completely understandable. Abusive relationships just are increadibly hard to write and can cause a big stir with fans who dont agree with those tropes. Its similar to harrem tropes or cheating tropes. Anything that could identify as a toxic relationship. Then again i do appreciate some novelists use it for realism like mushoku tensei, which depicts relationships like that perfectly. The character enters a harrem relationship and faces mass punishment for it.
I always try to set up a situation where the audience thinks it should go one way as that is the way it would go in other stories. Then I go a different way. I don't want them to be able to guess what is going to happen next. They should feel they need to read the story. Always do something different than what is expected.
I try to avoid any toxic relationship tropes for may MCs. I've seen too many of them in the wild to want to go anywhere near them in fiction. This includes exploitative power imbalances, blackmail/leverage, physical abuse, you name it.
I was trying to think of something I wouldn't ever write about or some sort of relationship that wouldn't be touched on, and I couldn't come up with anything. If it's necessary to the story or to the character's development, it gets told. I certainly won't glorify it, but I'm not going to pretend certain things in life don't happen and therefore nix it from the general story, or as a story in and of itself. I'm Going to be Fine is a perfect example of this as it deals heavily with addiction and mental health and how the two MC's cope with them.
That said, I don't think I've ever created an overtly toxic relationship. The people aren't perfect that's for sure. Couples will fight, friends will fight and fall out, situations will occur that everyone has to deal with and overcome, but for the most part, they aren't out to intentionally hurt one another just to prove a point. That goes for a relationship or a family dynamic. The only exception is Mika Torino's family in Anywhere. That is probably the only abusive family dynamic I've created.
I guess the only trope, if there even is one out there, is the one of a perfect relationship and "Life is Butterflies and Rainbows." 
Sorry, nope. Real life ain't pretty, but it can help tell some amazing stories that others can connect with and characters they can relate to. If it's one trope I don't avoid is that no one is alone in their struggles, doesn't matter if it's real-world, or supernatural.
You can’t avoid tropes as a whole. Pretty much every character type and story beat can be boiled down to and categorized with a trope. The key is to know how to use them without making a story or character that feels too familiar or derivative.
Outside of generally bad/hacky writing, I guess one I avoided was making any of my main characters “the stupid one.” My comic is essentially a play on a high school sitcom, it would’ve been an easy trope to farm jokes from, but no. Though I guess it wasn’t needed, since I ended up making a lot of the recurring/one off cast complete idiots.
I can imagine avoiding tropes would be tough, there's one for practically everything in fiction. Personally I couldn't care less, can only pinpoint a handful of tropes, and I don't plan on delving too much into them since that knowledge doesn't feel useful to me. I just want my story to flow naturally, if it's tropey then so be it. I guess the only thing I try to avoid is harmful depictions of mental illness, although I have no idea if that's actually a trope... probably is.
That being said, a reader made a TV Tropes page for my comic1 a while back, which is fun to read through. I tried to make one near the beginning of my comic, but gave up immediately since I don't know my ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to that stuff.
I think one I don't like and don't think I would ever write is when a character changes their appearance/themselves drastically for the approval of someone else, I have read some mangas and manhwa where the MC starts as pulse size and after overhearing their love interest shaming them for their looks or body, then they lost weight overnight, and finally start dating the person that insulted them, I find it weird that a character has to go through that and their reward is dating someone that bad mouth them.
I only add tropes when it's needed, not wanted. Though, I was never a fan of an instant romance moment. I prefer to see it develop as the time between two character's relation spent together until they felt convinced to live together.
Also, screw love triangles! I was never fan of that trope.
I tend to avoid any trope that appeals to allo peeps. I've consciously thought about avoiding fridging since I like killing off characters for the dramatic flair.
I've also avoided any romance type tropes since 1. I like to appeal to ace/aro readers 2. I don't feel like doing romances.
Hybrid: Humanity
Genre: Fantasy / Action
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Description: In the 1800s, an unprecedented convergence of demons and humanity altered the course of history, sowing the seeds of conflict and camaraderie. Now, in the world of the 2100s, a traumatized half-demon teenager is drawn into a realm teeming with covert battles and concealed truths.
Within this intricate tapestry of magic and mystery, ancient pools of power house unrevealed potentials, ready to ignite. Accompany our enigmatic protagonist as she journeys through a world where allegiances flicker like shadows, and the distinction between friend and foe remains perpetually uncertain.
im somewhat the oposite but thats cool. I allow my characters to have relationships and get freaky before killing them off in the most horrible way possibly. (might not be sane)
Personally I hate the “oh he’s the strongest so let’s just wait until he gets here” troupe.
I get that it’s easier to just make the really powerful guy wipe everyone but sometimes we wanna see the side characters get some shine man.
I dislike many tropes. But the one I hate the most. The one I will never EVER do is the love triangle BLEH
I HATE love triangles, they’re NEVER good and 90% of the time involve siblings. When I write my love story it finna be simple and TWO PEOPLE
NO LOVE TRIANGLES EVER
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My goal when writing is to make it grounded and realistic. No side is truly in the right, nobody truly in the wrong. You have to see it both ways sometimes, maybe make the lead on both sides at a time, and both sides are partially bad. Also, it’s a fine line of making a likeable character while not making them perfect. The chosen one, divined destiny is a little overdone imo, I see the “you have to go on this journey because” rather than “oh crap I am a person who just got involved I was completely unprepared”. I also like stories that end with the trauma of the story being aknowledged.
i agree. I feel like love triangles just make everything increadibly awkward. It takes away from the characters plot because of of them either ends up getting cast aside or ends up falling short of their goal.
The only times i will EVER write a love triangle is if im planning to kill of one of the characters later in the series anyway.
I agree with this and this brings up mushoku tensei again. The characters are all flawed in one way or another and thats what makes the story flow so well. I also love when an author knows how to end a story with achneledgement. If you look at most finished anime/manga that are popular you find it somewhat often. Especialy within series like tokyo ghoul (the manga only of course) and attack on titan.
Just a reminder to all creators that using tropes is not bad! It does not make you unoriginal.
Tropes I avoid are blissful ignorance for my main characters. Anastasia is often seen as the damsel in distress but she is very book smart and is able to defend herself so be it. She can fight, and she can determine different dangers within different kingdoms. She is very head smart, and that's how I wanted her to be because while she needs a knight and all that, she is still able to be independent.
The other trope I avoid revolves around men and women only being able to be partners. It is very common to see stories where a man and a woman only see each other romantically. I wanted to make it clear that it is okay to be romantically interested, but your entire connection with a person does NOT have to be romantic. It can be platonic.
The last trope I am thinking of is with females having a perfect, small body. I really wanted to have inclusivity, and one thing I take pride is with Evangeline being muscular and having a lot of scars. Her scars are a story for her and she likes to show them off. She takes pride in her body even if it isn't super petite. Again, not saying that having a petite body is a specific trope, and it is totally okay to have someone be that way. It just is not for me.
