Author Appeal

Plenty come up in my work:

-Ivory Skin Raven Hair: It seems to be hard for any woman who is supposed to be attractive in my work not to have black hair of some sort, except when I had to throw in a redhead (who was also a Mad Scientist who tried to weaponize mantis shrimps by teaching them kung-fu) and a Cuban-American.

-Seldom-Seen Species: I love the mantis shrimp.

-Hollywood Atheist: I do not like New Atheism. I just don't because of how absolutely stupid it is. In almost every work that I write, some crazy atheist always pops up, ranging from a family that engages in Wacky Fundamentalist Antics to an Expy of Pol Pot. The fact I only work on Comedies where they are Acceptable Targets and ideas for video games that dealt with Cyberspace, fighting historical figures in Hell, and a deconstruction of Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions didn't help.

-Heroic Comedic Sociopath

-Black Comedy

-Historical Villains: I find them fascinating. There are people in real life so terrible, they outdo most fictional examples. For some reason, they keep on popping up in my writing, from having them ruling and fighting each other in Hell to their ghosts trying to break out of the place comedically in order to host wild parties. Rarely upgraded.

-Cool Guns

-Heel–Faith Turn

-Dirty Communists: I do not like Communists. I blame many of my woes on Communists. Many of my characters do not like Communists. I like to make fun of Communists.

edited 29th Jan '13 12:43:39 PM by Dudeacus97

I have a couple I tend to use in my works. Let's see:

• Statuesque Stunner, Amazonian Beauty Action Girl: Jessie in the novel I'm writing is six foot tall and very fit. Several other characters I play around with are even taller, and range from Coast Guard to KGB Honey Traps to mercenaries.

• Vigilante Man: The police are certainly not inept but there is only so much they can do, and between the courts and the government their hands are tied. So people believe they have to take the law into their own hands.

• Good Is Not Soft Ideal Hero: To me one of the best characters is someone who is genuinely nice, friendly, kind, and utterly brutal. The same goes for the Anti-Villain who is much the same and would be a really swell person except their methods are criminal, cruel, and more befitting the Complete Monster.

• Teens Are Monsters: Truth in Television, I tend to write teen antagonists as pure, unmotivated villainy, doing what they do because they can, because they get away with it, because they get off on not only hurting others but having virtually free reign to do so.

edited 29th Jan '13 5:42:26 PM by tsstevens

• Scarves and hoodies.
• Coats, all kinds.
• Tin Tyrants.
• Rummage sale rejects in general, actually. Makes them look superheroic without entering the common problems with tights.
• Charcters who are somewhat maniacal.
• Skulls and skeletons.
• Being on fire.
• Breath weapons.
• Conflicting with the fates themselves.
• Eyeless Face.
• Humanlike, grinding molars as opposed to ridiculously sharp teeth.
• Bare Fisted Monks. Punch ALL the things.
• Fecking HUGE villains.
• Transhumanists, heroic or otherwise.
• Elemental planes made of candy.
• Hideous, static-like creatures.
• Bryonic heros.
• Villains who would be reasonable if not for genocidal intent.
• godlike bragging.

edited 30th Jan '13 12:11:44 AM by doorhandle

• Axes,Maces, and Clubs( My favorite meele weapons)
• Aliens
• Cool Hats
• Magic
• Female Human Cannonballs(using gunpowder, light-the-fuse style cannons)
• Comedy
• Beards
• Fantasy Setting
• Giant Scorpions
• Dream Worlds(I'm not sure why I like these so much, but I do)

edited 10th Feb '13 9:36:01 PM by BiggerBen

Apparently, I like female Manipulative Bastards.

edited 11th Feb '13 9:11:50 PM by Matues

It's almost always Eldritch Abominations in some form or another. Whether its a gigantic crow wearing a plague doctor's mask with eyes that leak black death fluid or an enormous cobra armed with mantis claws with beetle legs lining it underside, it'll probably be in there. Though, the appeal has allowed me to create a method of categorization between both other Eldritch Abominations and things like demons and basic monsters...

