This week’s Trope Tuesday series post is by request from a reader. Evil villains aren’t always grotesque, brutish, foaming-at-the-mouth barbarians. Quite often, they are wealthy and aristocratic, with exquisitely refined tastes and an extraordinary degree of eloquence. It isn’t just that evil is cool (though it may overlap with this), or that the barbarians have finally… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Wicked Cultured
Tag: tropes and cliches
Trope Tuesday: Hero’s Muse
One thing about the hero’s journey is that it tends to be very male-centric. It’s possible to pull off a gender-swap, or to follow the structure loosely while allowing for substantial variation, but the basic form follows the assumption that the hero is male, and that most of the women he meets fall into one… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Hero’s Muse
Trope Tuesday: The Vamp
Also known as the temptress or the seductress, the vamp is one of the more dangerous characters the hero meets on his journey. A devastating beauty who is as evil as she is sexy, she uses her feminine wiles to exploit men’s flaws to her own advantage. If the hero falls for her, he will be destroyed.… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: The Vamp
Trope Tuesday: The Trickster
After the hero crosses the threshold of adventure and finally sets out on his journey, he passes through a long phase that Campbell called “the road of trials.” This is often where the meat of the story happens, but it doesn’t fit squarely into any one trope because of all the possible directions where the… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: The Trickster
Trope Tuesday: A Man is Not a Virgin
I’m back from vacation, but I’m going to take a break from the Hero’s Journey trope posts to talk about something that I really feel passionate about. I hope you’ll forgive me if this turns into a rant, but I think this is an important issue that has some very dangerous implications that need to… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: A Man is Not a Virgin
Trope Tuesday: Belly of the Whale
The last stage in the departure phase of the hero’s journey is called the Belly of the Whale, after the Biblical story of Jonah. After receiving the call and passing the threshold to the land of adventure, the hero faces what may quite possibly be the darkest hour of his life and dies in some way… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Belly of the Whale
Trope Tuesday: Threshold Guardians
So the hero gets the call, refuses it at first (or jumps at it, as the case may be), but one way or another he eventually sets out on the adventure. As he soon discovers, though, one does not simply walk into Mordor. Adventures are not the sort of thing that anyone can do, and in… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Threshold Guardians
Trope Tuesday: The Call to Adventure
One of the first (and most important) stages of the hero’s journey is the call to adventure. It happens when the hero first confronts something outside the experience of his ordinary world that beacons him to leave it. It overlaps closely with the inciting incident, and marks the point at which the hero’s journey begins. However,… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: The Call to Adventure
Trope Tuesday: The Hero’s Journey
For the next few Trope Tuesday posts, I’m going to pick apart one of my favorite story patterns, the monomyth or “hero’s journey.” Other tropes come and go, but the hero’s journey is truly timeless. If you can get it to work for you, it can do wonders for your ability to understand and tell… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: The Hero’s Journey
Trope Tuesday: Accidental Marriage
When it comes to weddings, most of us like to plan things out in advance. It’s not uncommon for couples to spend years figuring each other out before they finally tie the knot. So what happens when you wake up one morning and find yourself married by accident to a complete and total stranger? This… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Accidental Marriage