more opinions. on fic tropes.
Aug. 12th, 2021 03:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fwcuI love to decide my opinions on things.
enemies to lovers
- this is Not the same as rivals to lovers, both are good but they are nottt interchangeable and also shouldn't be combined the way they are.
- also no one truly understands enemies to lovers. like it's okay for people to never truly reach the ideal peak of True Love/Healthy Love/Happy Love because the point is that they were enemies!!! and I feel like I've never read an interpretation of it, in fic, that grapples with that and resolves in a way that feels Good. like the best drarry fics are by far the ones where draco is still an asshole, and he and harry still don't like certain parts of each other but they both live with it and make it work anyway.
fake relationship
- this shit is so good. I don't care how stupid the reason is, but I do care about how it shouldn't be MUTUAL PINING. it just doesn't make sense at all. I think it's way better when it's two people who don't like each other or don't care for each other and they are put into these situations where they have to be intimate and get to know each other...like I think that slays! and that's what maaakes fake rship so good... the divide between emotional distance and personal proximity!!!
fluff
- um. good. I think the good thing about fluff is that it doesn't need to be done well or written particularly well, it just needs to be cute. very low hanging fruit, very hard to get wrong. cute things can just be cute!
angst
- I don't like angst that isn't taken seriously? I don't care if it's the most edgy 13 year old shit ever, I just think if op has a grip on what they're talking about and what makes something angsty, then anything can slay! my one exclusion is like. it's kind of weird in rpf.
friends to lovers
- no one understands friends to lovers the way I do. people treat it like it's strangers to lovers, but it's so much more. it's about knowing someone peripherally but you're not as close to them and they're not as close to you!!! yk yk it's about the strange distance, not really distance...
- like I don't think people understand this but rh, first and foremost, ARE friends to lovers and that is part of why they so deeply fuck is because it's renhyuck against relationships like markhyuck and nohyuck, and dynamics like jaemren and nahyuck, and it CAN be this hunger games of which relationships make it out alive or intact. the other half of friends to lovers is not at all about the people in the ship, but how the ship affects group dynamics and personal friendships.
- I feel like also, people tend to take the easy way out, and just have it so all the friends are on-board and saw it coming from a mile away etc etc, but it's so much more POTENT and FUN when it's not like that at all!!!!
- tl;dr: Friends to Lovers is GOOD and I CAN PROVE IT...
hurt/comfort
- literally has never appealed to me. also I feel like it's just a subcategory of angst with a happy ending and angst with a happy ending is good shit.
- if this falls under like injury/recovery I reallyyyy don't care.
abo
- I am not into omega slick or heatsex or anything.
- sorry for being a weirdo but I AM wayyyy more into alpha posturing and the weird animalism of it all...I just think the culture aspects/implications are wayyy more funny and interesting... and it's also a very neutral ground of culture-exploration and all, since it's not derivative from actual human cultures, but like The Animal Kingdom.
- ex. 'reaching adulthood' tends comes along with some sort of ceremony in a lot of places, and to apply that idea to 'presenting' and just generally how awkward that would make things in your relationships cuz like >op's an omega now....< I'm not trying to like make it gender 5.0, it's just an example of how things can just get complicated and weird for no reason and how that's FUN and it's a fun concept to riff of off!!!! my point is that it gives you a hook and a problem, and you just get to have fun with it.
- also secret omega is kind of good. again not in a heatsex way, just in a funny way. ash had this epic line on a burner acc where jaemin's like >renjun keeps his rut suppressants right next to jaemin's on the shelf in the bathroom< and then also another one about how officially, renjun is a beta, but in reality he's an alpha, but in actual actual reality, he's an omega. i feel like THAT'S where all the fun in abo is.
authority figure kink
- ? ok moving on
- if this is like are_u_power_dynamics_fucker_6000? then yes. obviously. for anything except boy/girl where boy is in more power. no one wants to see that shit.
monsters
- fun! preferably for the same reasons I mentioned in abo section. I just love when things make other things weird and complicated.
office/coworkers
- AMONG THE BEST AND GREATEST OF ALL TROPES. it's just so fucking good in every fucking form.
smut without plot
- I'm asexual.
- okay I'm not but the concept applies.
exes
- I used to only exclusively write exes fic. I think it's good probably.
