#because you know. those things are interconnected. So now i just feel like an unlovable piece of shit!

[asmywhimseytakesme]

As promised, here is a list of my favorite tropes in fiction. I may continue to refine this over time.

Note, I am not pulling these from a website, I’m writing these up myself. There may be a page on tv tropes for all or most of these, but I’m trying to articulate to myself what I like and why I like it, so I’m naming my own tropes and writing descriptions that are specific to my own taste. I’m also including a short list of examples for each.

Needless to say, if you know of a book or show that includes some of these tropes (the more the better) and it isn’t mentioned here—PLEASE TELL ME. And of course, these are just my preferences and opinions—if you disagree, that’s fine, we just don’t like the same things 😁

These are organized loosely by category—character tropes, relationship tropes, and plot tropes.

Under a cut so people who aren’t that interested in my specific tastes don’t have to scroll forever.

Character Tropes

Mastermind—

An extremely clever and competent character who reads people, pulls strings, and often has a grand scheme the other characters are unaware of. Usually a good guy (at least my favorites tend to be), but doesn’t have to be.

Eugenides (Queens Thief), Miles Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan Saga), Peaceable Sherwood (the Sherwood Ring), Lord Peter Wimsey (the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries) Sir Percy Blakeney (the Scarlet Pimpernel), Sherlock Holmes

Note: all the above examples are male characters, but I don’t consider this a gender specific trope. I would love recommendations of female characters who fit this trope.

Not Just A Soldier / Not Just A Mom

I originally had these listed as two tropes, and then realized that they were just inverses of each other. They each have to do with fulfilling gender stereotypes in some ways, while subverting or transcending them in others.

For a male character in the genres I read, Not Just A Soldier is typically a fighter of some kind, and really good at it. Basically, on the surface he appears to be a very Masculine Male Manly Man. But! It turns out he is also just a really nice guy. And not only that—he’s smart, and he’s good with kids!

On the flip side, Not Just a Mom seems at first glance to be your typical motherly feminine character. But! That isn’t her entire personality! She also has a (not particularly feminine) career and hobbies outside of parenting, and she is confident and competent doing those things—AND (this is important) those non-mothering things she is good at are essential to the plot. (This tends to be less of an issue that needs to be specified with male characters, grumblegrumble.)

So on both sides, we have a character who is fulfilling gender stereotypes on one hand, but subverting them on the other.

Not Just A Soldier examples: Costis (Queen's Thief), Din Djarin (the Mandalorian), Cazaril (the Curse of Chalion), Uncle Iroh (ATLA)

Not Just A Mom examples: Hera Syndulla (Star Wars Rebels), Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan and Ekaterin Vorsoisson Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan Saga), Katara (ATLA)

Adventurous Parent

A parent who continues to be cool and have adventures and stay involved in the plot even after becoming a parent (a GOOD parent, of course).

Din Djarin (The Mandalorian), Dr Mensah (Murderbot Diaries), Hera Syndulla (Star Wars Rebels—-we’ll see if this holds true now that she actually has her own biological child?? Assuming she’ll show up in future Star Wars projects—I’m hoping to see her in the Ahsoka series🤞)

Reluctant Ruler

It seems like many bad guys would kill to be king—and many good guys would really, REALLY rather not be in charge, thanks. But when a good guy is forced by circumstances beyond their control into becoming a ruler, and they decide that they might as well try to do a good job at it, and then THEY ACTUALLY DO—this trip has my whole heart.

Maia Drazar (The Goblin Emperor—this book is basically the perfect example of this trope and I love it SO MUCH), Eugenides (Queen’s Thief), Sophos (Queens Thief), Aral Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan Saga), And hopefully Din Djarin in Mandalorian season 3? OH PLEASE YES I NEED THIS.

Broken, but loved

The name basically says it—these are characters who believed themselves broken, heartless, and unlovable, but others chose to love them anyway. It’s important to note that they are NOT “saved by love”, but they do CHOOSE to try and be better because of love.

This trope just GETS ME EVERY TIME GUYS. It makes my heart hurt in the most joyful way.

Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries), Attolia (Queens Thief), Zuko (ATLA), Medraut (the Winter Prince)

Friend Indeed

This is a simple one—a character who befriends someone who is in the middle of a difficult situation, when it would be much easier to just keep their distance.

Ratthi (Murderbot Diaries), Csevet (The Goblin Emperor), Kuill (the Mandalorian)

Magic Schmagic

The character in a fantastical story who can’t do magic, doesn’t know about magic, and doesn’t WANT to. They just wanna carry on being their own non magical, mundane selves and we love them for it.

Sokka (ATLA), Din Djarin (the Mandalorian), Digger (Digger), Gideon (Gideon the Ninth)

Relationship tropes:

Found Family

Ok, this is a popular one so don’t think I need to explain it. Since these often involve large groups of characters, I’m just going to list a few of my favorite pieces of media where this trope features prominently.

