#2: May 21st 2014 at 8:41:21 AM
Perhaps the Plot has a form of inertia, such that while you can temporarily subvert or invert incoming tropes, they will keep coming back. For example, the Plot has "decided" that there must be a Distressed Damsel. Alice spots this trope coming for her and manages to make it Badass Damsel—until she lets down her guard, or the Plot finds someone else in the vicinity to take the Distressed Damsel role. somewhat like the Final Destination movies, the Plot can take advantage of ridiculous Contrived Coincidence to get its way.
Total posts: 2
I don't know if this falls in Worldbuilding or Writer's Block but either way...
I've been planning a story that references tropes as part of the plot. In this case, there are two parallel universes, the fantasy realm and the real-ish realm. In the fantasy realm, the world is ruled by the impartial "Plot" which dictates the actions of the protagonists and antagonists. So this "Plot" and most of its characters leak into the real world and starts affecting many people by giving them strange powers and weird plots for the sake of a story.
So, the M Cs goes on an ambitious journey to untangle fantasy from reality. One of them has the ability to manipulate Plot. So they can manipulate tropes to an extent.
The problem I'm having is the levels of magic that is highly imbalanced and utterly confusing. I have managed to create a few powers but...... I might need some more ideas. Help?
Here are some ideas from my drafts (I probably won't use these names but...):
Subvert Trope: The characters have the ability to warp the trope in action. For example, the character have sensed a Damsel in Distress trope in action. They use this spell to either order Plot to change the course of action or temporarily turn the Damsel into an Action Girl.
Genre Savvy/Genre Blind: The characters can place the trope on someone that is part of the Plot. Through this, they become more aware of their surroundings and how things would occur or they become blind to what their roles are in the story.
Weave Plot/Open Sub-Plot: Becoming a true storyteller, the character has the ability to tug the main plot and create a small offshoot from it. Placing themselves or the other people in the subplot, they can refine their characters' experiences and let Plot decide whether to make a better person or worse.
I also have no idea what genre this is going to be in.