- though recently I have been a huge fan of like exes who were The One, but you choose guy who you're with now instead/still... I think it's fun.
bed sharing
- this isn't as romantic or situationally intimate as people make it out to be. so like 0/10.
- I think a much more superior and specific trope that this tries to emulate is one when person is deeply against being physically close to someone or something, and then a situation forces them to get close to someone else. like guy who covers their scars all the time, and then other person ends up seeing their scars.
- man I think like...so much of the conversation is about >consent< and >comfort< and how to have your writing be 'as healthy and moral as possible' that tropes like this which are just fall out of popularity or like, get deemed as 'dicey' because youre forcing characters into positions they don't want to be in, or like forcing your ship together in a way that is not as healthy as possible or whatver... IDK
childhood friends
- always a fan
- I mean it can be deeply cringe when not done the most epic way possible but even then it's always so good.
secret baby
- ?
- I like kidfic so I'm sure I'd be a fan
mutual pining
- it's fine. I think the problem with mutual pining is that it always comes hand in hand with miscommunication, which tends to be soooooo derived and stupid, even if very very representative of how things happen irl. to me...mutual pining should not be about miscommunication but actually, Absolute Lack of Communication. because like the most embarrassing thing ever is to talk about your feelings and people should just not do that and instead stew in their unresolved feelings while the other person does the same beside them. I think the way two characters dance around their feelings for each other is the best part of mutual pining, And Yet. And Somehow.
fantasy/mythological
- Good.
high school/college
- the only problem with hs aus, to me, is that they don't embody the teenager-yness of high school or high school experience of highschool, which while mundane and terrible, just still feels so monumental and all-important, all-consuming in the moment yk.
- college aus are good also.
- ok I also hate to be a loser virgin loner with no social life or whatever... but the partying plotlines truly do nothing for me yk. like I for one, would like to advocate for the boring aspects of school life - i.e, school clubs, study sessions, regular hanging out, etc etc... because well, I'm just a guy who thinks the mundane is meaningful, and if you're going to go a hs/uni au, then it's clearly because you want the mundane aspects of it.
mafia
- I think it's good to piss italians off. also like the romanticized glamourized mafia vision of collective fandoms everywhere IS the correct take.
historical
- NO
- I'm boring but not this boring.
- also fucking haaate how historical is like, indicative that era-appropriate Racism Sexism Homophobia will be present. and if it's like handwaved off then it's like ? but why ? not only am I guy who doesn't like 'isms' but I'm also guy who likes EXPLANATIONS.
unrequited love
- banger but only if it ends up with my otp in a relationship. if my otp is not in a relationship then it is Not a banger.
soulmates
- no. I think the concepts of fate and destiny and prophecy and being able to see the future, etc etc, are all very cool. having someone you're fated to meet is cool. predestined 'soulmate' is like um. very boring. I think it's more of a crutch than anything, where it lets the author get away with pairing their ship together without doing any of the work to explain/explore their relationship or prove their chemistry or whatever. yk? it's very shallow.
arranged marriage
- probably good. again for the same reasons why fake relationships are good. forced intimacy v natural distance
bodyguard
- ?i guess
celebrity/hollywood
- MY SECRET ACTUAL GUILTY PLEASURE... being in public eye is soooooo. it's just FUN!!!
unexpected pregnancy
- what the fuck?
student/teacher
- situational.
- imo, if you're going to write something that is fucked up, you should lean into all the ways it's fucked up.
coffeeshop
- THEY CAN BE SO GOOD.
- sorry that's my only arguement. tI advocate for coffeeshop au because it is cozy and mundane and those things are Good. sorry to be guy who's Boring but I am that guy.
enemies to lovers
- this is Not the same as rivals to lovers, both are good but they are nottt interchangeable and also shouldn't be combined the way they are.