Star Wars Rebels, the Mandalorian, Digger, Murderbot Diaries

Reluctant Friendship

Where two characters are thrown together and one or both doesn’t particularly want to be friends with the other, but as they move through the adventure together they gradually come to like each other and form a friendship.

I also love the romance side of this trope but I’m just as happy to read about a platonic relationship.

Ben and Nathaniel (This Was Our Pact), Kaidu and Rat (The Nameless City), Kamet and Costis (Queen’s Thief), Digger and Shadowchild (Digger),

Magical Animal Sidekick

A character who forms a deep personal bond with a magical creature. It doesn’t have to be an actual creature—in a sci-fi setting this could also be a sentient robot or ship.

Temeraire and Laurence (His Majesty’s Dragon), Ani and Falada (Goose Girl), Murderbot and Art (Murderbot Diaries), Ezra and the Loth Wolves (Star Wars Rebels)

Prose/plot tropes:

It’s Complicated

Related to the Mastermind character trope, the distinction here is that this is a plot that wasn’t manipulated by a single character intentionally, rather it’s a complex series of interactions and misunderstandings that are all revealed to be interconnected in the end.

The Court Jester, Howl’s Moving Castle, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Digger

Sarcastic, Witty, and/or Colloquial narration

The name says it all. I usually prefer this in 1st person, but it can be fun in 3rd person too. In 3rd person it might be the narrator who is witty, or it might just be the main character's thoughts that are witty as related by the narrator.

1st person— The Thief, Murderbot, Digger, Dragonhaven

3rd person—Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Gideon the Ninth

Written For You

First person narratives are interesting and tricky because there is the question of WHY narrator is telling the story, and who they intend it for. I love first person stories where the narrative is specifically addressed to a person or group, which adds a level of meaning to the story. This isn’t the same as a story told in diaries or letters (though that can be fun too).

The Thief and A Conspiracy of Kings, the Winter Prince, All Systems Red, Dragonhaven

The juxtaposition of Magic and Mundane

I deeply love stories that mix magical things with mundane details of life in a deliberate way. I feel this makes real life feel a bit more magical, and helps magic feel a bit more real. This juxtaposition can be a central idea of the plot, or might simply be present in the way a narrator describes things.

This may be my favorite trope of all, come to think of it (though there are a lot of great ones listed above, so maybe I shouldn’t start naming favorites…) most of my own story ideas center on this idea to one degree or another.

Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, His Majesty’s Dragon, Digger, Hilda, Queens Thief, Dragonhaven

Tropes I would like to see less of: prophecies, hereditary magic, a Chosen One, Soul Mates, fate/destiny. Yes, many of the stories I love involve these tropes, they’re hard to get away from in the genres I prefer to read. These tropes are Iess exciting to me first off because they’re done so often, but there’s a bigger reason I’d like to see less of them, which has to do with characters agency. I’m much more interested in a story that is about a character who CHOOSES to do the right thing, not because they were Chosen, but because they CHOOSE themselves to do the right thing. In the same vein, characters who CHOOSE to build and maintain a relationship are so much more interesting and, frankly, romantic to me than people who are just meant for each other BECAUSE FATE OK. Just.... no. People making tough choices because it’s the right thing to do makes for a much better story (aim my opinion) than people who do the right thing because DESTINY. So the overall theme here is, more character agency! (And as I said above—if you disagree, that’s fine! This is just me listing my preferences and opinions.)

If you read all that—wow! To all those who made it this far, thanks, and if you have any book/show recommendations that involve these tropes, please tell me about them!!

#tropes i like #personal #on writing #on reading #book recommendations #queens thief #the mandalorian #star wars #murderbot diaries #digger comic #studio ghibli #hmc #atla #howls moving castle #vorkosigan saga #and uuiuuh a bunch more but those are the main ones

[thisselflovecamebacktome]

My personal connection with Taylor’s discography, part eight: Ivy

Basically this is just a series I’m doing where I write down my feelings on what each of the Taylor songs means to me personally on a line to line basis both for my own sake to have it somewhere and for anyone who wants to know anything further about me.

So with that in mind, let’s get started.

Ivy

Bit of a disclaimer, technically this isn’t an interpretation I came up with. Upon listening to it the first time, my partner said this is what he thought the song meant, and I loved it so much that I adopted it and it’s now the way I see it too. As a whole, this song represents the struggle of wanting to be with someone but having emotional trauma that has resulted in the unhealthy side of you constantly try to convince you that you need to stay faithful to the idea that the only person you can trust is yourself.

How's one to know? I'd meet you where the spirit meets the bones in a faith forgotten land

To me, this is one of Taylor’s most intimate lyrics and really sets the scene for the rest of the song. When relating this song to myself, I see the spirit as the emotions you feel for each other and the bones as physical closeness, whether that be sexually or otherwise. So to me, this meeting is when you have two people who know that they love each other deeply and can show that, but who also refuse to admit to themselves that they are in love because the traumas of their past have taken away their faith and made them go on day by day thinking that the idea of loving someone for a lifetime is unrealistic and fake.

