On Writing Fanfic Part 4 - Tropes to Run Away From Very Quickly
Greetings True Believers!
We're finally starting to get into the meat of things: the actual planning/writing process. Today's topic is tropes to be wary of. As with any time I start throwing around the word "trope", be wary of TV Tropes links in the body of the text. I take no responsibility for anyone who clicks a link and gets lost on a Wiki Walk.
For those who haven't yet been sucked into the vortex, tropes are "devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations". This is the toolbox of the writer's workshop. Tropes are literally impossible to avoid entirely in your writing, and trying can ruin you. But, just like all tools, they can be misused.
Good Trope, Bad Trope, Red Trope, Sad Trope
As I've covered elsewhere, storytelling has meaning, not just in the main plot, but also in presentation. One of the ways that text can gain an extra dimension is to draw on a well-known trope, which will make the connections for the reader without having to spend time explaining it. Out-right stating something that you don't need to show for the sake of the plot can result in it appearing to be an authorial nonsequiter. Depending on how it's put, sometimes you can get away with that. A particularly amusing aside, or an in-joke, can keep things rolling when the action takes a break.
Some of the tropes can be obvious, and very easily worked. Let's say that you're writing a short, fluffy fic about Steve and Tony going to the beach. For kicks, you throw in an instance Mad Scientist's Hair on Tony when he's running out the door to hop in the car. It doesn't add anything to the plot, since Tony just discharges the static on Steve (who is not pleased at this) and brushes it down. But it's cute, and funny, and it passes on the "Tony was working with something that had a high-powered electrical current" without actually saying it. In this way, the subtext that Tropes carry is a beautiful thing. One paragraph, and you've got a light-hearted joke without needing a page of set-up.
The problem occurs when Tropes say something that you really don't want to say. Example: At the start, it might seem like a good idea for Natasha Stark (of 3490 fame) to be less eager to hop in bed-women do have to worry about pregnancy as well as STDs, she would have been socialized differently than a male-Tony, and goodness knows that women catch more heat for being sexually active than men do. But next to the extremely active male-Tony, that plays into My Girl is Not a Slut, which posits female sexuality as bad. Of course, it could be explained without playing into that. Maybe she'd had a pregnancy scare, or the chest plate/arc reactor/metal heart is just too hard to hide (everyone wants to see her breasts). It would only get into unfortunate implications if "girls having lots of sex is bad" is present in the text, either by the absence of any other reasoning or as an explicit statement.
Another example would be plot tropes that have become staples, and are thus automatically connected to Chekov's Gun by way of the Law of Conservation of Detail, whether you want it to be or not. If you mention that Pepper's period is late in chapter 1, things can go a few ways. 1) You mean for her to be pregnant and expected it to be a surprise. This will not work. 2) Her pregnancy is not supposed to be a surprise. Maybe something about the pregnancy is the surprise. 3) She is not pregnant. Fooled the readers! 4) She is not pregnant.
Never expect menopause to be an option. Ever.
If you're hoping for 1 & 4, you're SOL. Some tropes are just too well-known. I expect that most people have had a case where they called a plot before it actually happened. YMMV, but a lot of people find that annoying; it's formula, and well on its way to cliché. That doesn't mean that it can't be used; 2 & 3 are still easily viable options! But it's a delicate line to dance, and you can only dance it if you realize it's there.
Bad Tropes: A Spotter's Guide
With tropes, like a lot of things, the method of use is what's important. A hammer is just a hammer, until it's used to break a window. Of course, some tools are designed to break a window-It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It, when used straight, is never going to be inoffensive. On the other hand, Luke Cage technically fits into the Scary Black Man trope, and obviously you should write him if you want! (I would suggest doing your best to not use that trope; make him fully rounded and don't play up his size or intimidation factor when it's not relevant to the atmosphere. In addition, he's surrounded by big scary white guys as well-use them!)
