Main Tropes Index

Troperville

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Narrative

• Universal
• Applied Phlebotinum
• Characterization
• Characters
• Characters As Device
• Dialogue
• Motifs
• Narrative Devices
• Paratext
• Plots
• Settings
• Spectacle

Genre

• Action Adventure
• Comedy
• Commercials
• Crime And Punishment
• Drama
• Horror
• Love
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• Professional Wrestling
• Speculative Fiction
• Sports Story
• War

Media

• Animation (Western)
• Anime
• Comic Book
• Fan Fics
• Film
• Game
• Literature
• Music And Sound Effects
• New Media
• Print Media
• Radio
• Sequential Art
• Tabletop Games
• Television
• Theater
• Videogame
• Webcomics

Topical Tropes

• Betrayal
• Censorship
• Combat
• Death
• Family
• Fate And Prophecy
• Food
• Holiday
• Memory
• Money
• Morality
• Politics
• Religion
• School

Other Categories

• British Telly
• The Contributors
• Creator Speak
• Creators
• Derivative Works
• Did Not Do The Research
• Language
• Laws And Formulas
• Show Business
• Split Personality
• Stock Room
• Trope
• Truth And Lies
• Truth In Television
• Weirdness Isolation

Many TV tropes originated in literary works. Literature being as old as writing itself, most of The Oldest Ones In The Book date to the classics, most Public Domain Characters appeared in print well before the first TV broadcasts, and even today there are books with enough cultural impact to spawn TV Tropes.

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Tropes relating to literature and publishing

• Airport Fantasy
• The All Concealing I
• Contemptible Cover
• Extruded Book Product
• Gender Neutral Writing
• In Which A Trope Is Described
• Mills And Boon Prose
• Most Writers Are Writers
• Novelization
• Once More With Endnotes
• Point Of View
• Pulp Magazine
• Round Robin
• Second Person Narration
• Serial Novel
• Slice Of Life
• Vanity Publishing
• The Walrus Was Paul
• Web Serial Novel
• Young Adult

Classics

• The Aeneid
• Aesops Fables
• Arabian Nights: Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sinbad and more.
• Beauty And The Beast
• Beowulf
• The Bible
• Bluebeard
• The Bremen Town Musicians
• The Canterbury Tales
• Cinderella
• Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso)
• Doctor Faustus
• Dream Of The Red Chamber
• The Epic Of Gilgamesh
• The Faerie Queene
• Goldilocks
• Hansel And Gretel
• The Iliad
• Journey To The West
• The Kalevala
• King Arthur
• Medea
• The Odyssey
• Paradise Lost
• The Pilgrims Progress
• The Pillow Book
• Rape Of The Lock
• Romance Of The Three Kingdoms
• Rumpelstiltskin
• Sleeping Beauty
• Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
• Tale Of Genji

Pre-20th-Century

• The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn
• Alice In Wonderland: A pair of fantastic, metaphorical journeys, and one of the few places where All Just A Dream doesn't seem like a cop-out.
• Ben Hur
• Black Beauty
• The Brothers Karamazov
• A Christmas Carol
• The Count Of Monte Cristo
• Crime And Punishment
• David Copperfield
• Don Quixote
• Dracula
• Emma
• Flatland
• Flowers For Algernon
• Frankenstein
• Great Expectations
• Gulliver's Travels
• The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
• The Hunting Of The Snark
• The Importance Of Being Earnest
• The Invisible Man
• Jane Eyre
• The King In Yellow
• The Last Day Of A Condemned Man
• Les Misérables
• Little Lord Fauntleroy
• Little Women
• Moby-Dick
• Mother Goose
• Oliver Twist
• The Pickwick Papers
• The Picture Of Dorian Gray
• Pride And Prejudice
• The Prisoner Of Zenda
• Quo Vadis
• Robinson Crusoe
• Sense And Sensibility
• Sherlock Holmes
• The Strange Case Of Doctor Jekyll And Mr Hyde
• A Tale Of Two Cities
• Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Presented Faithfully
• The Three Musketeers
• The Time Machine: First use of a vehicle for Time Travel and of the term "Time Machine".
• Treasure Island: Origin of many pirate tropes, including the distinctive "pirate accent".
• The Trilogy (by Henryk Sienkiewicz)
• Venus In Furs
• War And Peace
• The War Of The Worlds: The first alien invasion story.
• Wuthering Heights
• The Yellow Wallpaper

