Trope Meme
16 Feb 2020 14:42Okay, why not do a meme! This one is via at least ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
solo, green, and trobadora, though I'm pretty sure I've missed at least one person. Sorry!
Slow burn OR love at first sight: Neither? My experience of Slow Burn is that it comes with wayyy too much "oh noes I cannot confess because of my insecurities" and generalized pining, which is my anti-kink. Have characters make decisions! Love at first sight, OTOH, can have a lot of bullshit tropes, but usually at least has the characters making decisions without waffling. In both cases, I want the plot to be something other than falling in love.
Fake dating OR secret dating: Fake dating as part of a reasonable plot-relevant thing. The only reasons I can come up with for secret dating are way too depressing (homophobia!) so not that.
Enemies to lovers OR best friends to lovers: I don't actually have a preference? The one that's done better. :P (I'm not into "they fell in love and got together" as a plotline, so the variants are mostly lost on me. I haven't read enough of either to have an opinion.)
Oh no there's only one bed OR long distance with correspondence: The former, since the latter is prone to being depressing if this is supposed to be a ship.
Fantasy au OR modern au: Fantasy AU, I hate mundane AUs, and modern means mundane. Though I don't go seeking out setting change AUs – a large part of the reason I love the canons I love is the setting and worldbuilding. Replacing all that is not something I'm interested in.
Smut OR fluff: Smut, since that usually ends and doesn't leave me with a feeling akin to having eaten much too much sugar. Small bits of fluff are fine as seasoning in longer narratives, but over 1k of it or something consisting entirely of that? Nah.
Mutual pining OR domestic bliss: Domestic bliss, I guess, if only because I hate mutual pining. I have never seen a case of mutual pining that wasn't bullshit misunderstandings to prolong a narrative with unbelievable melodrama that makes me think less of the characters involved. Not that I have particular positive feelings for domestic bliss, beyond enjoying it as an endpoint of a narrative or as moments sprinkled throughout a longer story.
Alternate universe OR future fic: If this is canon divergence vs future fic, my answer depends on the canon. If it's about setting change AUs, then future fic every time.
One shot OR multi-chapter: With regards to length, whatever the natural length of the story. Don't stretch a 1k story to 100k, or condense a 100k story into 1k (though that's less common in fandom). With regards to chaptering, if it's 10k or more, it should get chaptered.
Kid fic OR road trip fic: Neither? *g* Road trips are boring to undergo and even more boring to read about. So I guess kid fic, since that is less boring.
Reincarnation OR character death: I think I should start by saying that I hate reincarnation as a concept. I don't believe in souls, so unless the canon contains reincarnation already, it's just "here are some replacement goldfish for your dead canon characters" at best. Character death, OTOH, can lead to nice and evocative short stories, and is required for certain genres of narrative (e.g. murder mysteries) to work. So character death over reincarnation.
Arranged marriage OR accidental marriage: I don't object to either, though if I had to pick, I'd say accidental marriage, since in the context of my canons, that usually opens up a bunch of interesting worldbuilding. Arranged marriage can, too, but ime it's more likely to be based on a standard fandom trope plot instead of being an exploration of the canon's worldbuilding.
Time travel OR isolated together: Depends on the execution? Well-executed, definitely time travel, especially if it's twisty and has thoughts on various potential paradoxes. If the time travel falls flat on its face ... wait, no, I don't actually like isolated together. Time travel it is.
Neighbors OR roommates: Roommates sounds like a US college AU, so neighbors.
Sci-fi au OR magic au: Sci-fi AU all the way! I love science, I love science fiction, I love space and all the things spaaaaace enables!
Bodyswap OR genderbend: Genderbends generally work better for me, though I don't seek out either. Bodyswap breaks my suspension of disbelief faster.
Angst OR crack: Crack. Angst very quickly reaches the point of being too ludicrous to believe for me. Crack generally involves things other than wallowing and is thus preferrable.
