Tropes that you changed for your story vs. Tropes you actually like and write into your stories? (share your excerpts) (but sfw though)

Leyelle 2024-01-11 19:03:09 UTC #1

This might just be me, but I definitely think tropes like wall-slamming and what not in romances are overdone, and not as romantic as everyone writes them as. In real life, if someone you didn't know and weren't already in a relationship with did that to you, it would be 100% terrifying. So is the MV trope of guys seeing a girl they like and trying to follow after them or block them off so they can have the girl's attention. I've seen this in at least two MVs, and if it happened IRL it again, would be 100% terrifying.

I also feel like the trope of having people impulsively kiss someone they've never confessed to, and aren't in a relationship with is overdone, and while I have used it at least twice, in both instances I felt the need to address that this is definitely NOT romantic, and honestly kind of disrespectful.

Oh, and the second male lead who is there for no apparent reason because he's either broken up with, tries to get her back and fails without her even considering going back to him, or he's a friend who confesses and is immediately rejected in like the same scene he confesses and it adds nothing to the story but just that I honestly feel sorry for him and find it kind of crazy that she falls in love with this dude she just met three days ago.

On the other hand, tropes I really like - friends to lovers, which I wrote into my novel "Damsel in the Red Dress." I know a lot of stories don't have people end up with the people that they were friends with and he usually ends up being the second male lead who's cast aside for an overly impulsive stranger who maybe doesn't have enough respect for proper boundaries, but I actually prefer romances that show people learning to love people that they've been friends with and gotten to know over time, even if it's only a school year or such, at least more than a few days. I know fiction isn't about being realistic, but at least our characters emotions and motivations should be, and I can't see falling madly in love in such a short amount of time. (If you see it differently though, do let me know, because maybe it's just me.)

I also like emotional confession scenes. This doesn't have to just be romance, but anytime anyone explains anything they've been keeping a secret. Maybe they're a little overdone, but I like it when a confession makes me feel something for the characters. One of my favorite is in the Kdrama "Love Playlist," when the character Jae-in is drunk and explains to her ex-boyfriend how heart-broken she's been since he dumped her, and how she'd been trying to look okay, just because she didn't want him to look down on her. And of course, the ones I wrote into my novel:

Leyelle 2024-01-16 16:34:26 UTC #2

Could we also just address the super-insecure lead trope. Here's the thing, everyone, or at least most people deal with insecurity, especially about the way they look. But it's not really a GOOD quality to have low self-esteem. I kinda hate the way that girls who know they're pretty are automatically branded conceited, when there is nothing wrong with being confident in yourself. Dissing others, yes, but knowing you're beautiful is actually a good thing. It's often written as more attractive in a woman to be shy and insecure. Even that One Direction song "You don't know you're beautiful, that's what make you beautiful." Since when does having low self-esteem make you beautiful?

I wrote my character Alicia with a little bit of a dichotomy. She knows she's beautiful, and doubts it at the same time. Why? Because she likes, or liked, parts of her body before it got covered in scars, but now feels ugly because of the scars and wonders if she's still beautiful. She also realizes that beauty is subjective, so though she realizes that a lot of men find her attractive, she's shy and doubtful of the fact that her crush doesn't seem to find her beautiful, or refuses to say so anyway. It's back and forth. But this I feel like is a pretty realistic representation of how confidence in a lot of people can fluctuate from day today, without settling for the 'I'm such an ugly girl, but wait, this hot guy says I'm not." trope. Not that I've never written really insecure characters, but I wish that it wouldn't be considered cute of attractive, while being confident is considered overbearing and obnoxious.

What about you, any thoughts on the trope?

I can’t ignore the scars.

I tried to. All of the lady nurses were nice enough to tell me I had such a pretty face, but I knew they could see all the ugly I couldn’t even imagine - on my shoulders, my back, and neck.