Modern Literature

• Abarat
• The Abhorsen Trilogy
• A Conspiracy Of Paper
• The Acts Of Caine
• Against A Dark Background
• The Age Of Misrule
• Agent Pendergast
• Alex Rider
• All Fun And Games Until Somebody Loses An Eye
• Amelia Peabody
• American Gods
• American Psycho
• Anansi Boys
• Anarchist Cookbook
• Anathem
• Angels And Demons: Written by Dan Brown before The Da Vinci Code. Arguably better.
• And Then There Were None
• Animal Farm
• The Animals Of Farthing Wood
• Animorphs: Supplanted Goosebumps as the popular children's book series of the mid-'90s till the millennium, despite its incredibly dark setting and content. Or perhaps because of it.
• Anita Blake series
• Anne Of Green Gables
• Arcia Chronicles
• Arsene Lupin
• Artemis Fowl
• Arthur: It later had an Animated Adaptation on PBS.
• A Scanner Darkly
• The Ashes Series
• The Assassins Of Tamurin
• Atlas Shrugged
• Aubrey-Maturin
• The Avenger
• A Wrinkle In Time
• Baby Sitters Club
• Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress
• The Bartimaeus Trilogy
• Bastard Operator From Hell
• Battlefield Earth
• Beansidhe's Wail
• The Beebo Brinker Chronicles
• Belgariad
• Belisarius Series
• The BFG
• A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away
• The Big One
• Bigtime
• Big Trouble
• Bimbos Of The Death Sun
• Black Company
• Black Dagger Brotherhood
• Blackford Oakes
• The Black Stallion
• Black Sunday
• Blood Angels
• Boiling A Frog
• Book Of Amber
• Books Of Pellinor
  • The Naming
• The Book Of The Named
• Book Of The New Sun
• Bored Of The Rings
• The Bourne Series
• Boxcar Children
• Brave New World
• Breakfast At Tiffanys
• Brideshead Revisited
• Bridge Of Birds
• Broken Sky
• Buck Rogers
• Cadfael
• Callahan's Crosstime Saloon
• Cal Leandros
• A Canticle for Leibowitz
• Care Taker
• The Carpet People
• Catch-22
• The Catcher In The Rye
• Chalion
• Charles And Emma
• Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
• Cherub Series
• Children Of The First: An online fantasy serial
• The Chronicles Of Ancient Darkness
• The Chronicles Of The Black Company
• The Chronicles Of Narnia: Combination of fantasy adventure and biblical allegory.
• Chronicles Of The Kencyrath
• Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant
• Ciaphas Cain: Warhammer 40000 meets Flashman meets Blackadder.
• Circle Of Magic
• The City Of Dreaming Books
• The Clique
• A Clockwork Orange
• Cloud Of Sparrows
• Codex Alera
• Co Dominium
• Coldfire Trilogy
• The Company Novels
• The Complete World Knowledge Trilogy
  • The Areas Of My Expertise
  • More Information Than You Require
  • That Is All
• Conan The Barbarian
• A Confederacy Of Dunces
• Confessions Of Georgia Nicolson
• Conqueror
• Con Sentiency
• Coraline
• Council Wars
• Country Of The Blind
• Crown Of Stars
• Cryptonomicon
• Cthulhu Mythos
• The Culture series
  • Consider Phlebas
• Curious George
• The Dark Elf Trilogy
• The Dark Is Rising: Transplanted a lot of young British adventure ideas into a fantasy format.
• Darkover
• The Darksword Trilogy
• The Dark Tower
• The Da Vinci Code: Modern blending of the Ancient Conspiracy with Beethoven Was An Alien Spy.
• The Day of the Jackal
• The Day Of The Triffids
• Deathstalker
• Deception Point
• The Deepgate Codex (Scar Night, Iron Angel, God of Clocks, and the prequel novella Lye Street)
• The Demon's Lexicon
• Dersu Uzala
• The Deryni series
• The Descendants
• The Destroyer series
• The Devil And Daniel Webster
• The Diamond Age
• Dinotopia
• Dirk Gently
• Discworld: These novels by Terry Pratchett explore more meta-concepts than anyone else.
• Doc Savage
• Doctor Zhivago
• Doctrine Of Labyrinths
• Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom
• Downtiming The Night Side
• Dragaera
• Dragonback
• Dragon Keeper Chronicles
• Dragonlance
• Dragonriders Of Pern
• The Draka: Alternate History and Military Sci Fi seires by S.M. Stirling. If you are looking for an upbeat novel with a happy ending, we suggest you look elsewhere.
• The Dresden Files
• Dune: Seminal science fiction series revolving around the titular Single Biome Planet.
• Ea Cycle
• Earth's Children
• Earthsea Trilogy
• Eberron
• The Edge Chronicles
• Eisenhorn
• Elantris
• Ella Enchanted
• The Elric Saga
• Enchanted Forest Chronicles
• Encyclopedia Brown
• Enders Game
• End Of Eternity
• The English Patient
• Erast Fandorin
• Everworld
• Evie Scelan
• The Eye Of Argon
• Fafhrd And The Gray Mouser
• Fahrenheit451
• The Fantastic Flying Journey
• Fantomas
• Far Fetched Fiction
• Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
• Fearless
• The Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.
• Final Destination
• Fingerprints
• Fingersmith
• Finnegans Wake
• Finnegan Zwake
• Firekeeper
• The First Law
• Flashman: A series of satirical and politically incorrect historical novels.
• Forgotten Realms
• Foucault's Pendulum: The conspiracy theory novel.
• Foundation
• The Fountainhead
• Freedom And Necessity
• Friday Night Lights
• From Beyond
• The Gardella Vampire Chronicles
• The Gate To Women's Country
• Gaunt's Ghosts: Warhammer 40000 meets every war story you've ever read.
• The General: Military SF by David Drake and S.M. Stirling
• Generation Dead: How society would react if teenagers really started becoming zombies. With a twist.
• Generation Kill
• Gentleman Bastard: Fantasy caper novels.
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
• The Giver: Science Fiction's subtle but effective attack on the classic Utopia.
• Gladiator
• God's Debris
• Gödel, Escher, Bach
• Godspeaker Trilogy
• The Goodness Gene
• Goodnight Mr Tom
• Good Omens: Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett collaborate and the result is nothing short of magic.
• Goosebumps: The children's book series of the mid-1990s.
• Gor
• Gormenghast
• The Gospel According To Larry
• Gotrek And Felix
• Grail Quest Solo Fantasy
• The Graveyard Book
• Gravitys Rainbow
• A Great And Terrible Beauty
• The Great Divorce
• The Great Gatsby
• Greatwinter Trilogy
• The Green Mile
• Grey Griffins
• Grey Knights
• The Guardians Of Time Trilogy
• Hamish X
• Hand Of Mercy
• The Handmaid's Tale
• Hardy Boys
• Harold Shea
• Harrison Bergeron (short story by Kurt Vonnegut)
• Harry Potter
  • Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone
  • Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
  • Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
  • Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
  • Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
  • Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince
  • Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows
• Havemercy
• Heechee Saga
• Hells Gate: Magic and Science meet in a bloody confrontation courtesy of David Weber.
• Hero Series
• The High Crusade
• His Dark Materials
• The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: One of the earliest mixes of the science fiction and humor genres.
• The Hobbit - The prelude to The Lord Of The Rings.
• Hoka
• The Holders Series
• Holes
• The Hollows: Also called the Rachel Morgan series.
• Honor Harrington
• Horatio Hornblower
• Horrible Histories
• Horton Hears A Who
• Horus Heresy
• The Host
• House Of Leaves
• The House Of Night
• Howls Moving Castle
• How NOT to Write a Novel
