Do I really need to say this?
Folks, TV Tropes is indeed fun, but if you attempt to apply any of the viewers are ____ tropes to your work, you're most likely misusing those things, which makes you an idiot.
Put it this way. Let me break it down for you:
1. Viewers Are Geniuses does not mean you use flowery words and assume your readers get it. It means that you abuse either the Shown Their Work, Genius Bonus, or Reference Overdosed tropes to nod to the intelligent members of the audience who would understand those moments. It's not a language thing. It's saying, "Hey! I know science! Some of my viewers are scientists! Let me make a science reference so they can grin!"
IT IS ALSO NOT A GOOD THING. Seriously, to those of you who say this is included in your fic, have you ever read the article on Viewers Are Geniuses? Do you remember the part that says, "So you sit back and watch the ratings - which plummet faster than a rocket-propelled brick in a nosedive"? Yeah. While each of those aforementioned (linked) tropes are good things to have, Viewers Are Geniuses takes those tropes to the extreme, and what you end up with is a pretentious piece of work. Unfortunately, pretentious pieces of work are not acceptable anywhere but Bulbagarden simply because it isolates large numbers of readers. "But wait!" you cry. "Why is it such a bad thing to make the reader want to learn something?" Hmm... because it's not their fucking job? Seriously, the reason why overloading your work with pretentiousness is bad is because it doesn't engage a reader. It holds them at arm's length, and even worse (and more importantly), all it does is tell the reader that you're more intelligent than they are. Being pretentious isn't being smart. It's showing off. Being smart would be applying your knowledge where it's appropriate, not for the sake of being intelligent but instead because that's what your story needs. If you throw a reference in just for the sake of sounding intelligent, to put it simply, you're actually coming off as an ass.
2. Most Fanfic Writers Are Fans. Is not an excuse. Next question.
3. And if you apply any of the other Viewers Are ___ tropes (note: the last are Morons, Goldfish, and probably other negative ones I've forgotten), then, well, fuck you too.
Also, while I'm talking about tropes, the following reactions are also pretty stupid:
1. Doing It for the Art. I could say that this isn't an excuse either, but Penny Arcade says it better than me.
2. Don't Like, Don't Read. It only applies if you actually put up warnings that your story is going to be potentially mindblowingly offensive or terribly written. Otherwise, you end up sounding like a whiny thirteen-year-old who can't take criticism. Conveniently, most people who use this as an excuse are.
Now, besides that, I want to say something about tropes. They're fun to think about, and they're a great way to build a parody (which is why planning for Mary Sue Must Die involves spending ample amounts of time on that site). HOWEVER! If you look at TV Tropes, pick out tropes, and then write a scene based on them... you're sort of doing it wrong. It's pretty much equivalent to opening an English textbook, reading about the term "exposition," and deciding, "Hey! I'm going to write a story and include an exposition! It'll be great!" The reason why they're called tropes is because they're sort of givens in literature. Most stories either play them straight, subvert them, or avert them, and that's just a fancy way of saying, "I either do or don't include it." Do you realize how broad that concept is? You either have a Mary Sue, or you don't. You either pretend you're going to have a Chekhov's Gun, but it turns out you don't. You can pretty much say that for any story.
In the end, really, tropes aren't tools; they're just references. All TV Tropes is is a compendium of story elements that have always existed. Like I said earlier, it's exactly like a book that tells you what exposition, theme, motif, and other literary basics are. I'm not saying that they're bad. In fact, I have a lot of fun reading that website and building lists of tropes that have appeared in my stories. I'm just saying that if you're writing a serious fic (i.e., one that isn't a parody) by going to the site and picking out tropes you want to include, you're doing it backwards. Just write your story. Don't worry about the tropes until you're bored months down the line and feel like going back through your chapters to pick out tropes that you used without thinking. That's all TV Tropes is meant to do. It's an afterthought, not the foremost thing you have in mind.