I look like fate used my body as a scratch pad to play tic tac toe. Xs and Os are littered across the mottled canvas. Semi-mended puncture wounds from needles and IVs and about a million stitches stain me with the memories.

I trace the trauma tattoos, fingering each scar like I’m touching a stranger's body. I hate that thought, and I hate the feeling. An uncomfortable sense of alienation wriggles up my spine and worms its way into my chest. I want to get away from it - this - me.

Leyelle 2024-01-17 23:48:51 UTC #3

The angry black woman trope. Hate hate hate this trope. And Eliza is not one. Crazy, yes, and suspicious, but not angry. She's cheerful and bubbly because black women have personalities! We are not all the same.

(And yes, ironically this trope makes me angry)

Leyelle 2024-02-07 22:25:30 UTC #4

I'll go into this trope a little bit more in-depth when the story is released, but I took a character who looked like he would be the handsome suave prince and gave him a personality that will probably shock most people (no, he's not a jerk)

Leyelle 2024-02-28 18:10:21 UTC #5

I admit, I submitted to the love at first sight trope for "Hushabye Prince" but I promise it gets more complicated over time.

See it as: Love at first sight, trouble later.

Glofernwolfe 2024-02-29 01:12:36 UTC #6

I'm a bit confused. Is there another meaning for "trope" that you've used here? I understand the wall-slamming romance example etc, they are, I dunno, "trends"? Definitely not tropes.

Tropes are metaphors, analogies, etc, innit?

Unless there's a new genz use for the word that I don't know... XD Please enlighten me.

Leyelle 2024-02-29 01:50:55 UTC #7

i think i've usually seen tropes mean character design or plot cliches, maybe it's a gen z thing? Might be me misusing the word tho idk

pjthetoonaddict 2024-02-29 02:22:06 UTC #8

Ah, another awesome thread! And, I love reading more about your series.

Well, let's start with tropes I changed for the story.

I don't like the trope of superheroes harassing petty criminals. Whether it's unarmed henchmen, small-time crooks, or random ruffians on the street. It's awful, and I never enjoyed reading that sort of thing.
It also doesn't make sense! Like, you're a superhero. You have a ton of resources, even powers. If a burglar won't give you information, then surely you can find it elsewhere!

Which, is why I don't have Blue Fedora do the Batman thing of ruffing up witnesses. The two times she had to talk to suspects, she went about it in a friendly (albeit goofy) way.

One trope I actually like is the friends to lovers trope as well! Or rather, couples who seem like they are best friends. I eat up stories where the people in a relationship like to talk about silly things, or get really excited about hanging out with each other. Basically where dating makes it better, but they're each other's besties regardless.

Otto and Blue Fedora have this relationship! Or at least, I'm trying my hardest to write it that way.
They enjoy being around each other, and even though their general interests are very different, they love being around each other. I really want to show how they met and became friends, but I gotta get this current story finished and polished first!

Leyelle 2024-02-29 02:25:58 UTC #9

Same! even my married couple in "Lion Proof" are always teasing and joking with each other, definitely best friends, despite having been married for over a decade. And Kattar and Alicia manage to tease each other even in the face of their tragedy, even ABOUT their tragedy:

“Oh.” His lips part - eyes getting a little rounder than usual. “Oh, y-yeah. I think so. I’m supposed to be released Wednesday, and Utkaresh is gonna drive me home. It’ll be so nice to be in my own clothes again.” He adds with a cross between a laugh and a sigh.

“You must have been dying stuck in that white dress for all this time,” I can’t help teasing, “It’s not even stylish.”

I think couples should 100% be friends and enjoy hanging out with each other, not just being romantic with each other.

Leyelle 2024-02-29 02:30:51 UTC #10

While i didn't do the friends to lovers route for "Hushabye Prince" I still wanted them to get to know each other and form an emotional connection before the romance starts, but I do admit their relationship stems from attraction rather than emotional connection like Kattar and Alicia's, it's a lot of the same concept, but in a different order, someone you can talk with about your hobbies and interests, and like being around, though teasing isn't easily a thing given the nature of Jinwoo and Kim's relationship.