The key to spotting tropes that could trip you up is to learn to read your own writing style. It's impossible to know the entire TV Trope Wiki (I am trying though). But you can realize when you've seen something before, and decide what you're going to do with it. As an example, let's look at the fic I used for the beta post. Not including those inherent in the Superhero genre and the obvious ones, tropes used in that are:
Look through your story for familiar points. Where do they work, and where don't they? How close do they border on cliché? Is there any way to avoid that? Do you want to avoid that? There's a pleasure to be found in recognition of a trope, but over-use can turn that into annoyance very easily. Worse, some tropes simply don't work, and really need to be Discredited.
Run Awaaaaaaaaaaay
As I mentioned above, some tropes are just offensive, and carry really horrible undertones. They can be averted (when the expectation of a trope is not met; i.e., #4 on Pepper's Pregnancy above), subverted (Pepper's not-pregnancy is a plot point), doubly subverted (Pepper is not pregnant... but at the end of the story, she is), inverted (it's not Pepper that's pregnant, it's her male partner) or played straight (Pepper is pregnant).
Tropes that will inevitably be problematic are anything that you wouldn't say IRL without expecting to be called out on it. This is, unfortunately, a flawed approach, since there's no way to watch for offensive content that you don't know is offensive. Keeping your eyes open and learning is really the best approach. Honestly, there's no way I can list everything ever that is offensive, especially as so many have to do with situation and execution. In general, beware anything that is linked to a stereotype, race, gender, sex, sexuality, real world traumas, recent history, etc.
No matter what you do with certain tropes, you should be very careful with them. Bluntly: you're more likely to step in it than not, even if you try to use it to remove the offensive part. If you think you can dance around being offensive, be careful, and be prepared to handle it if you don't succeed. There's a whole post on racial tropes over here, for those interested.
Cliché Kills
Okay, maybe that's a little but of an over-statement. Cliché is the trope that's been used so often, people see it coming, and this is not a good thing. This is definitely one of those "know it when you see it" things. One of the fastest ways to ruin a plot is to use a cliché as the hinge-pin. A formula plot immediately kills its own plot twist (unless it's turned into an Untwist, in which case, it's not formula). Are they captured in an underground fortress? Don't use the air vents. You have a perfectly good genius inventor with a penchant for blowing things up. Space aliens probably shouldn't be little green men. Marvel has plenty of aliens that aren't. And the last bullet shouldn't always hit. There are more interesting things to do with a bullet.
Fanfiction has its own set of clichés to watch out for. Steve being Tony-sexual would not be unexpected to most fanfic readers, and might cause them to close out. Instead, Steve could be Tony-sexual because of an experiment gone wrong and the challenge is fixing this. MPreg is another cliché that gets a lot of use; the trick there is in how the tension is handled and how the pregnancy is triggered. You can't get away with "whoops, pregnant". Aliens made them do it could be twisted into something not sexual, or (for a genre switch) into something that isn't romance.
Of course, like with everything, these can be used. But realize that the audience will recognize them, often with a groan or a giggle. If you don't have some other sort of tension ready and waiting, or you're not ready to play the cliché up, it can fall flat. Little green men could be highlighted by the character reactions-they're going to know the cliché too, and they never expect it to actually happen. Playing a cliché straight is risky writing, because the audience knows what's coming. The execution becomes super important. Readers will keep up with a quirky or well-executed cliché much more willingly than they will one that follows formula. Subplots can also help spice it up.
If you are going to use clichés, own them. Subvert, double subvert or play with it. Hang a lampshade or deconstruct it. I won't say never leave it bare, but know that it's a risk if you do.
That's it for this one. (It's a bit short, isn't it?) Next time, we get to cover Outlines, and I shall beat you over the head with them.
We're finally starting to get into the meat of things: the actual planning/writing process. Today's topic is tropes to be wary of. As with any time I start throwing around the word "trope", be wary of TV Tropes links in the body of the text. I take no responsibility for anyone who clicks a link and gets lost on a Wiki Walk.
