Challenge (of a sort): Overused tropes meme!

[lowkey]

So, I was having a chat with my good friend danchekker (who is now on DreamWidth, guys! You should all go friend her up!), and we started to talk about how we each always write "the same story."

So, I thought it be awesome if people turned a critical eye to their own writing, and in as humorous a way as possible, described their most overused tropes. Here are mine!



One person listens to another person tell a two-fold story about the past: a happy opening, with a shocking turn that hints at the innate unfairness and violence of the world. The speaker always delivers this speech while talking in a faraway voice and while not making eye contact. At a later point, this story is either literally or metaphorically important to events that transpire.

APPARENTLY THIS IS WHAT I THINK MEANINGFUL CONVERSATIONS ARE

BASICALLY, I WRITE LIKE LIGHTNING SPEAKS

ALL OF MY CONVERSATIONS ARE BETWEEN LIGHTNING AND HOPE, AND LIGHTNING IS SAYING "Lightning can't protect, it can only destroy."

FFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGSSSSSSSSS


Furthermore, all of my characters are constantly struggling with self-destructive tendencies ("aren't we all?", I justify to myself), and ALSO my most dramatic deaths have the dying cough up blood.

Lastly, I'm finding it a little difficult to find FF characters' voices in longer dialogues. Cause, uh, in the game they really don't talk in more than a few sentences at a time, nor do they have meaningful discussions about feelings that don't descend into platitudes. THIS IS WEIRD



And how that I've said all this, I can't unsee it. aaarrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Comments

[mako_lies]

Ahaha. That's pretty awesome. :D I think I could probably find a common skein through my stories... I'll have to do that later. :D :D :D

[lowkey]

It's like I'm in They Live; I'm now mortified of what I am.

I point out Hope and Lightning's conversation because, actually, that's some of the best character development/advancement in any of the FF games. Basically, we get to see a headstrong and lonely character 1) explain why she behaves the way she does, 2) not too long after the game has started, and 3) she ends up tacitly acknowledging that she has deep character flaws: trust issues and a natural inclination to destroy rather than protect, but 4) she -- and here's the kicker -- she admits she's trying to change.

Problem is, I like this conversation a little too much, methinks.

[lowkey]

Also: "skein" is a great word.

Alsoalso: I really like Vaan's interactions with most everyone, but particularly Ashe. Because Vaan basically says all the right things about Rasler and his death.

[nal_rene]

Haha I see what you mean. Lets see... My theme. Abandonment/Leaving. Bittersweet endings. OMG!!!

You know what my trope is?

open-ended endings... at the end of stories. I like to write things that make people go. "Huh, she had a point." OR "Huh, I wonder how everything will eventually turn out."

That is my big thing.

[lowkey]

There's nothing wrong with open-ended endings! It isn't the same thing, but I'm particularly fond of stories that are well enough written that they can end in medias res, because writing more is superfluous.

[lowkey]

Also: the older I get, the more I like bittersweet endings. "Goodness wins, but always at a price. The end."

[mako_lies]

:D The Lightning/Hope convo is a really poignant one for me. Having a character question their own motivations and find it wanting has always been a big thing for me, and Lightning just pinged every single button ever. And then the way Hope got pissed about her questioning her motivation? Yes. So much.

[mako_lies]

YESSS that's always been one of the best parts about Vaan's character for me. For all that he's not perfect, or smart, or any of those things, he always keeps trying to be better than he is, and never stops expecting the same from everyone else.

[lowkey]

Hope is all "BUT THAT'S WHAT I NEED, LIKE, RIGHT NOW. THERE'S A SURFER DUDE THAT NEEDS MURDERING."

Also: I cannot find that scene on YouTube -- have you been able to?

[lowkey]

Also worth mentioning is his acceptance/forgiveness of Basch. Vaan isn't many things, but he's a good person, and he has a potential that he never lets go to waste.

[mako_lies]

I haven't looked, but I have found the whole game in English and Japanese...

[mako_lies]

Yes. Vaan is just such a good persona all the time. Even if his vision is a little clouded, he always tries to do what he thinks is right and fair.

[lowkey]

yyyyeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssss, thank you!

[lowkey]

And it needs to be pointed out that his version of "right and fair" isn't extreme, not like many of the other characters in the game (coughAshecoughVaynecough).

[mako_lies]

No problem, ahaha. I only found it recently.

[nal_rene]

Oh yeah. Characters need to work for any happiness, just like in life.

[nal_rene]

Oh yes. Vaan is one of Square's better characters that just gets hated on all the time by the fandom because he's not perfect, because he's ordinary.

[mako_lies]

I just realized what all of my one-shots are about:

One character is all like D: and another character realizes it and then they have a moment of bonding and then they move on with their lives.

[lowkey]

Except that in your Agrias drabble, "they move one with their lives" is more like "and then Judgement Blade is evoked, and people died."

But, yeah, same difference.

[mako_lies]

Yeah, I have a few outliers.

I have too much variation, I guess. I tried to be vague enough to capture everything.

Maybe... people live lives and stuff happens and they're unhappy but they try and sometimes give up and there are other people around them who notice these things and sometimes they allow these people in. Sometimes they don't. And it goes on. Because life is just a thing and sometimes it rocks and sometimes it sucks, and sometimes you rage and sometimes you cry and sometimes you enjoy and it's all part of everything.

I think at this point, I may as well say: stuff happens and life occurs.

[lowkey]

YOU ARE MURDERING THE POINT OF THIS CHALLENGE

I have a guess for the murderer, its MAKO_LIES, WITH A BLUDGEON, ON DREAMWIDTH

[mako_lies]

I CAN'T HELP IT. EITHER I'M NOT SMART ENOUGH TO FIND THE PATTERN IN MY STORIES OR I AM TOO MUCH OF A FAILURE TO WRITE THE SAME SCENE.

MAYBE MY SCENE IS KICKASS WOMEN BEING KICKASS WHILE EVERYONE AROUND THEM IS LIKE WOAH LET'S HELP. BUT THAT DOESN'T EXPLAIN MY SLASH. OR WHEN THE WOMEN FALL APART. OR WHEN HOPE IS THE NARRATOR. OR EVERY OTHER STORY I'VE WRITTEN THAT'S NOT ABOUT. WHICH IS A LOT.

I AM A FAILURE.

[lowkey]

YOU ARE A FAILURE FOR BEING CREATIVE AND HAVING VARIETY AND THAT IS THE WORST THING EVER YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF

[lowkey]

I totally meant this facetiously, because that Agrias story is all about "they move one with their lives".

[mako_lies]

I AM SHAMED. DFKJDKFJDFKDK I MUST NOW HIDE MY FACE AND SIT IN A CORNER AND CRY. LOTS AND LOTS. BECAUSE I AM INCAPABLE OF BEING AWESOME.