Misused: Author Existence Failure

My original post got removed for a lackluster Wick Check, so I'm reposting it with a more improved Wick Check.

This trope is supposed to be "Creator/Actor dies before a work's completed", but it's frequently misused as "Creator/Actor dies", which is People Sit on Chairs (unless there are some immortals lurking among us).

So, of the 55 wicks, only 16 of them (29%) are about the creator dying during a work's production, with 2 (4%) being In-Universe, 2 (4%) being a pothole to a creator's death, 17 (31%) being about a creator dying after the work was finished, 7 (13%) not having the creator be dead, 3 (5%) not even being a creator, 3 (5%) being unknown or ZCEs, and 5 (9%) being a creator dying between the original work and a sequel. This trope is in desperate need of a clean-up and possibly even a rename due to how much misuse it's gained.

Edited by idonom on Apr 16th 2021 at 1:06:46 PM

Y'ALL JUST GOT SHREKT

Much better. Opened.

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I'd be fine with renaming since the current name is non-indicative, but I don't currently have any ideas.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

Work Died With The Writer?

Midstream Author Death?

as quite a few examples have someone pick up the work after the original author dies (The Wheel of Time, for example).

Died During Production?

Come play Character Uplift Game!

If we do go with a rename, I think it might be good to make Author Existence Failure a disambiguation for "creator dies" tropes, like Outlived Its Creator or The Character Died with Him.

I think that's the best so far.

Edit: I was ninja'd, and I agree with turning it into a disambiguation page.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Feb 24th 2021 at 12:10:33 PM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

That's a good one.

Also, the disambig idea seems fair.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

Sounds good.

I like Synchronicity's suggestion (doesn't cover just authors), and to disambiguation.

I have been googling around and I see that the name is frequently used in the way we define it. So I am a little sceptical of a rename.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

The first results are from TV Tropes, and the related searches are for other trope names we use.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Feb 25th 2021 at 3:33:29 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

So what? That Google prioritizes the TV Tropes page only says that their algorithm prioritizes official pages, not that the term isn't used by other people. Sometimes you need to go backwards in the list of search results.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Don't forget that Google has the filter bubble.

Kirby is awesome.

The current name also has 21,874 inbounds.

"It's just a show; I should really just relax"

Now that I think of it, why am I even supposed to use Google for this if you already did? Wouldn't it be easier to directly link to other sites that use the term (or at least give their names), since you already claimed you found several?

Edited by GastonRabbit on Feb 25th 2021 at 1:25:56 PM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

Based on a quick DuckDuckGo search (DuckDuckGo being a non-tracking search-engine, and thus I imagine having less of a bubble than does Google), I see a lot of hits from TV Tropes or other trope-sites—but also a few others. And below a certain point, primarily other sites.

Here's a link from Tor.
Here's one from Barnes and Noble.
And here's a review-blog.

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Feb 25th 2021 at 9:33:15 PM

My Games & Writing

Edit: Retracted what was originally here because I misread (it's almost 2 AM and my sleep schedule is screwed up).

But anyway, thanks for providing examples; maybe a cleanup thread would be better (though I'm not 100% sure on that).

I don't think there's any need to change/clarify the description; the very first sentence is more accurate of a summary than a lot of Laconics (not the case with Laconic.Author Existence Failure; it isn't inaccurate, though I prefer the first sentence of the main page due to the Orphaned Series reference).

Edited by GastonRabbit on Feb 25th 2021 at 1:47:32 PM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

eta: Post was edited.

Edited by SeptimusHeap on Feb 25th 2021 at 8:53:02 PM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Died During Production is good.

TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall

Edited by callmeamuffin on Mar 1st 2021 at 7:05:16 PM

Come play Character Uplift Game!

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

I'm worried that this title will result in people confusing this trope with Fatal Method Acting.

Vi: Well, it's not like we're getting attacked by a giant wasp spider guardian! | Leif: Never combine those words ever again.