- also no one truly understands enemies to lovers. like it's okay for people to never truly reach the ideal peak of True Love/Healthy Love/Happy Love because the point is that they were enemies!!! and I feel like I've never read an interpretation of it, in fic, that grapples with that and resolves in a way that feels Good. like the best drarry fics are by far the ones where draco is still an asshole, and he and harry still don't like certain parts of each other but they both live with it and make it work anyway.
fake relationship
- this shit is so good. I don't care how stupid the reason is, but I do care about how it shouldn't be MUTUAL PINING. it just doesn't make sense at all. I think it's way better when it's two people who don't like each other or don't care for each other and they are put into these situations where they have to be intimate and get to know each other...like I think that slays! and that's what maaakes fake rship so good... the divide between emotional distance and personal proximity!!!
fluff
- um. good. I think the good thing about fluff is that it doesn't need to be done well or written particularly well, it just needs to be cute. very low hanging fruit, very hard to get wrong. cute things can just be cute!
angst
- I don't like angst that isn't taken seriously? I don't care if it's the most edgy 13 year old shit ever, I just think if op has a grip on what they're talking about and what makes something angsty, then anything can slay! my one exclusion is like. it's kind of weird in rpf.
friends to lovers
- no one understands friends to lovers the way I do. people treat it like it's strangers to lovers, but it's so much more. it's about knowing someone peripherally but you're not as close to them and they're not as close to you!!! yk yk it's about the strange distance, not really distance...
- like I don't think people understand this but rh, first and foremost, ARE friends to lovers and that is part of why they so deeply fuck is because it's renhyuck against relationships like markhyuck and nohyuck, and dynamics like jaemren and nahyuck, and it CAN be this hunger games of which relationships make it out alive or intact. the other half of friends to lovers is not at all about the people in the ship, but how the ship affects group dynamics and personal friendships.
- I feel like also, people tend to take the easy way out, and just have it so all the friends are on-board and saw it coming from a mile away etc etc, but it's so much more POTENT and FUN when it's not like that at all!!!!
- tl;dr: Friends to Lovers is GOOD and I CAN PROVE IT...
hurt/comfort
- literally has never appealed to me. also I feel like it's just a subcategory of angst with a happy ending and angst with a happy ending is good shit.
- if this falls under like injury/recovery I reallyyyy don't care.
abo
- I am not into omega slick or heatsex or anything.
- sorry for being a weirdo but I AM wayyyy more into alpha posturing and the weird animalism of it all...I just think the culture aspects/implications are wayyy more funny and interesting... and it's also a very neutral ground of culture-exploration and all, since it's not derivative from actual human cultures, but like The Animal Kingdom.
- ex. 'reaching adulthood' tends comes along with some sort of ceremony in a lot of places, and to apply that idea to 'presenting' and just generally how awkward that would make things in your relationships cuz like >op's an omega now....< I'm not trying to like make it gender 5.0, it's just an example of how things can just get complicated and weird for no reason and how that's FUN and it's a fun concept to riff of off!!!! my point is that it gives you a hook and a problem, and you just get to have fun with it.
- also secret omega is kind of good. again not in a heatsex way, just in a funny way. ash had this epic line on a burner acc where jaemin's like >renjun keeps his rut suppressants right next to jaemin's on the shelf in the bathroom< and then also another one about how officially, renjun is a beta, but in reality he's an alpha, but in actual actual reality, he's an omega. i feel like THAT'S where all the fun in abo is.
authority figure kink
- ? ok moving on
- if this is like are_u_power_dynamics_fucker_6000? then yes. obviously. for anything except boy/girl where boy is in more power. no one wants to see that shit.
monsters
- fun! preferably for the same reasons I mentioned in abo section. I just love when things make other things weird and complicated.
office/coworkers
- AMONG THE BEST AND GREATEST OF ALL TROPES. it's just so fucking good in every fucking form.
smut without plot
- I'm asexual.
- okay I'm not but the concept applies.
exes
- I used to only exclusively write exes fic. I think it's good probably.
- though recently I have been a huge fan of like exes who were The One, but you choose guy who you're with now instead/still... I think it's fun.
bed sharing
- this isn't as romantic or situationally intimate as people make it out to be. so like 0/10.
- I think a much more superior and specific trope that this tries to emulate is one when person is deeply against being physically close to someone or something, and then a situation forces them to get close to someone else. like guy who covers their scars all the time, and then other person ends up seeing their scars.