• How I Live Now
• How The Grinch Stole Christmas
• Humanx Commonwealth
• The Hunt For Red October
• Hyperion
• I Am Legend
• I Am Not A Serial Killer
• I Am The Messenger
• If on a winter's night a traveler
• I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream
• Illuminatus!
• Incarnations Of Immortality
• In Death
• Inferno: A Deconstruction of Dante's vision of Hell from the Divine Comedy.
• Inheritance Cycle
• The Inkworld Trilogy
• Instrument Of God
• Invisible Man
• The Iron Dream
• Stephen King's IT.
• Ixia And Sitia
• Jack Wakes Up
• James And The Giant Peach
• James Bond
  • Devil May Care
• Jennifer Government
• John Carter Of Mars
• John Dies At The End
• Johnny Maxwell Trilogy
• Johnny Tremain
• Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell
• Judge Dee
• The Jungle Book
• Jurassic Park
• Kamikaze Girls
• The Katurran Odyssey
• Keys To The Kingdom
• The Kite Runner
• Kitty Norville
• Kushiels Legacy
• Lady: My Life As A Bitch
• Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff
• Last And First Men
• The Last Unicorn
• Left Behind
• The Legend Of Rah And The Muggles
• Lensman: the series that started Space Opera.
• Let The Right One In
• Liaden Universe
• The Lions Of Al-Rassan
• Little Bear
• Little House On The Prairie
• The Little Prince
• A Little Princess (revised from a pre-20th Century novelet.)
• Lolita
• Lone Wolf gamebooks
• Lord Of The Flies: Influenced a lot of "creepy children" stories that would follow. Also the idea in the Power Trio of three characters representing the Ego, Superego, and Id (though they weren't really a team)
• The Lord Of The Rings: Absolutely defined the fantasy genre as we know it today.
• The Lords Of Creation
• Lord Peter Wimsey novels
• The Lost World
• The Makioka Sisters
• Magnus
• Malazan Book Of The Fallen
• The Manual Of Detection
• The Man Who Folded Himself
• Mary Poppins
• Mary Russell
• The Master And Margarita
• Matilda
• Maximum Ride
• Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn
• Les Messagers Du Temps
• The Metamorphosis Of Prime Intellect
• Mercy Thompson
• The Millennium Trilogy
• Mistborn
• Moment In Peking
• Montmorency
• Morgaine Cycle
• Mortal Engines: A British novel series known in the States as The Hungry City Chronicles.
• Mortal Instruments
• Moscow Petushki
• The Mouse That Roared
• Naked Lunch
• The Name Of The Wind
• Nancy Drew
• Nation
• The Neanderthal Parallax
• Neuromancer
• Neverending Story
• Neverwhere
• The New Heroes
• The New Jedi Order
• The Night Angel Trilogy
• The Night Land
• Night Watch
• Nightrunner
• Nightside
• Night World
• 1984: Defined much of the Dystopian Future.
• No Country For Old Men
• No More Dead Dogs
• Not The End Of The World
• Nothings Fair In Fifth Grade
• NUMA Series
• Nursery Crime
• Odd Thomas
• Of Mice And Men
• Old Kingdom
• Old Mans War
• Old Yeller
• One Fine Day In The Middle Of The Night
• One For The Morning Glory
• 101 Dalmatians
• One Hundred Years Of Solitude
• Orcs
• Oryx And Crake
• Otherland
• The Outsiders
• Paddington Bear
• Paprika
• Pellucidar
• The Pendragon Adventure
• Percy Jackson And The Olympians
• Perdido Street Station
• Perry Rhodan
• Peter Pan
• The Phantom Tollbooth
• Phule's Company
• The Pillars Of The Earth
• The Poisonwood Bible
• Pokegirls
• Polity Series
• Posleen War Series
• The Powerof Five
• Practical Magic
• Pride And Prejudice And Zombies
• The Princess Bride
• The Princess Diaries
• Propps Functions Of Folktales
• Prydain Chronicles
• Psycho Dust: A fan fic? Of what?
• The Quiet American: As early as 1955, Graham Greene was warning Americans that getting involved in Vietnam was a Bad Idea.