Another thing I find that existed more in the earlier things I wrote, was that the male main characters tended to be really Bishōnen and anime-ish. I feel nothing but shame for this.

I also like fingerless gloves.

EDIT: Realized that I have an appeal for insane characters, but I'm just not able to write them.

edited 11th Feb '13 9:42:17 PM by DarkbloodCarnagefang

Hoodies. Action Girl. Sometimes I put some of my traits into separate characters (Like how my main represents what I think would be my reactions to a lot of the stuff if it happened. The Action Girl has anger issues which is my dilemma. The Leader is me trying to be relaxed and funny (or at least me thinking that), The magic user is my shy self or me just trying to be nice and calm. My Little Miss Badass I feel is me being a Dead Pan Snarker (probably not though))

• Characters who have Camp Straight attributes
• Narrative Filigree
• Characters who are/were bi-curious/heteroflexible
• Deadpan Snarker characters
• A token Happily Married couple
• LGBT themes
• Worldbuilding... Lots of worldbuilding
• Subtext (of all kinds)
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy pairings (both romantic and platonic) as well as Opposites Attract pairings
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander characters, Genius Ditz characters and plain old The Ditz show up af least once
• Male characters with long hair

And that's just a couple of examples

Okay my Author Appeal in no particular order...

...In characters, the things I like and don't see enough of:

• Action Girl

• Bi The Way

• good TG fiction

• Even the Guys Want Him / Even the Girls Want Her

• Lipstick Lesbian

• Butch Lesbian

• Good gay fiction in general

• Bifauxnen

• Bishōnen

• Transsexual <— when done well, Hollywood gets this wrong a lot

• Wholesome Crossdresser

• Man, I Feel Like a Woman <— a Guilty Pleasure....

..Tropes I like to see in stories

• Faster-Than-Light Travel

• Cool Plane

• Voluntary Shape Shifting

• Science Fiction

• Mohs Scale Of Science Fiction Hardness: more toward the "hard" end, less Science Fantasy

• Military Science Fiction: the chocolate in my peanut butter...

edited 10th Jul '13 8:24:00 PM by TairaMai

[could have swordn I had already posted here] Well for me:

• Badass Grandpa: I place very highe value on experience, and thus, a protagonist younger than forty-five is virtually unheard of in my stories.
• Madness Tropes: A lot of my stories explore in a way or another the concept of madness. Sometimes in a light manner, sometimes in a darker than black manner. I'm fond of psychology.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Related: If someone has any sort of skill in my stories, expect him to be a little off his rocker.
• Solitary Tropes: Also featured a lot. A recurring theme in my stories is the hero being either emotionally or physically alone at his darkest hour [if not for the entire story]. I like exploring lonliness.
• Heroic Sacrifice / Last Villain Stand: I'm a sucker for people Face Death with Dignity and going all out.
• Genre-Busting: I like mixing up stuff.
• Obscure history references. I'm a history aficionaod, so you will see a bunch [by a bunch I mean billions] of historic shout outs everywhere.
• Heavy Metal. Also likely for the shout outs.

The main ones, I'd say.

edited 10th Jul '13 9:02:58 PM by Gaon

All of the following things are unintentional, but something that I've noticed later on.

