What tropes annoy you?

[Ursa major]

One of the joys of a trope (or a cliché) is, as MemoryTale has pointed out, that it provides a shortcut to communicating something to the readers that can then be undermined or otherwise played with.

Without the trope, the author has to use up loads of words setting up the readers' false expectations, perhaps even risking making a narrator's inner thoughts look like a string of lies (or, in avoiding this, tie themselves in knots); using the trope, the author can encapsulate the set-up in as few as five words: "I am your father, Luke."

 

[r_j_dando]

In romance, the heroine falling in love with her best friend. Who she's known for years. But she suddenly realises, after all this time, that actually she's in love with him? *eye roll*

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

In romance, the heroine falling in love with her best friend. Who she's known for years. But she suddenly realises, after all this time, that actually she's in love with him? *eye roll*

Yeah, but who says the best friend is always a male?

 

[MemoryTale]

Without the trope, the author has to use up loads of words setting up the readers' false expectations, perhaps even risking making a narrator's inner thoughts look like a string of lies (or, in avoiding this, tie themselves in knots); using the trope, the author can encapsulate the set-up in as few as five words: "I am your father, Luke."

What makes me laugh about this trope is that the quote is actually "No - I am your father" </pointlesstrivia>

 

[Steve Jordan]

Yeah, but who says the best friend is always a male?

Well, that happens to make it a less common trope. Keep up the good work!

 

[Steve Jordan]

One of the joys of a trope (or a cliché) is, as MemoryTale has pointed out, that it provides a shortcut to communicating something to the readers that can then be undermined or otherwise played with.

Without the trope, the author has to use up loads of words setting up the readers' false expectations, perhaps even risking making a narrator's inner thoughts look like a string of lies (or, in avoiding this, tie themselves in knots); using the trope, the author can encapsulate the set-up in as few as five words: "I am your father, Luke."

That's why tropes are so popular with TV and movies, areas where storytelling shorthand allows more story to be told in limited periods of time. In books, especially now that book length isn't the constrictor it used to be, shortcutting can be dropped in favor of full storytelling detail, to give the audience a richer experience.

 

[Gordian Knot]

AARRGHHH! I was posting in another forum and remembered my all time most annoying isotrope. Modern female characters in fiction, especially film, always, always, always have to have a guy's name.

 

[Tecdavid]

In romance, the heroine falling in love with her best friend. Who she's known for years. But she suddenly realises, after all this time, that actually she's in love with him? *eye roll*

I'm not so sure, I think I can like this depending on how it's done. Like, if there are hints that these two are forming feelings for each other before it's fully established, and that the trials and difficulties of their stories are what's bringing them closer together.
If it's a friendship that looks as though it might become something more from an early point, is what I'm saying. I don't think I like it when it comes out of the blue.

 

[Dante DiBenedetto]

I'm not so sure, I think I can like this depending on how it's done. Like, if there are hints that these two are forming feelings for each other before it's fully established, and that the trials and difficulties of their stories are what's bringing them closer together.
If it's a friendship that looks as though it might become something more from an early point, is what I'm saying. I don't think I like it when it comes out of the blue.

Oh, god. Most 'breaking out of the Friendzone' tropes need to be kicked in the kidneys. They're rarely done in a good way, and often seem more like a fantasy of the author's than an actual development in a relationship between two people. Especially when they've been long-time friends and suddenly become isolated with each other, or something, and then bam, We're in love! Commence romance scenes, etc.

Make them actually realistic and feasible.

 

[Steve Jordan]

Make them actually realistic and feasible.

Yeah... like couples who fall in love, gradually lose their love thanks to the pressures of life, until adversity brings them back together.

Like in Mr. and Mrs. Smith!

 

[Tecdavid]

Oh, god. Most 'breaking out of the Friendzone' tropes need to be kicked in the kidneys. They're rarely done in a good way, and often seem more like a fantasy of the author's than an actual development in a relationship between two people. Especially when they've been long-time friends and suddenly become isolated with each other, or something, and then bam, We're in love! Commence romance scenes, etc.

Make them actually realistic and feasible.

Yeah, it can be jarringly sudden when it goes down like that. It's much worse if the resulting relationship doesn't have much point or use in the story either, I think. Just a slight change in how character A and character B treat one another. (But maybe that's just me -- I'm sure plenty of people enjoy romances for the sake of romances.)
What's the opinion on far more gradual relationships of this sort, though? You know, when it's obvious (or at least apparent) that two friends 'like' one another, long before a canon romance is actually built between them?