Subject: Thoughts on Tropes
Author:
Posted on: 2012-02-21 21:15:00 UTC

First off, I agree with July's denial of Permission.

On to the Trope issue. The problem with Tropes is not the Tropes themselves. The problem lies in one of two areas. First, as July said, depending too heavily on Tropes can have detrimental effects on your writing. Second, people use Tropes incorrectly.

The second problem is what I see more of in this permission request. Tropes are a way of categorizing things after the fact. They were not created to be building blocks. You create something and, when you look back at it, say "hey, this looks like that Trope." If you do it the other way around, then you don't have a character/story/whatever. You have a collection of Tropes that you are trying to make look like a character/story/whatever, and it shows.

Remember: Chatacter/Story/Whatever first. Tropes come later.

Also I am not a Troper and, as such, don't know what the majority of Tropes mean. I don't know that any of the PG's are really Tropers. Know your audience. It isn't our job to make your stuff make sense. That's your job. This holds true for any type of jargon. I don't speak in gamer lingo to my father, because he won't understand what I am saying.

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