• Eye patches. Even in settings where there would be other alternatives.
• Similar to above, gas masks. I just like drawing them on characters.
• Glowing eyes. May overlap with the gas mask thing.
• Men with long hair.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer. If my character is especially good in something, it's very likely that s/he makes up for it by being not entirely sane.
• Meaningful names. Sometimes overlaps with Theme Naming.
• Walking skeletons. Whenever the setting allows it, there will be some, even if they aren't relevant to the plot.
• Conveniently an Orphan and other Missing Parents. Lately I've consciously tried to drift away from this.
• Deconstructor Fleet. Many of my less serious stories just try to poke fun of/lampshade everything possible.
• On par with the above, comedy. Usually pitch-black. Some stuff I've written run solely on Rule of Funny.
• The less serious works also tend to use lots of Armed Farces and other comedy stemming from unbelievably inept people working on jobs you really wouldn't like to have inept people working in real life, such as doctors, cops or scientists.
• Alternate Worlds. There always seem to be some sort of time travelling, universe-hopping or other hidden-in-plain-sight type of realms for my stories to take place.
• Fish out of Water -type main character. Usually this seems to be the easiest way to introduce the reader to the aforementioned alternate worlds.
• All sorts of myths. I like to create my own mythologies for the worlds that I create, but I also like reinterpreting pre-existing myths and mythical beings.
• Lots of references, in different shapes and sizes, to different things.
• Gray-and-Gray Morality. Black and White Morality only shows up whenever it's being made fun of.
• Knight Templar. While religion on itself is never portrayed as evil, many of my villains tend to be motivated through their faith. Maybe I just find them easier two write that way. There's also something genuinely fascinating about a person who thinks that s/he's committing horrible acts for the greater good.
• Averting Beauty Equals Goodness. Usually the protagonists are the underdogs, scarred or otherwise just not that attractive people. The villains on the other hand...
• Tied to above, most of my protagonists tend to be a part of Ragtag Bunch of Misfits.
• All There in the Manual. I do about eight times more world building than the stories would actually require.
• Mind Screw. I like to leave some things ambiguous and give the reader some room for interpretation.
• One more prominent theme for my bad guys is loyalty. The villains who end up worst in the end are not necessarily the main antagonists, but the backstabbers and traitors.
• Love Hurts. Out of all my stories I can think of 12 romantic relationships/involvements between the characters, and only one of them ends happily.

edited 13th Aug '13 5:26:44 PM by Xeroop

• If there is an Eldritch Abomination or deity mentioned, count on someone to say that its release and devouring / destroying the world is destiny and or it cannot be killed any more than one could kill the color blue. And watch my protagonists find a way to do it anyway. Excalibur is usually involved somehow.
  • As a whole, I have a thing for Screw Destiny and Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?
• Chances are, time travel is involved somewhere. Cole Streika is currently older than his father Matthew, and Matthew's grandson Tyson is Matthew's age. Wrap your head around that one.
• As mentioned earlier in the thread, Kudzu Plots. Threads that seem to trail meaninglessly and then tie in unexpectedly during a later book.
• Villains who want revenge on society for something. If its not Nebiros trying to kill anyone more attractive than himself (not a difficult task, mind you), its Ein Woe trying to murder rich kids and teenagers, and Kyrio being a dick to Colin.
• Anime, Manga and Comics Shout-Out's are full on.
• Expect snarky leads who know exactly what kind of work they're in, and what is probably awaiting them.
• Expect the villains to be savvy to their own roles. See Lord Nihl refusing to join three consecutive Villain Team Ups because (translated from his inarticulate screeches) "it never goes well for the participants."
• Deconstruction of a lot of common tropes to fantasy works, and some anime / manga tropes.
• Deaths. Many, many untimely deaths, especially in book II and III.
• I usually add traits to villains that I dislike in myself.
• Lampshades a plenty, usually with an accompanying Shout-Out. See the evil general in Book II asking Graverobber to assemble "biggest, wackiest group of dysfunctional supervillains, rejects, outcasts, sociopaths, borderline personalities, idiots, imbeciles, morons, mackers, jackers, hackers, lackers, stackers, otaku, furries, and methodists that you can find."

edited 16th Aug '13 3:38:51 PM by NickTheSwing

Let's see...

• Dinosaurs and other prehistoric life

• Ancient African civilizations (e.g. Egypt, Nubia, Mali, Great Zimbabwe, etc.)