In from the snow, your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand

Feeling like you’re not worthy of love or even that you are but love as a whole isn’t worth it is an extremely cold and dark place. So when someone comes into your life and challenges that, it can feel like the light at the end of the tunnel, even though you know it’s not a perfect fix for everything.

And the old widow goes to the stone every day, but I don't, I just sit here and wait grieving for the living

There are three interconnected ways which I feel like this line relates to my romantic relationship. 

Firstly, part of the reason our relationship has been stunted like it has is because I’ve been an unofficial carer for my mother during her breakdown over what happened with my family. And quite frankly, that’s been hard because she doesn’t want to get better so not only do I feel like I’m grieving for how our relationship has deteriorated as a result of the family traumas, but also I’m grieving for her because she’s clearly still in so much pain over the loss of her family who are still alive that it’s ruining any chance of her having a future. 

Secondly, because I’ve been so focused on my mother and her grief, I’ve not only missed out on opportunities, but haven’t been able to properly deal with my own grief over the situation because at the end of the day, I lost of my family too. And on the flip side I know my partner relates to this because a similar circumstance happened to him in his childhood.

And thirdly, in many ways the two of us have spent a lot of our relationship grieving for each other and the relationship itself because we have seen the negative impact that the trauma of losing our families in such a way has made to each other and the relationship.

Oh, goddamn, my pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand taking mine, but it's been promised to another

On paper, we seem perfect for each other. We help each other through the pain and most importantly, we love each other. But in reality, our trauma and past promises of never opening up as to protect ourselves from getting hurt is always going to try to interfere.

Oh, I can't stop you putting roots in my dreamland, my house of stone, your ivy grows and now I'm covered in you

Despite that interference however, it’s impossible to not picture a future together and want that because we love each other.

I wish to know the fatal flaw that makes you long to be magnificently cursed

When you’ve had so many relationships, romantic and otherwise, fall apart on you unexpectedly, it’s hard to not feel unloveable. And as part of that, any time anyone sticks by you, there’s always that thought of “why?” or even “what’s wrong with you to be staying when everyone else left?”. And while it may be enough for others to hear that there’s no catch, this person just loves you like they should, it takes time to override that caution and accept that there’s no catch or flaw waiting to pop up.

He's in the room. Your opal eyes are all I wish to see. He wants what's only yours

Like I mentioned, that fear of not being good enough and being hurt again never truly leaves you. As much as you wish for it to, it will always linger at the back of your mind, trying to demand all of your trust, time and attention.

Clover blooms in the fields. Spring breaks loose, the time is near

As the seeds of love and trust continued to blossom between my partner and I, the choice to commit to each other and accept that we are each other’s future also drew near.

What would he do if he found us out?

Though that love and trust grows every day towards my partner, I still can’t say I’ve reached that point with myself. As a result, I still find myself questioning what’s going to happen when my unhealthy brain feels like I’m relying too much on my partner or get to that point where things feel too comfortable and where I’ve historically begun to freak out trying to find something wrong because next to nothing positive lasts in my life.

Crescent moon, coast is clear. Spring breaks loose, but so does fear. He's gonna burn this house to the ground

As I’ve said, very few positives have lasted a long time in my life and it’s led me to a place where if my life gets good, I begin to panic thinking I’m missing some disaster that’s about to happen. So despite how perfect I feel my partner and I are for each other, the minute the unhealthy part of my brain realises things are going well, it will pick things that may not even exist to nitpick at and ruin the relationship and act like it was for my own protection. It’s done it before with friendships and a past romantic relationship and there is that constant fear that even though I am mentally better right now, that side of me will come out again and destroy everything my partner and I have built up for.

I'd live and die for moments that we stole on begged and borrowed time

Despite always being there, there are definitely better days where the effects of my trauma are felt less and I can enjoy myself with my partner or even just be comforted enough to get through the day without my unhealthy brain destroying it. And those moments mean the world to me.

So tell me to run or dare to sit and watch what we'll become and drink my husband's wine

It’s pretty self-explanatory but yeah, my partner and I have had multiple conversations over time where we’ve basically said that we need some kind of proof that we’re in a good place going somewhere because again, the minute our brains think we’re not, it’s going to intoxicate us with negative thoughts and keep as stagnant at best and cause something we don’t mean to slip and start a relationship ending fight at worse.

So yeah, it's a fire, it's a goddamn blaze in the dark and you started it

Seeing a fire in the dark is a conflicting experience because on one hand it’s a warm light that can guide you, but on the other, a fire, and particularly a blaze, is an uncontrolled and potentially dangerous force with the ability to engulf and burn you. And a relationship, romantic or otherwise, is no different.

So yeah, it's a war. It's the goddamn fight of my life and you started it

Ultimately, I don’t want to be this traumatised and pessimistic person who believes love can never last and this relationship and all its endured has started to show me that. So I am going to fight every day to make this relationship work and open myself to other non-romantic relationships in a way I haven’t in years. And it’s going to be constant battles and fights, but hopefully in the end it will be worth it.

#taylor swift #ivy #evermore album #about me