This entry was cross-posted from http://mercoledi.dreamwidth.org/97859.html.
Put it this way. Let me break it down for you:
1. Viewers Are Geniuses does not mean you use flowery words and assume your readers get it. It means that you abuse either the Shown Their Work, Genius Bonus, or Reference Overdosed tropes to nod to the intelligent members of the audience who would understand those moments. It's not a language thing. It's saying, "Hey! I know science! Some of my viewers are scientists! Let me make a science reference so they can grin!"
IT IS ALSO NOT A GOOD THING. Seriously, to those of you who say this is included in your fic, have you ever read the article on Viewers Are Geniuses? Do you remember the part that says, "So you sit back and watch the ratings - which plummet faster than a rocket-propelled brick in a nosedive"? Yeah. While each of those aforementioned (linked) tropes are good things to have, Viewers Are Geniuses takes those tropes to the extreme, and what you end up with is a pretentious piece of work. Unfortunately, pretentious pieces of work are not acceptable anywhere but Bulbagarden simply because it isolates large numbers of readers. "But wait!" you cry. "Why is it such a bad thing to make the reader want to learn something?" Hmm... because it's not their fucking job? Seriously, the reason why overloading your work with pretentiousness is bad is because it doesn't engage a reader. It holds them at arm's length, and even worse (and more importantly), all it does is tell the reader that you're more intelligent than they are. Being pretentious isn't being smart. It's showing off. Being smart would be applying your knowledge where it's appropriate, not for the sake of being intelligent but instead because that's what your story needs. If you throw a reference in just for the sake of sounding intelligent, to put it simply, you're actually coming off as an ass.
2. Most Fanfic Writers Are Fans. Is not an excuse. Next question.
3. And if you apply any of the other Viewers Are ___ tropes (note: the last are Morons, Goldfish, and probably other negative ones I've forgotten), then, well, fuck you too.
Also, while I'm talking about tropes, the following reactions are also pretty stupid:
1. Doing It for the Art. I could say that this isn't an excuse either, but Penny Arcade says it better than me.
2. Don't Like, Don't Read. It only applies if you actually put up warnings that your story is going to be potentially mindblowingly offensive or terribly written. Otherwise, you end up sounding like a whiny thirteen-year-old who can't take criticism. Conveniently, most people who use this as an excuse are.
Now, besides that, I want to say something about tropes. They're fun to think about, and they're a great way to build a parody (which is why planning for Mary Sue Must Die involves spending ample amounts of time on that site). HOWEVER! If you look at TV Tropes, pick out tropes, and then write a scene based on them... you're sort of doing it wrong. It's pretty much equivalent to opening an English textbook, reading about the term "exposition," and deciding, "Hey! I'm going to write a story and include an exposition! It'll be great!" The reason why they're called tropes is because they're sort of givens in literature. Most stories either play them straight, subvert them, or avert them, and that's just a fancy way of saying, "I either do or don't include it." Do you realize how broad that concept is? You either have a Mary Sue, or you don't. You either pretend you're going to have a Chekhov's Gun, but it turns out you don't. You can pretty much say that for any story.
In the end, really, tropes aren't tools; they're just references. All TV Tropes is is a compendium of story elements that have always existed. Like I said earlier, it's exactly like a book that tells you what exposition, theme, motif, and other literary basics are. I'm not saying that they're bad. In fact, I have a lot of fun reading that website and building lists of tropes that have appeared in my stories. I'm just saying that if you're writing a serious fic (i.e., one that isn't a parody) by going to the site and picking out tropes you want to include, you're doing it backwards. Just write your story. Don't worry about the tropes until you're bored months down the line and feel like going back through your chapters to pick out tropes that you used without thinking. That's all TV Tropes is meant to do. It's an afterthought, not the foremost thing you have in mind.
This entry was cross-posted from http://mercoledi.dreamwidth.org/97859.html.