Cool Bits!
Poking around old Yuletide letters, I came across someone called rachelmanija writing about the cool bits: those things you love to see in stories. It made me feel happy to read her list, so I decided to make my own! Created just by sitting down and free-associating for the most part.
Mithen's Cool Bits
Happy endings. Characters that die in ways true to their nature, satisfied with their ends. Arthurian legend. Feudal Japan. Self-sacrifice. Stoic characters who speak through actions rather than words. Characters who fight against unjust systems.
Dusk. Dawn. Dew. Mist and fog. Friendship. Heroism. Quiet shared moments. Characters who have a secret side only their true love knows. Time travel. Soul bonds. Wings and angel imagery. Friendship that slowly becomes romance. Amnesia, especially amnesia that leads characters to understand themselves better. Characters confessing their love when they think the other is dead or can't hear them.
Music. Dancing. Humor. Jazz. First kisses. Raunchy sex. Tender sex. Fades to black. Awkward sex that ends in giggles. Gloriously romantic first times. Sex pollen. Characters trying to deny sexual attraction, but eventually giving in.
Bittersweet moments. The awareness that life is fleeting and precious in the face of mortality. Characters with strong moral codes. Strong female characters.
Graveyards. Beaches. Watching characters with galactic powers do mundane things, always with the frisson of knowing they're far from normal. Destiny. Unreliable narrators. Misunderstandings. Secret love tokens. Just-kiss-him-already sexual tension. Well-dressed men. Gloves. Boots. Characters that don't give a damn about birthdays or Valentine's Day. Characters who don't really care much about money one way or the other. Characters who value their work and their mission, but value people as well.
Stars. Sun and moon imagery. Infinity. Immortality alone as more tragic than death.
Tattered capes. Half-removed costumes or clothing. Sparring matches as flirtation. Gadgets. Alien technology that does strange things. Characters wrongly accused and only one person believes in them. Characters harrowing hell for love and bringing back the dead. Sublimated sexual attraction. Characters in serious denial about their true feelings. Characters who understand each other without words. Pairs in which when one person despairs, the other person snaps them out of it. The moment when disaster is averted almost magically and all misunderstandings suddenly fall away. The moment when eyes meet in battle and both just know what the other is thinking.
Characters dying in each others' arms. Silent, hidden suffering. Dialogue. Letters. Messages from beyond the grave. Swordfights. Military uniforms. Banter. True love conquering all.
Mithen's Cool Bits
Happy endings. Characters that die in ways true to their nature, satisfied with their ends. Arthurian legend. Feudal Japan. Self-sacrifice. Stoic characters who speak through actions rather than words. Characters who fight against unjust systems.
Dusk. Dawn. Dew. Mist and fog. Friendship. Heroism. Quiet shared moments. Characters who have a secret side only their true love knows. Time travel. Soul bonds. Wings and angel imagery. Friendship that slowly becomes romance. Amnesia, especially amnesia that leads characters to understand themselves better. Characters confessing their love when they think the other is dead or can't hear them.
Music. Dancing. Humor. Jazz. First kisses. Raunchy sex. Tender sex. Fades to black. Awkward sex that ends in giggles. Gloriously romantic first times. Sex pollen. Characters trying to deny sexual attraction, but eventually giving in.
Bittersweet moments. The awareness that life is fleeting and precious in the face of mortality. Characters with strong moral codes. Strong female characters.
Graveyards. Beaches. Watching characters with galactic powers do mundane things, always with the frisson of knowing they're far from normal. Destiny. Unreliable narrators. Misunderstandings. Secret love tokens. Just-kiss-him-already sexual tension. Well-dressed men. Gloves. Boots. Characters that don't give a damn about birthdays or Valentine's Day. Characters who don't really care much about money one way or the other. Characters who value their work and their mission, but value people as well.
Stars. Sun and moon imagery. Infinity. Immortality alone as more tragic than death.
Tattered capes. Half-removed costumes or clothing. Sparring matches as flirtation. Gadgets. Alien technology that does strange things. Characters wrongly accused and only one person believes in them. Characters harrowing hell for love and bringing back the dead. Sublimated sexual attraction. Characters in serious denial about their true feelings. Characters who understand each other without words. Pairs in which when one person despairs, the other person snaps them out of it. The moment when disaster is averted almost magically and all misunderstandings suddenly fall away. The moment when eyes meet in battle and both just know what the other is thinking.
Characters dying in each others' arms. Silent, hidden suffering. Dialogue. Letters. Messages from beyond the grave. Swordfights. Military uniforms. Banter. True love conquering all.