Not Thriving: About The Author

Seconding making this definition-only.

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By our broad definition, it is. It isn't a plot trope or character trope. I identified it as Paratext because it is part of how you sell the book to potential customers. It's a marketing trope. This is why almost every book with an animal for a main character will include a mention of the author's pets in the About the Author. If you check out five Cozy Mystery books with a cat by different authors, I would expect at least four of them to mention that the author lives with a cat.

This is to create a connection with the potential buyer, making them more inclined to purchase the story because you feel like you already have a connection to the work. I have a lot of background knowledge about this, and answering questions about why it exists is much easier than hunting for my earlier posts about it.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

I feel it is pretty keeping-worthy as a Definition-Only Page for a specific paratext that has been part of literature for centuries, but I agree that giving examples could eventually feel redundant. I think it could get a better description though, I don't think the division in bullet points is very necessary as it is imo.

Edited by good-morning on Mar 3rd 2022 at 7:29:54 AM

oh hey how are you doing?

Retracting my Trivia vote due to points raised about how it's part of the work and not background information, but I'm still in favor of it being definition-only.

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

Retracting mine as well. Still to def-only

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Eh, yeah, that's fair. I guess it's not trivia afterall.

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to definition-only.

I was also going to add that it seems odd to have a Parody About Section trope without having a page for the thing being parodied.

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable

I also thought it was Paratext but if it's about the author rather than the work it would probably count as Trivia more - we put other casting things in Trivia after all. I just wanted to emphasize that "chairs" does not apply here.

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

I think it'd be more like Dedication or In Memoriam. Now, In Memoriam is trivia even though it objectively appears in the work, but the context for explaining it lies outside the work, so I can see the case for it being trivia. I'm not sure I fully agree with it, but I can at least see the case. An About the Author on the other hand is pretty self-contained, I think.

I was already planning to list Trivia and definition-only separately when it's time for a crowner, since there's been some disagreement over the former, with a note saying they aren't mutually exclusive.

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

I added About the Author to Administrivia.Definition Only Pages, cleaned the wicks and tagged the discussion page.

Locking as resolved.

Macron's notes