's me. You okay in there?''
You could recognize this voice anywhere. It was Cloud. Of course it had to be him.
''I'm okay, just feeling a little sick today.''
Lies.
''Can I come in?'' He asked, his voice genuinely sounding worried this time. You heard him turning the knob to open the door that you had locked, your eyes widened as tears started streaming down your face. What were you going to say now? Just ask him to go away?
You stayed quiet, not knowing how to reply.
''Are you sure you're okay?''
Again, you stayed quiet.
You quickly wiped the blood and tears away from your face, rubbing your eyes profusely, before unlocking the door for Cloud. His eyes pierced right through you, even though you weren't looking him in the eyes. You held your breath, trying not to throw up again. It was a nightmare, thinking about Cloud seeing you throw up those petals and having to explain what's going on.
''Have you... been crying?'' He furrowed his brows, stepping closer to you, pushing some strands out of your face as you looked down at the floor. ''And what's that in the toilet? Flower petals?''
Your eyes shot up at him, your heart skipping a beat when you realized you had forgotten to hide the evidence.
''It's nothing, don't worry about it.'' You mumbled, slapping his hand away as you quickly flushed down the blood with petals. You didn't turn around as you wanted to avoid any eye contact.
''Hanahaki disease, right?''
Your chest started to hurt even more, making you pant heavily as you thought about all the possible outcomes of this.
Before you could even think of another reply, you felt his warm hands grab you and turn you around. You felt like dying.
You squeezed your eyes shut, holding tightly onto the fabric of your shirt. And to your surprise, you felt his soft and gentle lips against your own. You opened your eyes slightly to look at Cloud with his eyes shut, kissing you passionately. You were frozen in your place.
He pulled his lips away, cupping your cheeks with both of his hands as she sighed. ''I've seen you throw up those petals before.''
''How?''
That was all you could get out right now.
''Were you that sure that my feelings weren't mutual?''
''Yes, you said last time that you weren't interested in any kind of relationship.''
He placed another kiss on your forehead, his face stoic as ever. You chuckled at the sight, Cloud hadn't changed one bit.
''Maybe.. I changed my mind.''
Does anyone know what you’d call the trope in fanfiction where
The MC/Ensemble gets isekai’d/sent back in time/banished or leaves
they decide to build their own Homebase/settlement/Nation where they do things their way which is usually better/more advanced than what their enemies/other people do? sometimes they use a pre-existing
Usually with magic/similar powers or with future knowledge/scientific advances.
MC is usually the leader and is leading the charge with the changes. MC draws people in with charisma, power, and revolutionary changes. Side characters are usually the first ones to join the MC
Bad Guys can’t compete(or at least can’t keep up with their advancement), but usually outnumber MC’s group so it's not immediately one-sided in favor of the protags
Sometimes there is a godlike being that initiates the initial send-off to ‘fix’ something although they usually allow the MC to operate how they want to. Sometimes they only care for their own entertainment or are not godly and are out of their depth.
If there isn’t a name for it I propose Basebuilding on the smaller scale and Nationbuilding on the larger scale
anyways, any fic recs? cause I usually read this trope with like Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, or Naruto but I have found it in ATLA and MHA before too. I think I've seen it in the MCU fandom with like Tony accidentally taking over the world, and in the HTTYD fandom with like Hiccup single-handedly creating a Viking renaissance, but I think it would be a neat concept for a Percy Jackson fic.
And then they aren't finished and haven't been updated since 2011 and you feel the urge to write a fanfiction about that fanfiction but feel as though you can't live up to that legacy -
reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something
242207
Hi, I have been in writer's mode since I have been out of school. I have so many ideas of books and possible book series but the thing is, everyone has different tastes. I want to share my ideas with people who have the same interests but also share it with people who just love reading. The thing that I am struggling with is finding my audience. Right now I am starting a book that has a lot of good things. In this book, there's going to be drama, thriller, humor, romance, mature themes, mature elements, mature topics, mature content, revenge, LGBTQ+, Poly relationships, Dark acadmieca, and more. I'm very excited for this book but I don't want to get the wrong group that doesn't like that type of stuff. Please help me. Also I'm doing this on my laptop, so please excuse my bad spelling,, hehe.
extremely underrated trope is the villain's sacrificial lambs that weren't misunderstood or being kept in the dark or mind-controlled when they were evil but are forced into a redemption arc because the villain betrayed them personally. former villains who only stopped because they failed or were caught. grunts that are discarded and switch sides only because they have no other choice. people who need to be force-fed morality to stay alive on the good team. people who improve but are never absolved. people who wanted to raise hell and only change their mind when they, too, are burned.
