Previous Entry | Next Entry

50 Top Tropes

  • Mar. 27th, 2009 at 1:33 PM
pepper: Pepperpot (Default)
I've tidied up and alphabetised the cliché list (OCD much?), tweaked, changed, and clarified some things, and added a few things I thought were missing, to bulk it up to a nice, round 50. Is it wrong that my aim is to do everything on this list at least once?

Also, I think this should be rebranded as tropes, rather than clichés, because it has a less negative connotation. IMO. I mean, yes, often they are clichés, but I've also seen them done well and interestingly. Or amusingly crackish. *g*

Bolded all those I've written, with links to the evidence:

1) Accidental/immaculate/alien pregnancy:
2) Aliens make them do it: Think Of England; Unlahfulliche in Lyhte
3) Alternative Realities: New Ground; Transparent; The ALTERNATE Alternate Universe; Ambition (the Mens Rea remix); All In A Good Cause; All To Myself, Alone; [profile] jack_built fics 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
4) Amnesia:
5) Angry!sex: Sometimes I Can Forget
6) Aphrodisiacs: Sugar For My Honey
7) Apocalypse / post-apocalypse: Not EVEN.;Wake Me Up When The Skies Are Clearing; Not Dark Yet (But It's Getting There)
8) Baby Farm: Think Of England
9) Bodyswap:
10) Brainwashing: Makin' Whoopee; N is for Nish'ta
11) Character Tortured to Secure Other Character's Cooperation:
12) Confined spaces: Out Go The Lights 1, 2, 3 & 4; Jam Jar; Safe And Sound
13) Cross-dressing: Blooper Reel
14) Curtainfic (characters in a domestic setting, such as buying curtains): Kissin' In The Back Row Of The Movies; P is for Peridot; Tiggers Like Everything
15) Deathfic: If You Gotta Go...; Peanut M&Ms And The Twinkle In Her Eye
16) Drunkfic:
17) Evil Twin: Maybe I'm An Angel Underneath
18) Forced to share a bed: The Mission After
19) Genderswap:
20) Ghostly intervention: Need To Know; Transparent
21) Going Rogue: Ambition (the Mens Rea remix)
22) Groundhog Day: Practice Makes Perfect
23) Hero Wrongfully Accused:
24) Holiday / celebration: One Fish, Two Fish; Pirating 101 and sequels
25) Huddling together for warmth: Into The Blue
26) Hurt/Comfort: Don't Have A Cow, Man; Planet Of The Woobies; Safe And Sound
27) Kidfic: Sam/Daniel schmoopy kidfic; Q is for Questions; To Dance On The Floor In The Round
28) Kidnapping:
29) Matchmaking Third Party: Valentines series
30) Medical Discharge:
31) Mistakenly assumed to be gay: What A World
32) Mpreg:
33) Near Death Confessions: If You Gotta Go...
34) Pretending to be married: Unlahfulliche in Lyhte
35) Secretly a virgin: (Rarely) Pure And (Never) Simple
36) Slavery: Float Like A Butterfly; Think Of England
37) Snowed in:
38) Space pirates: Living The Dream 1 & 2; OT4... or 5... or 6...
39) Stranded Off-World: Stepping Into The River
40) Talking to a Shrink:
41) Telepathic soulbonding:
42) Tent Porn: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
43) Time Travel: Real People; all my Terminator fics
44) Truth or dare:
45) Turned into animals:
46) Turned into cavemen: Revisions 1: Conjecture
47) Undercover in a gay bar:
48) Wedding: Living And Learning
49) Werewolves mate for life:
50) Wingfic: Defying Gravity

So, I've done 26/50 - so far.

ETA: 28/50 (crossed off two with 'Think Of England').

ETA2: 29/50, 'Fumbling Towards Ecstasy'. And I've decided to remove "Mary Sue", because that's not so much a trope as an inability to write well, IMO. Instead, I've added in "Turned into cavemen". :)

ETA3: 30/50, with 'The Mission After', plus another kidfic one because that's what presses my buttons.

ETA4: 31/50, "pretending to be married", and another AMTDI.