- man I think like...so much of the conversation is about >consent< and >comfort< and how to have your writing be 'as healthy and moral as possible' that tropes like this which are just fall out of popularity or like, get deemed as 'dicey' because youre forcing characters into positions they don't want to be in, or like forcing your ship together in a way that is not as healthy as possible or whatver... IDK
childhood friends
- always a fan
- I mean it can be deeply cringe when not done the most epic way possible but even then it's always so good.
secret baby
- ?
- I like kidfic so I'm sure I'd be a fan
mutual pining
- it's fine. I think the problem with mutual pining is that it always comes hand in hand with miscommunication, which tends to be soooooo derived and stupid, even if very very representative of how things happen irl. to me...mutual pining should not be about miscommunication but actually, Absolute Lack of Communication. because like the most embarrassing thing ever is to talk about your feelings and people should just not do that and instead stew in their unresolved feelings while the other person does the same beside them. I think the way two characters dance around their feelings for each other is the best part of mutual pining, And Yet. And Somehow.
fantasy/mythological
- Good.
high school/college
- the only problem with hs aus, to me, is that they don't embody the teenager-yness of high school or high school experience of highschool, which while mundane and terrible, just still feels so monumental and all-important, all-consuming in the moment yk.
- college aus are good also.
- ok I also hate to be a loser virgin loner with no social life or whatever... but the partying plotlines truly do nothing for me yk. like I for one, would like to advocate for the boring aspects of school life - i.e, school clubs, study sessions, regular hanging out, etc etc... because well, I'm just a guy who thinks the mundane is meaningful, and if you're going to go a hs/uni au, then it's clearly because you want the mundane aspects of it.
mafia
- I think it's good to piss italians off. also like the romanticized glamourized mafia vision of collective fandoms everywhere IS the correct take.
historical
- NO
- I'm boring but not this boring.
- also fucking haaate how historical is like, indicative that era-appropriate Racism Sexism Homophobia will be present. and if it's like handwaved off then it's like ? but why ? not only am I guy who doesn't like 'isms' but I'm also guy who likes EXPLANATIONS.
unrequited love
- banger but only if it ends up with my otp in a relationship. if my otp is not in a relationship then it is Not a banger.
soulmates
- no. I think the concepts of fate and destiny and prophecy and being able to see the future, etc etc, are all very cool. having someone you're fated to meet is cool. predestined 'soulmate' is like um. very boring. I think it's more of a crutch than anything, where it lets the author get away with pairing their ship together without doing any of the work to explain/explore their relationship or prove their chemistry or whatever. yk? it's very shallow.
arranged marriage
- probably good. again for the same reasons why fake relationships are good. forced intimacy v natural distance
bodyguard
- ?i guess
celebrity/hollywood
- MY SECRET ACTUAL GUILTY PLEASURE... being in public eye is soooooo. it's just FUN!!!
unexpected pregnancy
- what the fuck?
student/teacher
- situational.
- imo, if you're going to write something that is fucked up, you should lean into all the ways it's fucked up.
coffeeshop
- THEY CAN BE SO GOOD.
- sorry that's my only arguement. tI advocate for coffeeshop au because it is cozy and mundane and those things are Good. sorry to be guy who's Boring but I am that guy.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-12 10:30 pm (UTC)ur also sooo right abt enemies2lovers/friends2lovers!! i feel like we’ve talked abt it before but seriously no one Gets It
no subject
Date: 2021-08-12 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-13 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-13 02:30 am (UTC)and for angst, yeah. i need something that will make me question the writers mental health, not lightstuff. the "darker"/angstier, the better imo.
recently also just joined the exes trope train. i love it, people should write about this more. secret baby is also a trope i enjoy but like never see written. i want the mess that comes with finding out that someone has been keeping the fact that we have a whole child together. there was a book i read when i was younger that was exactly this plot. like you said, mutual pining/unrequited love is also very good when done right.
for a/b/o, as a seasoned bl fan, there's so many ways to do this. i like when it gets really political for no reason. like these are boys going into heat but also having a social commentary on gender. my fave genre of this.
student/teacher is like never done right, but it can be good with just a bit of thought. but like, yeah, i would read more if i can find any that leaned on the romance more. for friends to lovers and coffee shop aus: prove they are good. i am basically asking for a fic rec. idk, you seem like a fun anime fan. i trust your fic tastes more than a random kpop fan.
also no one likes italian people! yep!