• Quite Ugly One Morning
• Ranger's Apprentice
• Raptor Red
• Ravenor
• RCN - David Drake's Republic of Cinnabar Navy series. Horatio Hornblower IN Space!
• The Redemption Of Althalus
• Red Mars Trilogy: Kim Stanley Robinson's series on terraforming The Red Planet.
• Red Sonja
• Red Storm Rising
• Redwall
• Remnants
• Repairman Jack
• Requiem For A Dream
• Rewind
• Rifters Trilogy
• The Riftwar Cycle
• The Ring
• Ringworld
• Ripliad: Patricia Highsmith's series of novels about Heroic Sociopath Tom Ripley
• The Rowan Gant Investigations
• The Runelords
• The Saga Of Darren Shan
• The Saga Of Seven Suns
• The Saga Of Tuck
• Sailor Nothing: Not a Fan Fic. That's like calling Neon Genesis Evangelion a Fan Fic of Mobile Suit Gundam
• The Scarlet Pimpernel
• The Screwtape Letters
• Seafort Saga
• The Secret Garden
• Second Apocalypse
• The Secret
• Sector General: Medical Drama in SPACE!
• Seekers Of Truth
• A Separate Peace
• A Series Of Unfortunate Events: Known for making the whole cast into Butt Monkeys.
• Seventh Tower
• The Shadow: One of the classic pulp series.
• Shadow Children
• Shannara
• The Sharing Knife
• Sharpe
• Shopaholic
• The Silence Of The Lambs
• The Silmarillion
• The Singer Of All Songs
• Sir Apropos Of Nothing
• 1632
• Slaughterhouse-Five
• Smoke And Shadows
• Snot Stew
• Snow Crash
• Solar Pons
• Something Wicked This Way Comes
• A Song Of Ice And Fire
• The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries
• Soon I Will Be Invincible
• Sounis
• The Space Trilogy
• Space Vulture
• Space Wolf
• Spellman Files
• The Spider
• The Stainless Steel Rat
• The Stand
• Stardust
• Starfist
• Starship Troopers
• The Stars My Destination
• State of Fear - a work of controversy by Michael Crichton
• Stephanie Plum
• The Stinky Cheese Man
• Stranger In A Strange Land
• Stravaganza
• The Sundering
• Sweet Valley High
• The Sword of Truth
• The Tale Of Despereaux
• Tales Of MU: online fiction serial
• Tales Of The Otori
• Tarzan: Source of innumerable films.
• Tech Infantry
• Teenage Worrier
• Temeraire
• The Third World War
• The 13 Clocks
• The Thirty-nine Steps
• This Perfect Day
• Thomas The Tank Engine (based on The Railway Series)
• Thursday Next
• Tigana
• Till We Have Faces
• The Time Travelers Wife: One of the best known victims of the Sci Fi Ghetto.
• Time Wars: A science fiction series about Time Travel, written in the 1980s.
• Tipping The Velvet
• To Kill A Mockingbird
• The Tomorrow Series
• Tom Swift
• Tortall Universe: Consists of several separate miniseries, probably the most well known being Song of the Lioness.
• To Say Nothing Of The Dog
• The Tough Guide To Fantasyland
• Tricky Business
• Troubleshooters
• Twilight
• Uglies
• Ultramarines
• Ulysses
• Unicorns Of Balinor
• Un Lun Dun
• Uplift
• The Vampire Chronicles: The bible for modern Goths.
• Villains By Necessity
• Vorkosigan Saga
• The War Against The Chtorr
• Warchild Series
• Warcraft Novels
  • Lord Of The Clans
• Warrior Cats
• Wars Of Light And Shadow
• Watership Down
• Wayside School
• We
• The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen
• Welkin Weasels
• The Westing Game
• West Of Eden
• The Wheel Of Time
• Who Censored Roger Rabbit?
• Wigfield
• Wild Cards
• The Wind In The Willows
• Wind On Fire
• Winnie The Pooh
• Witch
• The Witcher
• The Witches
• The Wizard, The Witch, And Two Girls From Jersey
• The Woman In Black
• Women of the Otherworld
• The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz
• World War Z
• The Worst Witch
• Xanth
• Years Of Rice And Salt
• Young Wizards
• The Zombie Survival Guide
• Zorro

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