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Either way works, in my opinion. Although the comment in the second variant needs to be pertinent.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
I think what he's asking is which is better:
- Anti-Hero: Because the series is based on Gray-and-Grey Morality and set in a Crapsack World, there are a lot of these:
- Auntie Hero is one. She saves the world by punching kittens in the face.
- Uncle Jerkwad is another one. He spits at old people but donates his paycheck to orphanages.
or:
- Anti-Hero:
- Because the series is based on Gray-and-Grey Morality and set in a Crapsack World, there are a lot of these:
- Auntie Hero is one. She saves the world by punching kittens in the face.
- Uncle Jerkwad is another one. He spits at old people but donates his paycheck to orphanages.
The answer is that the first is correct, the second is incorrect. But the first is only correct if the "general description" part is relevant and informative. In this example it's okay, because it gives some context about how and why the trope is used in this work that's (presumably) equally applicable to everything that follows. If it had been,
- Anti-Hero: There are two of these:
- Auntie Hero is one. She saves the world by punching kittens in the face.
- Uncle Jerkwad is another one. He spits at old people but donates his paycheck to orphanages.
Then it would be bad, because it's not giving us any real information: we can see that there are two examples by the fact that there are two sub-bullets. This would also be bad:
- Anti-Hero: Because the series is about saving the world by punching kittens in the face, there are a lot of these:
- Auntie Hero is one. She saves the world by punching kittens in the face.
- Uncle Jerkwad is another one. He may not punch kittens in the face, but he spits at old people.
This is bad because the information under the top-level bullet ONLY applies to the first sub-bullet and not the second, so it should be under the first sub-bullet.
A good rule of thumb is that if you're not sure whether the stuff in the top-level bullet belongs there, try working it into the applicable second-level bullets instead. There are a lot fewer ways to go wrong that way.
Edited by HighCrate
Yeah, HighCrate is correct in what I was asking about. Apologies if my first post wasn't clear enough. Thanks for the inputs!
they/them || "Forgive me, regent of queer amphibians" - Lt.BGob
Just want to make sure I'm getting this right. I know if there's one trope with multiple examples then it's supposed to be indented like so:
But occasionally I come across an instance where a general description of how the trope applies is written, followed by specific examples, like so:
Should the general description of the trope be indented too, or is it fine as is?