good post, always happy to receive a fwcu notification in my email! <3
no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 01:10 am (UTC)omgg yesss re: enemies/rivals. I understand it's very hard to have two very similar concepts and not combine them but I wish it wasn't!!! antagonism is just always so good THE WORLD if we could have multiple forms of it >>>>
and yes (2)! re:re:SECOND CHANCES... I think the best ver of it is like [childhood]best friends>enemies>lovers because it's not even the choice of offering someone a second chance, it's that they have to take it because you're choosing them and they have to choose you. and the wonder/angst that comes if they choose you/don't. enemies to me is especially so good because it's always >We could've been the same< if not for the one defining divide and THATTT is what the second chance is about also. proving that you could've been here too if you had the chance.
ok honestly secret baby just kind of slaps I won't lie. but that's cuz I think parenthood slaps and the whole >kid loves this guy who You Know is Kid's Parent but you guys have History and can't say shit<... THE TENSION! THE DYNAMICS! THE BREWERYING. the missing xx years of your own kid's life angst also... :,(
omg social commentary on gender is like my least fave abo thing. I think it's funny when it's like, just a direct parallel in a 'wouldn't it be fucked up if we just subjected boys to this' without standing up for omega rights or anything. like! it is just funny. and I get to laugh about sexism because I'm girl.
well I linked a coffee shop fic! though it's klance so eummm.... uhhh.... I think these are all going to be kpop recs but...! https://archiveofourown.org/works/24720124 BEST FIC IN WORLD... TO ME... KIND OF. okay in general yoonbot is so good at writing the friends_to_lovers pipeline middleplace ...highlyyyy recommend.
sorry... omg this isn't ummm truly friends_to_lovers but in my mind it is anyway https://archiveofourown.org/works/4038493 ... top fic ever To Me.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/27427819 this basically also. NONE of these exactly capture the shifting friend group tensions but it's finneeeee<3 <3 <3 i hope u like any of them
no subject
Date: 2021-08-13 08:03 am (UTC)also its so true that office/coworkers is the greatest most pure fun trope i loveeeee workplace stories EVEN IF i hate it when we actually go to work! thats the fun fantasy of it...especially if its like a weird niche workplace
also so true re:high school/college aus i do think they can be really good actually but only if its like setting maxed out and utilized the atmosphere really makes or breaks....i too love mundane activities.....probably also why i like the workplace stuff lol
i think soulmates are fine and fun if the story is not actually about being soulmates but thats part of the setup. like i rmb really liking this bl where it was basically soulmates but the universe was trying to kill them so it was more like soulmates as vehicle for being a randomized mission team and then you learn stuff about the soulmateism as u try beating the magic system....guy who likes being drip fed magics....and then the the threat is less ending up w someone wrong but one of or both of u dying if u fail to work together in the correct way....actually i guess arranged marriage and soulmates are like the same thing to me bc im assuming the soulmates are usually strangers and i like both
no subject
Date: 2021-09-08 11:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-18 02:13 am (UTC)"because like the most embarrassing thing ever is to talk about your feelings and people should just not do that and instead stew in their unresolved feelings while the other person does the same beside them" SO TRUE like people just don't write about REPRESSION in a way that hits anymore
wrt hs/uni aus i have nothing to add here except that u are so correct and im personally a huge fan of sportsfic-adjacent academic club competition arcs
no subject
Date: 2021-09-08 11:40 pm (UTC)yeah omg I am not a fan of sex pollen/fuck or die UNLESS it's about making things weird. it's literally true that everything should be about mistreatment and erasure and existence being MORTIFYING and HORRIBLE. I also love when people have feelings but are extremely allergic to acting on them so the combo of MUTUAL UNWILLINGNESS and GUY IS IN LOVE WITH THE OTHER GUY REALLY BADLY AND DESPARATELY to meeeee is so good because the extreme mixed signals making everything Worse.
my favourite thing is actually people choosing each other over and over even though the repercussions are bad/or choosing the wrong person. but like the heart of that IS >guys who wouldn't even be friends if they weren't situationally forced together< where the situationally forced together is what spurs them into making desperate deep cutting codependent bonds and then later growing into The Wrong People For Each Other. to meee that's incredibly romantic and moving and very poignant.