Apocalyptic OR mundane: Apocalyptic, if only because I hate mundanity. Not that I would ever seek it out.
solo, green, and trobadora, though I'm pretty sure I've missed at least one person. Sorry!Slow burn OR love at first sight: Neither? My experience of Slow Burn is that it comes with wayyy too much "oh noes I cannot confess because of my insecurities" and generalized pining, which is my anti-kink. Have characters make decisions! Love at first sight, OTOH, can have a lot of bullshit tropes, but usually at least has the characters making decisions without waffling. In both cases, I want the plot to be something other than falling in love.
Fake dating OR secret dating: Fake dating as part of a reasonable plot-relevant thing. The only reasons I can come up with for secret dating are way too depressing (homophobia!) so not that.
Enemies to lovers OR best friends to lovers: I don't actually have a preference? The one that's done better. :P (I'm not into "they fell in love and got together" as a plotline, so the variants are mostly lost on me. I haven't read enough of either to have an opinion.)
Oh no there's only one bed OR long distance with correspondence: The former, since the latter is prone to being depressing if this is supposed to be a ship.
Fantasy au OR modern au: Fantasy AU, I hate mundane AUs, and modern means mundane. Though I don't go seeking out setting change AUs – a large part of the reason I love the canons I love is the setting and worldbuilding. Replacing all that is not something I'm interested in.
Smut OR fluff: Smut, since that usually ends and doesn't leave me with a feeling akin to having eaten much too much sugar. Small bits of fluff are fine as seasoning in longer narratives, but over 1k of it or something consisting entirely of that? Nah.
Mutual pining OR domestic bliss: Domestic bliss, I guess, if only because I hate mutual pining. I have never seen a case of mutual pining that wasn't bullshit misunderstandings to prolong a narrative with unbelievable melodrama that makes me think less of the characters involved. Not that I have particular positive feelings for domestic bliss, beyond enjoying it as an endpoint of a narrative or as moments sprinkled throughout a longer story.
Alternate universe OR future fic: If this is canon divergence vs future fic, my answer depends on the canon. If it's about setting change AUs, then future fic every time.
One shot OR multi-chapter: With regards to length, whatever the natural length of the story. Don't stretch a 1k story to 100k, or condense a 100k story into 1k (though that's less common in fandom). With regards to chaptering, if it's 10k or more, it should get chaptered.
Kid fic OR road trip fic: Neither? *g* Road trips are boring to undergo and even more boring to read about. So I guess kid fic, since that is less boring.
Reincarnation OR character death: I think I should start by saying that I hate reincarnation as a concept. I don't believe in souls, so unless the canon contains reincarnation already, it's just "here are some replacement goldfish for your dead canon characters" at best. Character death, OTOH, can lead to nice and evocative short stories, and is required for certain genres of narrative (e.g. murder mysteries) to work. So character death over reincarnation.
Arranged marriage OR accidental marriage: I don't object to either, though if I had to pick, I'd say accidental marriage, since in the context of my canons, that usually opens up a bunch of interesting worldbuilding. Arranged marriage can, too, but ime it's more likely to be based on a standard fandom trope plot instead of being an exploration of the canon's worldbuilding.
Time travel OR isolated together: Depends on the execution? Well-executed, definitely time travel, especially if it's twisty and has thoughts on various potential paradoxes. If the time travel falls flat on its face ... wait, no, I don't actually like isolated together. Time travel it is.
Neighbors OR roommates: Roommates sounds like a US college AU, so neighbors.
Sci-fi au OR magic au: Sci-fi AU all the way! I love science, I love science fiction, I love space and all the things spaaaaace enables!
Bodyswap OR genderbend: Genderbends generally work better for me, though I don't seek out either. Bodyswap breaks my suspension of disbelief faster.
Angst OR crack: Crack. Angst very quickly reaches the point of being too ludicrous to believe for me. Crack generally involves things other than wallowing and is thus preferrable.
Apocalyptic OR mundane: Apocalyptic, if only because I hate mundanity. Not that I would ever seek it out.