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Is there any popular trope or writing style you don’t get the hype for?
(By the way, this is the 101st TotW post! Kind of cool.)
Can be any kind of trope! Romantic, hero’s journey, maybe a specific character archetype.
I found out over time that I don’t really like the trope where the government is over-controlling and tyrannical. The idea is realistic, it’s just executed poorly most of the time.
First of all, even people in the government aren’t evil automatons. They can change their minds about things, and they don’t have the same shared personality (unless there’s mind control involved XD).
Second, it’s hard to use the trope creatively, in an eye-catching way. Most of these fictional governments are just the Nazis with modern technology. I want to see unique beliefs and structures, please!
Third, these stories act like they’re revealing government depravity for the first time, when in actuality, we’ve seen this hundreds of times. Luckily for us, most people know governments are messed up.
I’ve read good books with this! But I don’t enjoy this dystopia trope very often… Maybe I’ll find a super good book with it and change my mind. :]
Can you think of any tropes that bother you? Obviously people are allowed to have different opinions, so just remember that if you don’t agree with someone.
"If I don't like something, it's probably sanctification. Ugh." -E.C.S.
Testing… did this post come through?
"If I don't like something, it's probably sanctification. Ugh." -E.C.S.
Okay, well, I’ll write my thingy again
Is there any popular trope or writing style you don’t get the hype for?
Can be any kind of trope! Romantic, hero’s journey, maybe a specific character archetype.
I found out over time that I don’t really like the trope where the government is over-controlling and tyrannical. The idea is realistic, it’s just executed poorly most of the time.
First of all, even people in the government aren’t evil automatons. They can change their minds about things, and they don’t have the same shared personality (unless there’s mind control involved XD).
Second, it’s hard to use the trope creatively, in an eye-catching way. Most of these fictional governments are just the Nazis with modern technology. I want to see unique beliefs and structures.
Third, these stories act like they’re revealing government depravity for the first time, when in actuality, we’ve seen this hundreds of times. Luckily for us, most people know governments are messed up
I’ve read good books with this! But I don’t enjoy this dystopia trope very often… Maybe I’ll find a super good book with it and change my mind. :]
Can you think of any tropes that bother you? Please remember people have different opinions, and that’s okay.
"If I don't like something, it's probably sanctification. Ugh." -E.C.S.
…I feel like you guys can see the first post and I can’t… I hate accidentally making repeat posts. Oh, well.
"If I don't like something, it's probably sanctification. Ugh." -E.C.S.
This is a great topic! I’ll have to think about it though.
By the by, I don’t see duplicate posts. 🙂
You have listened to fears, child. Come, let me breathe on you... Are you brave again? -Aslan
Wordy writing styles.
As Andrew can testify, more than once I have criticized books for wordy writing styles.
I’m not saying writers should state things as brief as possible, but writers shouldn’t take a paragraph and fill it with needless words. It bogs down the reader. There’s a balance between adding needless words and being too brief.
You're extra special <3
#AnduthForever (💕)First person present writing. I’ve liked books with this style, but it’s not my favorite.
Romances where it takes less than a month for characters to fall in love.
Pop culture references. I hate it when books are full of pop culture references. Granted, this may be because I’m a very sheltered homeschooler and get none of them.
Why is every single YA character really insecure about their weirdness? Why can’t we have some who are proud to be weird, even if they’re depressed and lonely because of it?
Main characters named Jack or John.
Siblings really annoyed that their parents are having a new baby. Like, so? Babies are fun?
That one trope in beginning reader books when the character has an older annoying teenage sister who only cares about make-up and boys. Teen girls aren’t all like this!
No one likes being homeschooled. I have never read a book where being homeschooled is considered a good thing.
To err is human; to arr is pirate.
I literally agree with everything you said. Everything.
Especially first-person writing. There are some good books written fp, but besides those I don’t really like it.
(Edit: Oh, I see you said first person present writing… whoops. That too. I still agree. I also don’t care for regular first person, though, heh…)
If you pluck them, they explode. Goro.
