Line #27 Main/BooksOnTrope


1	We here at Website/TVTropes are [[OlderThanTheyThink not the first]] to collect tropes and try to put them in some semblance of order. If you happen to run across a resource (a book, website, or other useful thing) that discusses a set of tropes, write up a summary page and stick the link on this index.
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5	!! Personality Profiles:
6	The most common trope collections are personality profiles. Many people have devised systems of sorting characters into a handful of pigeonholes (the [[UsefulNotes/MyersBriggs Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)]], UsefulNotes/TheEnneagram, the ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]'' CharacterAlignment system, etc.). Of course, they tend to think this works well for sorting ''people'', whereas we're going to take the more sensible view that it works well for sorting ''fictional characters'' who aren't nearly as complex as your average real human. They're useful systems for the writer as well as for the reader, so eventually we'll get them up here.
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8	[[index]]
9	* ''UsefulNotes/FiveFoundationsOfMorality''
10	* ''Literature/FortyFiveMasterCharacters''
11	* ''UsefulNotes/BigFivePersonalityTraits''
12	* ''Literature/TheCharacters'' of Theophrastus (you can read it [[https://www.eudaemonist.com/biblion/characters/ here]])
13	* [[/index]]TabletopGames such as ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' have:[[index]]
14	** CharacterAlignment (mostly in D&D)
15	** PlayerArchetypes (discussed in assorted books, magazine articles, etc.)
16	* ''Literature/TheCompleteWritersGuideToHeroesAndHeroines''
17	* ''UsefulNotes/TheEnneagram''
18	* ''[[UsefulNotes/MyersBriggs Myers-Briggs Temperament Indicator]]''
19	** JustForFun/ExamplesOfMyersBriggsPersonalitiesInStories
20	* UsefulNotes/RelationalModelsTheory
21	* ''Literature/SystemsOfSurvival''
22	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_theory Attachment Theory]]
23	[[/index]]
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27	!! Basic Plots:
28	People have also tried to condense the wide and varied world of plots into a small and succinct list of ''possible'' plots. The most basic system says that all plots are about one of two things, [[LoveTropes love]] and [[DeathTropes death]], but the list can go up to fifty or even more. Joseph Campbell tried to pin it all down to a single heroic version in ''TheHerosJourney'', and while that doesn't cover every story, it works with a lot of them (and George Lucas decided to base ''Franchise/StarWars'' all around Campbell's work). It's when people start claiming that ''Film/SchindlersList'' has the same plot as ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' that we start to wonder if their systems make any sense, but hey, maybe they had a flash of inspiration. At any rate, studying plot archetypes can help writers to straighten out the odd kinks that are throwing them for a loop, and maybe to introduce elements that strengthen the overall story and underscore its thematic meaning. As for the reader... well, it's always fun to realize, halfway into the new blockbuster, that you're really watching a postmodern sci-fi version of ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast''.
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30	[[index]]
31	* [[{{Conflict}} The 7 Basic Conflicts]]: As formulated by various [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_(narrative) critics]].\
32	Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Man, Man vs. Himself, Man vs. God/Fate, Man vs. Society, Man & Woman, etc.
33	* ''[[Literature/TheSevenBasicPlots The 7 Basic Plots]]'', as analyzed by Christopher Booker
34	* ''Literature/TheAreasOfMyExpertise'' offers ''another'' Fifty-Five Dramatic Situations
35	* AsimovsThreeKindsOfScienceFiction: SciFi inventions can be the focus of the story, a prop, or a societal impact.
36	* "Literature/TheAuthorsOrdeal": Turns the exercise of writing a ScienceFiction story into a [[{{Theatre/Iolanthe}} nightmare]] of obsession and distraction until [[SecondPersonNarration you]] can finally finish the manuscript.
37	* The Literature/BigListOfRPGPlots by [[TabletopGame/{{Risus}} S. John Ross]] contains 33 common TabletopRPG adventure hooks and a larger number of twists that can be applied to them.
38	* TheHerosJourney
39	* ''Literature/TheHeroWithAThousandFaces''
40	* TheHollywoodFormula
41	* MasterPlots
42	* ''Literature/{{Poetics}}'' by Creator/{{Aristotle}}, the UrExample.
43	* ''Power Screenwriting'' has StructuralArchetypes: The Hero Myth, Outlaw Myth, Inverted Myth, etc.
44	* ProppsFunctionsOfFolktales, which gives a list of elements often found in fairy tales
45	* ''Save the Cat!'' has TenMoviePlots.
46	* TheSevenWesternPlots
47	* ''Literature/StoryStructureArchitect'' offers 55 Dramatic Situations.