• Barbarian/tribal warriors (e.g. Vikings or Zulus)

• Stone Age hunter-gatherers

• Sexy black ladies (and dark-skinned ones at that)

• Interracial romance subplots involving said black ladies

• Matriarchal or gender-equal societies

• Queens who rule in their own right

• Villains who disguise themselves as good guys

• Middle Eastern warlords

• Evil Greco-Roman imperialists

• Tropical jungle or savanna backdrops

• Lots of fighting and action scenes

I have plenty of Appeal, often depending on what trope I've found/remember at the moment

Some that I remember at the top of my mind:

- Weapons and Wielding Tropes : I am a weapon freak :v

- Badass Longcoat : One of my favorite clothing article, the other being-

- Badass Cape : specifically, half-capes (loving these style of cape thanks to Ezio Auditore

- World of Badass : Its harder for me to create a non-badass, non-action character

- Fight Scene : Also the only kind of scene that most often crops up in my mind

- Jidaigeki : Which naturally includes Ninja, katana, Samurai, and Youkai

- Boobs Of Steel : most of my female characters have a rather... nice assets.

edited 17th Aug '13 5:58:17 AM by MoodyXander

Now that you mention it, my leading ladies tend to have nice anatomical assets too, albeit on the opposite side of the female body. You know, that part of the body near the legs and hips.

hmm...

• Green Eyed Red Head or at least some variation of redhead. it shows up fairly often.
• borderline evil protagonists who are more "doing their own thing" but have done horrible things in the past (genocide, patricide, murder, terrorism etc) that cant (and shouldnt) be forgiven for.
• crippling injures; gouged out eye, a useless leg, missing arm, etc
• Time Travel
• Grey-and-Gray Morality or Grey-and-Black Morality
• Nominal Hero
• Ensemble Cast (although i employ it significantly less than all of the above)
• Cynicism (of the characters, not of the narrative)
• Anti-Villain
• Female leads
• Four-Philosophy Ensemble

edited 18th Aug '13 8:59:37 AM by Tarsen

I seem to have a (cancerously) growing an appeal for the Angels, Devils and Squid trope.

edited 17th Aug '13 9:10:32 PM by DarkbloodCarnagefang

In my current Wi P, there's only four characters for most of the story and yet I'm still managing to fit in a lot of my appeal/thumbprint/favourite trope stuff (listed back in #70):

Pagans. Well, one. And a Christian, an Atheist and a Deist.

Polyamory. No. Not in this one, perhaps if there's a sequel...

Capable, multi-talented people (Jacks/Jills of All Trades and people who have skills and interests outside their jobs). Two of the characters from the outset, with the other two becoming more like that as the story progresses.

Smokers. Especially female smokers. All of the characters smoke. Including the female.

Goths, Punks and other people with outlandish attire. No. Well, the attire of some of the characters could appear outlandish to some but it's due to their culture rather than belonging to a subculture.

Firearms, especially Walther pistols - usually P-38 or P99. Well, they all have firearms, but no Walther pistols in this one.

Fish-out-of-water situations. The story is one ginormous fish-out-of-water situation.

Puns and other forms of wordplay. Sadly, yes.

Historical enactors or recreationists - members of SCA, Historical European Martial Arts, black powder clubs etc. Kinda sorta. Let's call it a .5 and be done with it.

Some form of underlying principle that forms a subtle Aesop. I haven't thought of one yet, but one's bound to turn up during writing - I can't seem to help myself.

So there we have it. Only four characters for most of the book and I've only managed to miss out on 2.5 out of 10 of my favourites.

Fantasy Counterpart Cultures. My current setting has tonnes of nations based on historic cultures at their most famous point, with added Fantasy Gun Control to make them mesh together. So Genghis Khan, Catherine The Great, Vlad The Impaler as well as Celts and western Europe in the middle ages with underground Vikings and... an awful lot, all exist at the same time. Plus a Fantasy Kitchen Sink of creatures from various Eurasian mythologies.

edited 18th Aug '13 9:36:27 AM by VincentQuill

I haven't written much, but I do notice quite a few things that keep popping up in my planning that I need to stop doing:

• Eldrich Abominations (I need more variety in monsters)
• Iron Butt-Monkey protagonists who are also determinators (need to work on having less of these. Not everyone has an iron will.)
• The Hero getting a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from the villain (Will get predictable fast. "Oh, he'll get the crap beaten outta him, then gets back up and wins again.")
• The End of the World as We Know It (Does EVERY story have to involve the Earth in danger?)
• Another Dimension (I should have the heroes stay on the physical plane)
• Card-Carrying Villain (Villains are characters, too. I need to develop them. More Anti Villains might be a good idea)
• Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting (It may be a bit much to assume that a high school teenager has combat skills on par with that of a lifelong ninja)
• Many references to Classic Rock. (Actually, I like this one, as long as I don't make the work incomprehensible to those that don't get the reference. It'd be kind of a Creator Thumbprint.)