What's the difference between 'enemies to friends to lovers' and 'rivalmance'?
First off, different writers will have different interpretations of certain tags/genres within fan fiction. This is my take on them:
Enemies to Friends to Lovers shows the progression of two people who start out hating each other, slowly grow closer and then fall in love. It’s a really common trope that you see in a lot of literature and film. One example: an assassin is sent to kill the protagonist, but the two of them get stuck having to work together towards a common goal, even though they don’t trust one another. Over time (usually through a couple “you saved my life when you could have run” encounters) the two of them become friends. They genuinely care for each other’s well-being and they have each other’s backs. Slowly, their feelings become romantic. The closer they become, the more their attraction grows. It may take them some time to admit to these feelings (usually held back by the fact that their circumstances should be pitting them against one another), but eventually they become lovers.
Rivalmance is a bit harder to pin down. A rivalmance could be something as tame as two people who are antagonistic and yet still love each other or something as extreme as two people who hate each other and yet have a sexual relationship. The fan fiction I’ve seen in this category more often than not sways toward the latter.
Rivalmance doesn’t usually have the same progression into kindness as Enemies to Friends to Lovers has. More often than not, the members of a rivalmance still genuinely dislike (and possibly hate) each other. Many times intimacy in a rivalmance is based upon mutual lust rather than love or tenderness. Hate sex is far more likely to show up here.
If we took the same story as above, the assassin and the protagonist still hate and distrust each other, yet there is an undeniable sexual tension between them. They are forced to work together, yet they do not build mutual trust. They may grow to care for each other’s well-being (as in, they wouldn’t want to see the other killed), but it’s more motivated by their circumstances than any real love or empathy. Their intimacy couldn’t really be mistaken for “making love”. Oftentimes there is a power struggle between the two of them throughout all of their interactions and sex is often no different. They are not particularly kind to one another, nor are they very giving unless they expect to receive something in return.
A horror/action trope I don’t think is done enough is when a character sacrifices themselves (or at least says they will) but when they actually do they find it’s much more painful and horrible than they expected so they are left begging for mercy from the people they sacrificed themselves to save.
One of my biggest pet peeves in media is when a character refuses to kill the big bad due to moral reasons but is perfectly happy condemning them to a fate far worse than death instead. It annoys me so much because if anyone thinks about it for more than 2 seconds, the narrative begins to collapse in on itself because doing that to someone is so so much worse than just killing them! In like, every conceivable way!
And it happens a lot too, which is baffling to think about. How has media got so many people convinced that imprisoning someone in a horrifically inhumane way, or literally sending them to the nightmare dimension™ is morally better than just killing them?
It ironically makes the characters seem way more vindictive and cruel than if they'd just killed the villain. It's no longer about protecting the innocent, or even just revenge. It's now about prolonging the villains suffering as much as possible. And I don't like how that's so commonly cited as the morally righteous decision.
Easy fix that I haven’t seen anyone try but I have seen brought up a lot:
Make the rival/best friend also the love interest.
No honestly, it’s really that simple. The love interest lack the same sort of passion and energy that the best friend/rival typically has? Just combine the characters. This way you have less characters you have to worry about writing material for and fleshing out and you also get a stupid simple fix for romances coming off as stale and forgettable. Hell, you don’t even need to get rid of the best friend characterTM because you could just as easily give the love interest a similarly compelling dynamic and still keep both characters.
Anime/Manga Writers: Why don’t the fans like the canon straight couple instead of the non-canon gay ships?
MC looking at their canon love interest: So pretty and fights good.
MC looking at their rival/best friend/partner: They’re like the sun, brilliantly blinding and all-consumingly powerful. There’s a deadly beauty and grace to every action they take. They’re the other half of me that I never thought could exist, the one person who pushes me to be my best self, and life without them would not be worth living. There’s nothing in this world that they could not accomplish and I am but a fool chasing after them in hopes of reaching their level. Even then, having them in front of me/by my side has pushed me to heights I never thought imaginable.
One of my favourite concepts I don’t think I’ve really seen before is characters trading/lending their weapons to each other. There’s just something I find really sweet about that act (especially if the weapon has sentimental value to the owner and letting someone else use it is a big deal.)