For those who haven't yet been sucked into the vortex, tropes are "devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations". This is the toolbox of the writer's workshop. Tropes are literally impossible to avoid entirely in your writing, and trying can ruin you. But, just like all tools, they can be misused.
Good Trope, Bad Trope, Red Trope, Sad Trope
As I've covered elsewhere, storytelling has meaning, not just in the main plot, but also in presentation. One of the ways that text can gain an extra dimension is to draw on a well-known trope, which will make the connections for the reader without having to spend time explaining it. Out-right stating something that you don't need to show for the sake of the plot can result in it appearing to be an authorial nonsequiter. Depending on how it's put, sometimes you can get away with that. A particularly amusing aside, or an in-joke, can keep things rolling when the action takes a break.
Some of the tropes can be obvious, and very easily worked. Let's say that you're writing a short, fluffy fic about Steve and Tony going to the beach. For kicks, you throw in an instance Mad Scientist's Hair on Tony when he's running out the door to hop in the car. It doesn't add anything to the plot, since Tony just discharges the static on Steve (who is not pleased at this) and brushes it down. But it's cute, and funny, and it passes on the "Tony was working with something that had a high-powered electrical current" without actually saying it. In this way, the subtext that Tropes carry is a beautiful thing. One paragraph, and you've got a light-hearted joke without needing a page of set-up.
The problem occurs when Tropes say something that you really don't want to say. Example: At the start, it might seem like a good idea for Natasha Stark (of 3490 fame) to be less eager to hop in bed-women do have to worry about pregnancy as well as STDs, she would have been socialized differently than a male-Tony, and goodness knows that women catch more heat for being sexually active than men do. But next to the extremely active male-Tony, that plays into My Girl is Not a Slut, which posits female sexuality as bad. Of course, it could be explained without playing into that. Maybe she'd had a pregnancy scare, or the chest plate/arc reactor/metal heart is just too hard to hide (everyone wants to see her breasts). It would only get into unfortunate implications if "girls having lots of sex is bad" is present in the text, either by the absence of any other reasoning or as an explicit statement.
Another example would be plot tropes that have become staples, and are thus automatically connected to Chekov's Gun by way of the Law of Conservation of Detail, whether you want it to be or not. If you mention that Pepper's period is late in chapter 1, things can go a few ways. 1) You mean for her to be pregnant and expected it to be a surprise. This will not work. 2) Her pregnancy is not supposed to be a surprise. Maybe something about the pregnancy is the surprise. 3) She is not pregnant. Fooled the readers! 4) She is not pregnant.
Never expect menopause to be an option. Ever.
If you're hoping for 1 & 4, you're SOL. Some tropes are just too well-known. I expect that most people have had a case where they called a plot before it actually happened. YMMV, but a lot of people find that annoying; it's formula, and well on its way to cliché. That doesn't mean that it can't be used; 2 & 3 are still easily viable options! But it's a delicate line to dance, and you can only dance it if you realize it's there.
Bad Tropes: A Spotter's Guide
With tropes, like a lot of things, the method of use is what's important. A hammer is just a hammer, until it's used to break a window. Of course, some tools are designed to break a window-It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It, when used straight, is never going to be inoffensive. On the other hand, Luke Cage technically fits into the Scary Black Man trope, and obviously you should write him if you want! (I would suggest doing your best to not use that trope; make him fully rounded and don't play up his size or intimidation factor when it's not relevant to the atmosphere. In addition, he's surrounded by big scary white guys as well-use them!)
The key to spotting tropes that could trip you up is to learn to read your own writing style. It's impossible to know the entire TV Trope Wiki (I am trying though). But you can realize when you've seen something before, and decide what you're going to do with it. As an example, let's look at the fic I used for the beta post. Not including those inherent in the Superhero genre and the obvious ones, tropes used in that are:
- War is Hell: Steve's nightmares.