Gun Porn, lots and lots of Gun Porn

I have to actively avoid doing that as it contrasts with the rest of my writing style, which tends to be light on details.

Progressing from "tall man", "dark-haired woman" and "old house" to "he picked up his Brno ZKK 601, and worked the modified Mauser-style bolt to chamber a fresh .243 calibre cartridge with a 100-grain soft-point boat-tail projectile, then pushed the trigger forward to set it. The smooth wood felt cool against his cheek as he shouldered it and the mingled smells of linseed oil from the stock and gun oil from the action filled his nose. He sighted on the distant deer through the illuminated 3x40 Bushnell sight and gently placed his finger on the trigger. He squeezed gently and the set trigger broke smoothly; the rifle kicked back into his shoulder as the projectile left the barrel at 3100fps and sped on its way." to "it was a clean kill and the deer fell over quickly." tends to look a bit biased...

Knowing only that a person has "a red Honda" but that his pistol is "a 1998 Walther P99 in 9mm Parabellum with Olive Drab frame and a laser sight mounted on the forward rail" tends to unbalance the descriptions.

edited 22nd Aug '13 12:46:36 PM by Wolf1066

Which is why I like to learn more towards visual media. Get to draw everything in beautiful detail, cars and guns alike. I've got soft spot for Gasmask Longcoats too, anything face concealing really. Makes it a little more fun to try and convey feelings and the like with no face to work with. Plus drawing faces is hard.

edited 23rd Aug '13 2:35:08 AM by LeGarcon

Putting on the Reich. The main character of my book (who is an enlightened despot, not a dictator) and his military intentionally based their uniforms on those of the various German military branches. Fuck Unfortunate Implications, I just love the Third Reich's fashion sense. Those coats and hats are baller.

edited 23rd Aug '13 3:03:49 AM by Jetstreamiest

For my games

• Action Girl: If there's a female character in my game, expect them to fight.
• Another Dimension
• Anti-Hero
• Ass Kicking Pose: All the characters and Mooks have one.
• Deadpan Snarker: Usually the Anti-Hero
• Elemental Powers: In Sci-Fi weapons, no less. ^note Fire (flamethrowers, plasma), Ice (liquid nitrogen, heat sinks), Water (Hydro cutters, water cannons), Lightning (high currents), Earth (Solid Hard Light), Air (Gaseous Hard Light), Light (Lasers, photons), Darkness (Energy Sinks, reality-eating computer viruses)
• Energy Beings
• Genius Loci
• Homing Projectile: All my games have at least one.
• Kung Fu-Proof Mook: Power isn't everything, you need to know tactics to defeat them.
• Magic from Technology
• Magic Versus Science
• The Magic Versus Technology War: Versus regular tech, Magic wins. Versus Extradimensional tech, it's a draw.
• More Dakka
• Nice Guy: Usually the Lancer is this while the Hero is the cynic. Either that or it's inverted.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Some of the Kung Fu Proof Mooks have this, you need to find a way to get past it.
• Roboteching: Goes hand in hand with Homing Projectile
• Seldom-Seen Species: Quite a number, such as a boss being a cross between a Stalk-Eyed Fly and a VTOL.
• Sentient Vehicle: Mixed with Fantasy Character Classes. Yes, this means Car Mages, Ninja Motorbikes and literal Fighter Planes.
• Take Cover!/Corridor Cubbyhole Run: Many of my planned bosses have a fullscreen move where you must hide behind something, or else you die.
• Weaksauce Weakness: For added hilarity.
• Magic users being female, and with inherent powers. There's a part of me which finds it funny when a little girl nukes that heavily armed mech into oblivion.

edited 23rd Aug '13 3:06:35 AM by ironcommando