Well, everyone made theirs much less complicated than what I was thinking, so I’m glad I waited. lol. I think I basically agree with what the others have said. I do like a first person narrative, if it’s well done and really used to contribute to the texture of the story.
I also think that not every style that’s technically “wordy” is the same. I love classics that take the time to describe the world in a unique, artistic voice.(C. S. Lewis, Tolkien, H. Pyle) I don’t like when the narrative get’s very caught up in telling us what the character is thinking instead of showing it. Or long soliloquies about the history of a random apple tree. Eventually, it becomes vain repetition as the heathen do.
Now, disturbing violence. I love suspense (Dee Henderson’s O’Malley series is an all-time favorite.) and historical fiction (Robert Elmer and Roseanna M. White), but in those those genres I’ve come across stuff that made me sick, even though it was Christian. There is a series will sometimes read because the author’s writing is AMAZING, but even if I do, I am typically skimming a chapter or two because the author likes tackling ugly subjects. (and it’s in the various conflicts around 1948, so there’s a lot of material she touches on) But even then, she has a reason for including the topics, unlike some authors who just seem to want drama, or are glorifying the darkness of this world.
I opened a suspense novel once that had a serial murderer, and I just put it down after the first chapter feeling dazed. We need more books with healthy, loving relationships and inspiring adventures.
Words are vehicles spirits travel by, or so I have heard many a wise man of God say. The mind is a battle ground. Reading fills the mind with ideas that can be powerful either way. What spirits are you encouraging in your writing? God’s? Or those of this fallen world?
*bows*
Sermon over. It’s safe to drink your soda now.
I also can’t stand love triangles. They make me sick. I know many other readers love them, but not me. It just strikes me as a really unhealthy situation. Connected to that, I don’t like evangelistic dating. That’s really unhealthy, and shouldn’t turn out as well as many Christian romances make it.
Also, Good-Twin/Evil-Twin trope!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!! I want to see more twin relationships like Elrond’s two sons. The “I’ve got your back” type and “different sides of the same coin.” Seriously, because of this literary plague, people ask real life twins “which one is the evil one?” (like wow, that’s funny. ha. ha. ha.) I would love to see more identical twins that are happy being twins, and fraternal twins that have their own secret joke on the world.
Plus, it’s just heartbreaking. I get that many twins don’t like each other and often wish they weren’t even related, but this trope is not a realistic presentation. It’s just not.
And I have ranted long enough. Sorry, y’all. XD
You have listened to fears, child. Come, let me breathe on you... Are you brave again? -Aslan
I like older love triangles, such as Roy, Gilbert, and Anne in Anne of the Island, or Rhett, Ashley, and Scarlett in Gone with the Wind. Modern ones drive me crazy.
evangelistic dating
What is that?
To err is human; to arr is pirate.
Can’t say I loved the Anne of the Island triangle, but I definitely liked it better than what I see in modern stuff.
Evangelistic dating is dating/becoming romantically attached to a lost person with the hope that the relationship will lead them to God. Obviously, not a good udea to go into a relationship like that. It’s not healthy, and usually ends in a broken heart or spirit in real life. Unfortunately, it’s pretty common in Christian romance fiction.
You have listened to fears, child. Come, let me breathe on you... Are you brave again? -Aslan
Ugh. If any of y’all decide to write a “good twin/evil twin” trope (and I don’t care if it is well done or not at this pount) you will be getting a letter from me. I’ve been asked that stupid question a few too many times, as well as it’s frustrating cousin “who’s the mean/nice one?”. If one of y’all pick it up, prepare for Koshka to be severely miffed.
Or you could include a twin getting asked that question and give the reader a glimpse into that irritation. I’d appreciate that. XD
First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
Fork the GorkOr you could include a twin getting asked that question and give the reader a glimpse into that irritation. I’d appreciate that. XD
I may find a way to work that into TcoH. XD
"Don't shine so that others can see you. Shine so that through you, others can see Him." ~ C. S.
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