- Gadgeteer Genius: In Iron Man's late-night work
- Secret Identity: Iron Man's identity to Steve
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: Tony wants to tell Steve.
- Loves My Alter Ego: Cap loving Iron Man, not Tony
- Power of Trust: Steve asking Tony to trust him, and Tony actually doing so
- Facial Horror: Invoked when Tony says he could be hideous.
- First Kiss: They kiss! It's their first!
Look through your story for familiar points. Where do they work, and where don't they? How close do they border on cliché? Is there any way to avoid that? Do you want to avoid that? There's a pleasure to be found in recognition of a trope, but over-use can turn that into annoyance very easily. Worse, some tropes simply don't work, and really need to be Discredited.
Run Awaaaaaaaaaaay
As I mentioned above, some tropes are just offensive, and carry really horrible undertones. They can be averted (when the expectation of a trope is not met; i.e., #4 on Pepper's Pregnancy above), subverted (Pepper's not-pregnancy is a plot point), doubly subverted (Pepper is not pregnant... but at the end of the story, she is), inverted (it's not Pepper that's pregnant, it's her male partner) or played straight (Pepper is pregnant).
Tropes that will inevitably be problematic are anything that you wouldn't say IRL without expecting to be called out on it. This is, unfortunately, a flawed approach, since there's no way to watch for offensive content that you don't know is offensive. Keeping your eyes open and learning is really the best approach. Honestly, there's no way I can list everything ever that is offensive, especially as so many have to do with situation and execution. In general, beware anything that is linked to a stereotype, race, gender, sex, sexuality, real world traumas, recent history, etc.
No matter what you do with certain tropes, you should be very careful with them. Bluntly: you're more likely to step in it than not, even if you try to use it to remove the offensive part. If you think you can dance around being offensive, be careful, and be prepared to handle it if you don't succeed. There's a whole post on racial tropes over here, for those interested.
Cliché Kills
Okay, maybe that's a little but of an over-statement. Cliché is the trope that's been used so often, people see it coming, and this is not a good thing. This is definitely one of those "know it when you see it" things. One of the fastest ways to ruin a plot is to use a cliché as the hinge-pin. A formula plot immediately kills its own plot twist (unless it's turned into an Untwist, in which case, it's not formula). Are they captured in an underground fortress? Don't use the air vents. You have a perfectly good genius inventor with a penchant for blowing things up. Space aliens probably shouldn't be little green men. Marvel has plenty of aliens that aren't. And the last bullet shouldn't always hit. There are more interesting things to do with a bullet.
Fanfiction has its own set of clichés to watch out for. Steve being Tony-sexual would not be unexpected to most fanfic readers, and might cause them to close out. Instead, Steve could be Tony-sexual because of an experiment gone wrong and the challenge is fixing this. MPreg is another cliché that gets a lot of use; the trick there is in how the tension is handled and how the pregnancy is triggered. You can't get away with "whoops, pregnant". Aliens made them do it could be twisted into something not sexual, or (for a genre switch) into something that isn't romance.
Of course, like with everything, these can be used. But realize that the audience will recognize them, often with a groan or a giggle. If you don't have some other sort of tension ready and waiting, or you're not ready to play the cliché up, it can fall flat. Little green men could be highlighted by the character reactions-they're going to know the cliché too, and they never expect it to actually happen. Playing a cliché straight is risky writing, because the audience knows what's coming. The execution becomes super important. Readers will keep up with a quirky or well-executed cliché much more willingly than they will one that follows formula. Subplots can also help spice it up.
If you are going to use clichés, own them. Subvert, double subvert or play with it. Hang a lampshade or deconstruct it. I won't say never leave it bare, but know that it's a risk if you do.
That's it for this one. (It's a bit short, isn't it?) Next time, we get to cover Outlines, and I shall beat you over the head with them.