Animal508 2024-02-29 03:05:39 UTC #11

I built a significant portion of my story off of tropes I wanted to change, to the point where there are very few tropes played as is.

Here is the story as a whole, I won't spoil much beyond that.

NickRowler 2024-02-29 06:50:44 UTC #12

One of my characters was originally a secret prince who got separated from his family as a baby.

However he isn’t that in my current series. The change was mostly due to me feeling like the trope was more appropriate for stories targeted at younger kids. Meanwhile, my series is probably going to be read mostly by older teens and adults. I was sort of worried it might come off a little tacky or corny.

KevinReijnders 2024-02-29 11:31:26 UTC #13

I definitely fall into the "main characters are orphans" trope. Mainly because I like having (late-)teen characters who go on amazing (and often dangerous) adventures without having to worry about parental oversight.

(I then off course invented a surrogate parental figure to fill that void in Old Nan haha)

Leyelle 2024-02-29 16:06:35 UTC #14

i don't think the idea of being separated from your family has to be corny, it just depends on how you write it. obviously it's your story, but don't change it for fear of other people's opinion of it

Fair point, though there are other situations that could put the characters in that situation too, for instance being young independents because their parents couldn't care for them

KevinReijnders 2024-02-29 16:28:55 UTC #15

In practice that comes down to the same thing.You're still inflicting a form of parental trauma on the characters to free them from the confines of family. Killing them is cleaner I feel, because it's less active characters to worry about to maybe mess up the plot. A mercy kill, if you will.

Leyelle 2024-02-29 16:39:30 UTC #16

Well, losing or not being in connection with someone who is a relevant part of your life will probably always be traumatic, but it might not inherently be so depending on the age at which it happened to your characters. And while it's cleaner to kill them off technically, if you don't want to give details on it, there's a lot you can explore if you don't kill the characters off.

My character Alicia, while not going on crazy adventures because she lives in a modern world, was free to go anywhere at any time of night and spend days and weeks away from home, simply because her caregiver was a single mom working so many hours, she had no idea where Alicia was, nor time or energy to worry.

Again, it all depends on your story and whether you want to write it that way or not, but there are numerous options, and each will have a slightly different effect on your ocs perspective because there's a big difference between your mother being dead, and say, your mother being a paralytic who can't care for you. They are going to affect your life in different ways, and it's a very different kind of trauma to watch your mother be helpless, though she wants to care for you than to not have her in your life at all.

KevinReijnders 2024-02-29 16:49:57 UTC #17

Like I said, I kinda just wanted to send a couple of teens on an exciting adventure and deal with the consequences of that adventure. Introducing neglectful parents or in any way having to deal with an additional set of characters I'm not that interested in exploring further, are kinda just narrative dead weight.

So I killed 'em off and dealt with those consequences. Much of it just isn't addressed or barely comes up, because it just isn't all that relevant in the end. Like, Kyara's mom for example is a minor plot thread that worms it way into her arc, but I literally just hand wave away the death of Zack's parents haha.

Leyelle 2024-02-29 16:55:59 UTC #18

well did say it depends on the story you're writing/want to write. it's just also something that can be looked at from several different perspectives

NickRowler 2024-02-29 17:54:41 UTC #19

I haven’t got to his lore yet in my series…

Tho, he was still separated from his family but without the royalty angle. It was more that his father couldn’t provide for him, so he was placed in the care of another family.

Glofernwolfe 2024-02-29 22:15:13 UTC #20

Ah I get it.... ok let me try.

Let's see, for The Adventures of Zovhara Ashfrost, I guess it would be "the main character has lost all past memories and is on a quest to remember" trope? I hope I'm getting this right XD

Well I've stuck to that. But I've changed the trope in the story by quickly revealing her past life by mid-book, rather than drag it on till the end.