From tvtropes: Evolution isn’t goal-directed. Sometimes …a species (often but not limited to humanity) will sometimes evolve into a more feral, less civilized, sometimes even non-sapient variety, regaining “primitive” characteristics. These “primitive” characteristics can include behaviors and/or physical traits… Most basic is the scenario common to Post-Apocalyptic settings After the End, where humanity (or another… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Future Primitive
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Trope Tuesday: Manic Pixie Dream Girl
Oh dear. I’m probably going to take some heat for this one, especially if it gets picked up by File 770. What is a “manic pixie dream girl”? Tvtropes puts it this way: An upbeat young woman whose love gives the brooding male hero a new lease on life. Wikipedia puts it this way: …the… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Manic Pixie Dream Girl
Trope Tuesday: Death Seeker
The Death Seeker is a character who wants to die, but for whatever reason isn’t willing to commit outright suicide. The TVtropes page has a good summary: At some point in the past, some characters have had a traumatic experience, found themselves dishonored, committed a crime they could not repay, or lost everything worth living… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Death Seeker
Trope Tuesday: The Alliance
In fiction, the fight against the Empire usually follows a clear progression. First, you have the Resistance, a scrappy band of misfit freedom fighters who take up arms, barricade the streets, and fight back against all odds. Think Rogue One, or Les Miserables. If they aren’t immediately crushed, the Resistance eventually turns into the Alliance.… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: The Alliance
Trope Tuesday: The Chessmaster
The Chessmaster is a fun trope, especially when done well. A good villain is always at least one step ahead of the good guys, so when it turns out that he’s three or four or ten steps ahead of them, it can make for some interesting plot twists. Of course, the chessmaster isn’t always the… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: The Chessmaster
Trope Tuesday: Chekhov’s Armory
The famous Russian writer Anton Chekhov had a rule: Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Chekhov’s Armory
Trope Tuesday: Childhood Friends
Friendship comes in a lot of flavors. In The Sword Keeper, Tamuna’s most loyal friend (and arguably a deuteragonist of the book) is Nika, the stable boy at her aunt’s tavern. Where Tamuna initially refuses the call to adventure, Nika jumps at the call, quickly catching up to her (which is good, because the call… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Childhood Friends
Trope Tuesday: Knight in Sour Armor
What happens when the knight in shining armor realizes that war is hell and he lives in a crapsack world? When everything he believes about morality and honor is shattered? Does he suffer a heroic BSOD and become a shell shocked veteran? Does he cross the moral event horizon and become the one who hunts… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Knight in Sour Armor
Trope Tuesday: Only the Chosen May Wield
So I’m bringing back the Trope Tuesday posts, but with a little twist: instead of talking about the trope itself and what I like / don’t like about it, I’m going to talk about how I used that trope in one of my books. And since The Sword Keeper is currently up for preorder, I’m… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Only the Chosen May Wield
Playing with Tropes: Pragmatic Villainy
So as part of my effort to blog more often, I’ve decided to bring back the trope posts. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, perhaps you remember the Trope Tuesday series that I used to do. Those were mostly just a rehashing of each trope’s tvtropes page, with a bit of commentary at… Continue reading Playing with Tropes: Pragmatic Villainy