What tropes annoy you?

[MemoryTale]

So I started reading through a new (to me anyway) fantasy novel, and almost immediately I come across a chapter where Our Hero asks Learned Tutor about the history of the castle they're living in. I groaned at this point because I just knew I was in for several pages of world building infodump.

So I got to thinking, it might be fun/instructive to share what irritates you when you come across it in a book, and steps you take to avoid it, or at least try and make it tolerable. For example I handled the world building infodump by putting it in the mouth of a character who Does Not Do Epic Grandeur.

 

[Gordian Knot]

Well, since you brought it up. I just ***hate*** the word Trope! There is no sane reason for this attitude, but then I have never let that stop me before.

It would be wonderful if the word was changed to isotrope. Now that sounds nifty!

 

[Tecdavid]

I agree with Gordian in that the very notion of tropes is annoying. It's somehow irritating to think that everything a book/film/game/etc. could include has to be given some smarmy, smartass title.
As for what to do about ones you come across, I try to deal with heavy world-building by making the scene it shows up in quite interesting in itself. For example, one character could explain swordfighting to another character while getting into a rather hopeless swordfight himself. The scene explains matters, but remains entertaining all the while. It becomes more engaging than just two characters standing together, talking, at least.

 

[Dozmonic]

I'm with Gordian on this one. You can break anything down to some fundamental pattern and label it to varying degrees of abstractness.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

To be honest the only time something annoys me is when it is boring and the characters are crap. I employ a ton of tropes, stereotypes and cliches when I write which is intentional, because I love reading them; they have a warm, cosy, familiar feel to them.

 

[Colbey Frost]

Makes you want to write something alien

 

[Fishbowl Helmet]

Tropes exist because humans think in abstract terms. We categorize things almost subconsciously and want to make sense of, and study things. Including fiction... which means tropes.

It's not that different than the Aarne-Thompson classification system for fairy tales. These classification schema help people to make sense of the fiction themselves and how pieces are interconnected and relate to one another. TVTropes simply uses the more smart-ass attention grabbing verbiage of the internet, whereas Aarne-Thompson used more academic language.

I think it rubs people the wrong way because while they acknowledge that there's nothing new under the sun, seeing it laid out in such stark and sometimes clinical terms (at least the Aarne-Thompson system, not TVTropes) just drives the point home in a way many people find grating.

The tropes I find annoying are the ones used as tropes. You can tell when a writer just pulled a trope off the shelf and stuck it in their fiction rather than used it well or explored beyond the pre-packaged bit of cultural cliche. As already said, basically, when they're done poorly.

 

[allmywires]

Not really a trope, but unpronounceable names in fantasy really wind me up. I think half the time authors jsut think, 'Hmm, what sounds exotic and differnet, let's call my MC Zyngsorg.' Etymology is such a fascinating thing, and giving readers little easter eggs in the meaning of names is a nice little thrill so I don't see what the point is. Also another thing is when names clearly don't match their cultures (Cersei and Jaime, are you kidding me George?) Just reeks of laziness IMHO.

 

[Hex]

Funny you should ask this, MT.

I was in the library today looking for a shiny new book and I found anything with a super-feisty, ass-kicking heroine introduced in the first sentence sent shudders all over me.

It's all become so tiresome...

 

[Aminar]

Funny you should ask this, MT.

I was in the library today looking for a shiny new book and I found anything with a super-feisty, ass-kicking heroine introduced in the first sentence sent shudders all over me.

It's all become so tiresome...

This one. Ruined Elantris for me in ways I can't even describe. I want to re-read the book to examine it from a Cosmere Cognizant perspective but I just can't make myself.

That said, Tropes are a good thing. Cliches are a bad. The Good Protagonist is a Trope for crying out loud. Just because you can break a story down to a few simple concepts doesn't make it bad. I can break down anything, no matter how original, into something that sounds bland and boring. THe point of reading is to find out why it isn't bland and boring.

 

[Grimbear]

None if they're done well. If they're done badly - then all of them I guess.

But mainly it would be the grasshopper and wise-master scene.

 

[Boneman]

Where the bad guy is just so evil he stabs his cornflakes to death, kills the servant who brings them, regularly flogs his generals, beats and enslaves women, half-kills his offspring to bring them into line, and rules his empire with such an iron fist that it becomes stupid, stupid, stupid. Peter Brett does this in The Desert Spear, which is such a shame.