48	* ''[[Literature/{{Story}} Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting]]''
49	* ''ComicBook/UnderstandingComics''
50	[[/index]]
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54	!! Lists of Clichés:
55	{{Dead Horse Trope}}s can be surprisingly stubborn beasts, refusing to leave the media well after they've been discredited, disbarred, and run out of the country for being So Last Century. The more that writers recognize the possible clichés that exist, the more they're able to avert, subvert, and even invert the critters, allowing for the possibility that their viewers are ''not'' morons and just might enjoy watching something written with a little connection to reality. Then again, it's just fun to [[BetterThanABareBulb review all the oddities]] that make up our collected media history (laser printers that still sound like a Dot Matrix?) and then play drinking games over recognizing when they show up in our favorite sitcoms.
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57	[[index]]
58	* ''Literature/AmericanCornball''
59	* ''Literature/TheArtOfCourtlyLove'' by Andreas Capellanus
60	* ''Literature/EbertsGlossaryOfMovieTerms''
61	* ''Manga/EvenAMonkeyCanDrawManga'': A manga about how to write cliché-filled manga.
62	* ''EvilOverlordList''
63	* ''Website/TheFantasyNovelistsExam''
64	* ''WebVideo/FeministFrequency'': Web series analyzing the representation of women in media. And inspired by this very website.
65	* ''Literature/FenimoreCoopersLiteraryOffenses''
66	* ''Website/TheGrandListOfConsoleRolePlayingGameCliches''
67	* ''Website/TheGrandListOfOverusedScienceFictionCliches''
68	* ''Literature/HowNotToWriteANovel'', by Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman. Contains around 200 examples of bad writing, many of them dealing with Bad Writing or tropes used horribly.
69	* ''Literature/HowToBeASuperhero''
70	* ''Blog/HowToWriteBadlyWell''
71	* ''Blog/LimyaaelsFantasyRants''
72	* ''Website/TheRPGClichesGame''
73	* ''Literature/SillyNovelsByLadyNovelists'' by Creator/GeorgeEliot
74	* ''WebAnimation/TerribleWritingAdvice''
75	* ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland''
76	* ''Website/TurkeyCityLexicon''
77	* Polish ''Website/{{Uncyclopedia}}'''s article on [[https://nonsa.pl/wiki/Teoria_filmowej_rzeczywistości "Theory Of Movie Reality"]]
78	* JustForFun/TheUniversalGenreSavvyGuide
79	* ''Literature/WhyLiteratureIsBadForYou'' by Peter Thorpe, which discusses the detrimental effects reading can have in the wrong mindset, and how it can even attract people who write badly or even ''encourage'' people to write badly.
80	* ''Blog/WorstMuse'': A Website/{{Twitter}} blog which sarcastically passes off [[AuthorTract terrible]] [[CanonSue writing practices]] and {{Cliche}}s as good writing tips, inevitably mocking them to hell and back in the process.
81	[[/index]]
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85	!! Other works:
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87	[[index]]
88	* ''Literature/TheAmericanCredo'' discusses many things believed to be true by Americans in RealLife; not surprisingly, many of them are also common tropes in American fiction.
89	* ''Literature/BlowingUpTheMovies'' examines two dozen famous action movies for the coolest action genre tropes and trope combos they exemplify and analyzes how these can be used as tools to improve TabletopRPG campaigns.
90	* ''Literature/DanseMacabre'' by Creator/StephenKing discusses {{Horror}} fiction in the 20th century and the tropes associated with it.
91	* ''Literature/TheDiscardedImage'' -- A series of lectures by Creator/CSLewis about the Medieval worldview and its effect on literature. Very useful. Contains explanations on the Medieval take on such tropes as EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse, AllMythsAreTrue, ButIReadABookAboutIt, and of course TheFairFolk.
92	* ''Literature/FantasyEncyclopedia''
93	* ''Literature/TheFourLoves'' -- the ones codified by Creator/CSLewis, at least; never enter a {{Shipping}} debate without it!
94	* ''Literature/HamletsHitPoints'' examines one rather famous play and two movies for their narrative beats and how the understanding of these can be used to improve role-playing games.
95	* ''Literature/HelpMyStoryHasTheMarySueDisease'' by L.C. Morgenstern. Goes through cliches and tropes associated with the dreaded archetype by topic, but doubles as general character-writing advice.
96	* ''Literature/{{Hieroglyphics}}'' by Creator/ArthurMachen -- Mainly used to share his theory on what makes a book ''true art'' as opposed to mere entertainment but also discusses the nature (and pitfalls) of various tropes.
97	* ''MediaNotes/MechanicsDynamicsAesthetics''
98	* ''Literature/OnFairyStories'' by Creator/JRRTolkien.
99	* ''Literature/WhatDoesAMartianLookLike?'' (aka. ''Evolving the Alien'') by biologist Jack Cohen and mathematician Ian Stewart is about exobiology -- but it also takes a science fiction author's point of view for imagining the alien, and discusses a lot of the traditional tropes associated with aliens in fiction, most of which are revealed as anything but realistic.
100	[[/index]]
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104	!! Miscellaneous:
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106	[[index]]
107	* ''Website/AtomicRockets'' -- A resource for hard science fiction writers.
108	* Creator/BishopBarron's works often look at the philosophical and religious background of the most popular tropes in today's culture.