ETA5: 33/50, "evil twin", and I just realised that I did "turned into cavemen" a long time ago, with an ep tag to 'Broca Divide' (oh Stargate, you've done most of these tropes already, bless you!).

Comments

[identity profile] cnidarian.livejournal.com wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 03:19 pm (UTC)
Kidfic and babyfic: is there a different term for fic where the characters are turned into babies/kids and fic where the characters have children (twins, called Teal'cana and Jacamsam)?
ext_3314: Woman writing (Default)
[identity profile] pepper-field.livejournal.com wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 03:24 pm (UTC)
Well, I was going to differentiate, and list them separately (characters become kids, characters are kids (e.g. Jack as a teenager), and characters have kids) - but then it didn't fit with my nice round number. So as far as I'm concerned, 'kidfic' can be applied to them all. *g*

As far as I know, there isn't a specific separate term - but you know how fandom can be when it comes to labels.

There's also the accidental/immaculate/alien pregnancy option...
[identity profile] supplyship.livejournal.com wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 04:51 pm (UTC)
Hee! *pets your OCD*

You're over halfway through the list! Awesome. And I can get on board with the tropes vs. clichés name. :)
ext_3314: Woman writing (Default)
[identity profile] pepper-field.livejournal.com wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 06:32 pm (UTC)
Yes, I'm getting there! Hee. And I'm past some of the worst ones, too - 'secretly a virgin' in particular. *g*
aelfgyfu_mead: Aelfgyfu as a South Park-style cartoon (Default)
[personal profile] aelfgyfu_mead wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 04:57 pm (UTC)
I've done relatively few of these...so far.

I agree: "tropes" is better than "clichés." If it's a cliché, you've seen it all before; a trope is adapted to its setting, an idea or a motif redeployed to get new meaning.

And I think I can get Teal'c to back us up on this.
ext_3314: Woman writing (Default)
[identity profile] pepper-field.livejournal.com wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 06:34 pm (UTC)
Exactly. I mean, they can kind of be applied in the same way, but 'cliche' has a big connotation of lazy thinking and bad ideas - and I don't think these are necessarily bad ideas. Some of them, at least, are familiar because they're good.

Although I'm not sure about 'undercover in a gay bar'... :)
[identity profile] annerbhp.livejournal.com wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 05:50 pm (UTC)
Hahaha. I love your OCD mind. This is awesome. So many left to write!!
ext_3314: Woman writing (Default)
[identity profile] pepper-field.livejournal.com wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 06:36 pm (UTC)
So many finished, though! And lots for particular tropes, too - I've done 'alternate realities' a ton of times.

I love having them organised like this - now I can see where I need to round out my fics. *g*
ext_2131: picture of a fish with lots of green (Default)
[identity profile] holdouttrout.livejournal.com wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 06:18 pm (UTC)
bwa ha ha! AWESOME.
ext_3314: Woman writing (Default)
[identity profile] pepper-field.livejournal.com wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 06:38 pm (UTC)
Hee, it's fun, isn't it? I can't believe I've not done AMTDI, though. Or accidental/immaculate/alien pregnancy! Or pretending to be married!

Must get writing!
ext_2131: picture of a fish with lots of green (Default)
[identity profile] holdouttrout.livejournal.com wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 06:44 pm (UTC)
Yes! What *are* you thinking? Get working on that! Immediately!
ext_3314: Woman writing (Default)
[identity profile] pepper-field.livejournal.com wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 06:47 pm (UTC)
Yes ma'am!
[identity profile] mrspollifax.livejournal.com wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 09:04 pm (UTC)
Wow! I'm totally bookmarking this, lol.

Tropes instead of cliches, yes. And your coverage of the list so far is impressive - get working on the rest! =)
ext_3314: Woman writing (Default)
[identity profile] pepper-field.livejournal.com wrote:
Mar. 27th, 2009 11:37 pm (UTC)
Hee. Well, as I get them done (eveeeeeeeeeentually), I'll edit it to add them. :)

*gets back to work on that tent pr0n*

Latest Month

November 2023
S M T W T F S
   1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios
Designed by [personal profile] chasethestars