Oh, and sorry Joe (Abercrombie) but do you seriously, honestly, expect every friend/family member/partner to stand by idly when their loved ones are snatched from the street and horribly and graphically tortured by Glotka? Really? Nobody would hire a crossbowman/bowman to assassinate the torturer? Come on... at least an attempt?

Unbelieveable tropes, I'm afraid.

 

[Grimbear]

Where the bad guy is just so evil he stabs his cornflakes to death, kills the servant who brings them, regularly flogs his generals, beats and enslaves women, half-kills his offspring to bring them into line, and rules his empire with such an iron fist that it becomes stupid, stupid, stupid. Peter Brett does this in The Desert Spear, which is such a shame.

Like Voldemort. He does not have a likeable bone in his body. How did he get his followers? Through fear alone? Come on!

All of them, and I mean all, have a nicer time of it, and more power and influence under the normal regime. Following such an evil, charmless loon who regularly beats them over the head with a big snake is insane.

 

[Dante DiBenedetto]

One dimensional spree killers. They were entertaining... when I was 10.

 

[MemoryTale]

Where the bad guy is just so evil he stabs his cornflakes to death, kills the servant who brings them, regularly flogs his generals, beats and enslaves women, half-kills his offspring to bring them into line, and rules his empire with such an iron fist that it becomes stupid, stupid, stupid. Peter Brett does this in The Desert Spear, which is such a shame.

God yes, this. The "You have failed me" attitude is so prevalent I've even been questioned for omitting it by one of my beta readers. That said I have seen it done well in one of Timothy Zahn's Star Wars books. In this instance, the main bad guy executes someone for failing to stop someone escaping. Fair enough, standard Star Wars stuff. Later on, someone else fails to stop someone escaping... And the bad guy promotes him instead. The difference was the second guy tried thinking outside the box whereas the first just blamed his training.

 

[Dante DiBenedetto]

God yes, this. The "You have failed me" attitude is so prevalent I've even been questioned for omitting it by one of my beta readers. That said I have seen it done well in one of Timothy Zahn's Star Wars books. In this instance, the main bad guy executes someone for failing to stop someone escaping. Fair enough, standard Star Wars stuff. Later on, someone else fails to stop someone escaping... And the bad guy promotes him instead. The difference was the second guy tried thinking outside the box whereas the first just blamed his training.

Jennesta, the primary antagonist in Orcs by Stan Nicholls, drove me nuts! I enjoyed the book, but I almost cringed every time I read her sections. I knew she was going to do something awful and deranged every single time.

This trope doesn't annoy me too much when I'm reading about a character, but when it is a POV, it drives me batty -- it's completely predictable, and rarely enjoyable.

 

[Steve Jordan]

The intelligent character that suddenly, inexplicably, drops about 4/5 of their IQ points and does something incredibly stupid just to create a moment/advance the plot. Usually the writer will pick that moment to mention the character's pathological fear of earwax, or something, to explain it away as it happens. No sale.

 

[Jake Reynolds]

Jennesta, the primary antagonist in Orcs by Stan Nicholls, drove me nuts! I enjoyed the book, but I almost cringed every time I read her sections. I knew she was going to do something awful and deranged every single time.

Totally agree, and she genuinely ruined the book for me. Nobody can be simply 'evil' and certainly not that evil. The word itself is a classification implied by the morals of a society, not a personality trait. People that are abused will eventually revolt, and realistically Jennesta would have been overthrown in days. I can only say as I have said many times before, the villain should believe he/she is the hero, not revel in how 'evil' they are.

 

[Brian G Turner]

What annoys me? Bad writing, pure and simple.

If someone hasn't bothered to think carefully about their characters, their plot, researched their subject, it just looks plain sloppy.

I suspect that's where the annoying tropes slide in ...

 

[Cayal]

The intelligent character that suddenly, inexplicably, drops about 4/5 of their IQ points and does something incredibly stupid just to create a moment/advance the plot. Usually the writer will pick that moment to mention the character's pathological fear of earwax, or something, to explain it away as it happens. No sale.

I agree. I'm not the most intelligent person in the world but if I can figure out what he should do\eventually does then it's annoying.

Another thing that annoys me is bad guys who change their 'way' because of the main character. They'll gladly execute anyone who does anything wrong by him, they'll even burn entire cities to the ground but when they capture the hero, they feel the need to keep them alive (and tell them the whole plot) despite the fact they killed the previous good guys trying to stop them straight away.