The fun in tropes

A trope=

trope n.

1. A figure of speech using words in nonliteral ways, such as a metaphor.

2. A word or phrase interpolated as an embellishment in the sung parts of certain medieval liturgies.

I found tvtropes.com, which offers every known trope in books, movies, video games, and more. You can look up by specific media, or specific trope. Such concepts as Villain Decay or Wimpification best illustrate how so much we find in story telling has been done before. This doesn’t negate their entertainment value, however.

Their site states “Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members’ minds and expectations. On the whole, tropes are not clichés. The word clichéd means “stereotyped and trite.” In other words, dull and uninteresting. We are not looking for dull and uninteresting entries. We are here to recognize tropes and play with them, not to make fun of them.”

If anything, tropes offer a writer a means in which to show universal symbolism we find in stories such as the Action Girl, Beware the Nice Ones, and Sociopathic Hero are just a few of the tons of tropes out there.

I love how its organized as well. You can look up by specific book, movie, comic, etc or look up by specific tropes such as hero, villain, sidekick, or any other trope that comes to mind.

Many of the articles cross link and references other tropes. You can be lost in there for hours, so be sure you have snacks or coffee/tea on hand.

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Some sage advice from a bestseller author

I love watching John Green’s vlog on youtube channel, called Vlogbrothers.  Basically, its John Green (author of bestseller The Fault in Our Stars ) who vlogs back and forth with his brother Hank Green (known for his education channel of the Sci Show- which I like to use in my homeschooling). They also helped from Nerd fighters, who work towards increase awesome and ending work suck.

So his video, see below), he shares some of his childhood stories, and points out some flaws in the storytelling that works for adult writing as well. Amusing as well as informative.

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The Writing Process- step by step

The writing process varies from writer to write, but you can find suggested processes you should follow.

I covered this topic with my son today. He hates writing. He hates the entire process of writing. I’m not sure why, other than he prefers playing video games, or he’s a kinesthetic learner, but I felt the topic important enough to share with would-be authors who might need some help with getting a novel completed;

Pre-writing. This stage of writing includes research, brainstorming ideas, character creation, and everything else to fix together a plot to write. This would also include non-fiction writers, to gather your ideas, figure out your audience, and organize an outline. Plotting an outline can also be part of this process.

Links for prompts, ideas, and research

Chapter-by-chapter- a handy free program that works with MS Word and Openoffice to help organize writing into chapter documents.

Writing a theme for your novel.

Brainstorming

Organize your plot structure 

Writing- This is by far my favorite stage of writing; to simply write out the story as it works through my mind. Most scenes work like a movie, so all I need to do is write what I see/feel, and add description and dialog. This stage should be free-flowing, and without the inner editor nagging about spelling, and details. Just write; edit later.

Openoffice

MS Office (Word)

Google Drive- free online word processer compatible with MS Word and more.

Scrivener ($40) novel writing software

Writer programs and tools- Spacejock offers many free and useful writer related programs.

Revise. The revision part includes making changes to characters, labels and names, shifting scenes to better work with the plot, adding description and foreshadowing, and reworking sections that were formally unclear. Revision also includes getting critiques and feedback. This is NOT about correcting grammar- not yet. That is tackled at the last part of the writing process.

A Writer’s Guide to feedback and groups

Creative Writing and Revising: Rewriting, Editing, and Proofreading

Critique Circle

Critique Guidelines

Rewrite. This stage includes rewriting those changes you did in revisions. This can often be tricky because you must weigh what stays and what goes, what advice from your critiques will you keep, and what will you ignore?

Proofread. This stage can be done by a formal editor or someone with experience with the English language. This is the part where you fix grammar, punctuation, dialog formatting, and polishing your manuscript up to its full potential.

Grammarly- an online free grammar checker

Guide to grammar and writing

Elements of Style

Textanalyzer

Autocrit

Publish. This includes publishing to print or ebook, or even posting your writing to the public eye.

50 Online Writing Web Sites for Writers

Pen and Ink Submissions

Writer’s Market

Fiction Writing Markets

You can go back and forth between these stages until you feel the manuscript is finished.  Some drafts get rewritten many times over.

Do you have more steps or like/dislike any of these stages? I find the editing part the ‘unfun’ part of writing because that’s when I second guess myself. Post in comments

Technorati Tags: the writing process,writing,authors,publishing,ervising,editing,proofreading,critique,novel,plot

Writer Wednesday:

I know… the Writer Wednesday is a bit late, but I find this site only today… The Writer’s Forensics Blog offers a number of posts on the strange and dark area of forensics.

If you write crime or even scenes of death, you should know the facts about it. This is where the blog comes in; corpses, murder, blood….its all there.

Take a look at the Links for Writers page, which is extensive as it is informative. I might find inspiration to write a murder mystery…

Technorati Tags: murder,death,forensics,corpse,fictions,writer,nove.

Writer’s Group Anthology

The Writers of the Desert Rose Café recently published an anthologies of short stories.  I’m excited for them. This was something my own group considered doing but never reached its goal of compiling the stories.

These local authors gathered a number of short stories in a book encompassing many styles, and although I haven’t read it yet, it sells for only $2.99 for the Kindle.

What do a dozen plus people from different walks of life and with ages spanning five decades have in common?
They love to write.
This group, Writers of the Desert Rose Cafe, admits storytellers, novelists, playwrights, poets, and authors of children’s literature. One member specializes in autobiographical non-fiction. Another writes only 55-word shorties—stories with a beginning, middle, and end told in only 55 words. Others pen screenplays, blog articles, poetry, haiku, Christian fantasy, doomsday or science fiction, or murder mysteries. Several create solely for kids.
The group meets at the Desert Rose Cafe, a popular bohemian coffeehouse that serves karma by the cup, in historic Williamsport, MD.
This is the first anthology for the group.

Don’t worry if you don’t own a Kindle. You can still read the eBook via the Kindle app for Windows or Mac. Click here.

If you’re local in the area of Williamsport, MD, the Desert Rose Café serves up some tasty meals at low prices. The owners are friendly people who are more than happy to serve you.

You can order the book here;

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Wednesday Writer: Diary of Ehmdav

I happened upon this blog post concerning Fallout 3, which I enjoyed playing a year ago. The author makes a valid argument to the creative sparks that fly when you play videos games, provide you do a bit of roleplaying.

I admit the post caught my interest since I enjoy playing Fallout 3 myself. I agree, wholeheartedly, that playing video games often spark story ideas, or allows me to wonder on the storyline in the game, perspective of the non-player characters, or asking many ‘what if…?” scenarios, as well.

Many posts bring up interesting topics, written in a witty style;

What, Exactly, Is a Career Woman?

The Sims 3: A Good Game for Writers

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