109	* "Literature/TheCraftOfTheAdventure": Essay on InteractiveFiction game design.
110	* Website/{{Dramatica}} -- This is a rather complicated literary theory that divides story telling into 4 story tellers, 64 "Quads" of 4 properties that examine 64 questions that must each be explored and resolved and...well...There's a 360 page PDF to read and you can buy a rather expensive program to sort it all out. Like most theories, it works pretty well often enough to help most of the time, but there are exceptions. The [[http://www.dramatica.com/downloads/dramaticomic.pdf comic book version]] is pretty easy to follow.
111	* ''WebAnimation/ExtraCredits'' -- Lectures on story and mechanics tropes in video games, and how game developers can get the most use out of them to make better games.
112	* "Literature/TheFoundationOfSFSuccess": Gives advice on tropes/tricks of popular ScienceFiction for potential new writers. ([[PlayedForLaughs Take it with a grain of salt.]])
113	* ''Literature/HowToReadNancy'': Analysis of the comic strip ''ComicStrip/{{Nancy}}''.
114	* ''Website/SexypediaWiki'': A wiki compiling characters and tropes associated with the "Website/{{Tumblr}}/Fandom Sexyman" phenomenon, as well as documenting how fanon interpretations of said characters affect how they are seen by their respective fandoms over time.
115	* ''Website/{{Springhole}}''
116	* ''Literature/TextualPoachersTelevisionFansAndParticipatoryCulture'': Henry Jenkins' landmark study of fandom and how fans interact with the media they consume, including several chapters on fan works.
117	* ''Podcast/WritingExcuses''
118	[[/index]]
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122	!! Resources without their own pages:
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124	* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirty-Six_Dramatic_Situations The 36 Dramatic Situations]]
125	* [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2015/10/27/history_of_screenwriting_a_master_book_of_plots.html The 37 Basic Plots, According to a Screenwriter of the Silent-Film Era]]
126	* [[http://web.archive.org/web/20181122040516/http://www.cs.utah.edu/~duongsaa/more_htm/jk_100animeRules.htm 100 Rules of Anime Physics]]
127	* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarne-Thompson_classification_system Aarne-Thompson Classification System]] and [[http://www.ruthenia.ru/folklore/thompson/index.htm Stith Thompson Folk Motif-Index]] describe a massive set of descriptors for folktales. For example, in "An Encyclopedia of Fairies" by Katharine Briggs she gives a breakdown of Cinderella. It is Type 510 (an example of Supernatural Helpers) and contians Motifes S31: Cruel stepmother; L55: Stepdaughter heroine; F311.1: Fairy godmother; D1050.1: Clothes produced by magic; F861.4.3: Carriage from pumpkin; N711.6: Prince sees heroine at ball and is enamoured; C761.3: Taboo: staying too long at ball. Must leave before certain hour; and H36.1: Slipper test. Given that the motif index is apparently six large volumes the detail seems overwhelming!
128	* [[Creator/GreenwoodPress Daily Life Through History Series]]: A vast hoard of UsefulNotes. Use these for research and you will never again write HollywoodHistory by accident.
129	* ''Ebert's Little Movie Glossary''
130	* [[http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/ The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]: Originally published, for two editions, in paper form; the third edition is now a large and continually maintained Web site. The entries on "Themes" cover many topics that correspond to tropes round here. [[http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php The Encyclopedia of Fantasy]] was originally published as a follow-up and companion to the former work, and the full, indexed text of that is held on the same Web site, but is not being updated; it too has a lot of entries for themes, though one should note that many of them are somewhat ... idiosyncratically ... named or described by critic John Clute.
131	* [[http://pegasus.msmc.la.edu/english/students/casssand/Heroine%20vs%20Hero/HerovsHeroine_Journey.htm Hero's Journey vs Heroine's Journey]]
132	** Alternative link [[http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/heros-journey-vs-heroines-journey-rewriting-privilege/ here]]
133	* ''How to Read Literature Like A Professor'' by Thomas C. Foster -- basic plots, clichés, and devices.
134	* [[http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2008/02/beverly-slapins-how-to-write-historical.html How to Write a Historical Young Adult Novel with an Indian Theme (For Fun and Profit)]]
135	* [[http://www.granta.com/Archive/92/How-to-Write-about-Africa/Page-1 How to Write about Africa]] and [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160822030505/http://www.ourmaninabiko.com/2010/10/how-to-write-about-japan.html How to Write about Japan]]; actually, how ''not'' to write about these places.
136	* [[http://blog.heterodoxhomosexual.com/2017/03/planning-on-writing-gay-novel-expanded.html Planning on writing a gay novel?]] is based on clichés in gay fiction.
137	* [[https://the-right-writing.tumblr.com The Right Writing]]
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141	* [[http://www.rocketpunk-observatory.com/spaceguideA-E.htm The Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy]]
142	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenwriters_Taxonomy The Screenwriters' Taxonomy]]: A seven-tiered genre categorization system made to help screenwriters conceptualize their movie's genre based on audience expectations.
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