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openDangling reference in narration Literature
When a narrator (or similar) purposefully refers to a part of the story that doesn't exist, for comedic purposes. Not restricted to literature.
Examples:
- [[Literature/Molesworth Molesworth]] would often have full-page illustrations saying "For story, see" plus a page number which didn't exist
- A book whose blurb contains dialogue between two actual characters, but the dialogue doesn't exist in the story
- Look Around You having every On the Next refer to a fictional episode
resolved Misleading book covers? Literature
Is there a trope where a book cover disguises the content of the work (on purpose), but doesn't fall under the precise definitions of Clandestine Cover, Book and Switch, or Covers Always Lie?
I'm trying to figure out where Transformers writer James Roberts' fan novel "Eugenesis" would go, with its classic lit parody cover: [1]◊
openPretend the murder went right Literature
Someone intended to kill one person, but instead killed an Identical Stranger. Is there a trope covering the intended victim pretemding to be the actual victim, thereby causing the killer to think he got the right person?
openMy Favorite Color Is Me Literature
A character's favorite color is their own natural body color. Example: In Wings of Fire, there's a dragon named Carnelian who has red scales and also says her favorite color is red.
resolved No Title Literature
Character that Blends in physically but is bold and speaks their mind
openvillian or "villian" who gathers heroes to face a larger evil Literature
A villian (or a hero who is pretending to be a villian) who instigates events to either gather heroes or prepare the world for a coming greater evil, very specifically by presenting themselves to the world as a threat that needs to be faced/answered. Perhaps going so far as to put out a contract out on themselves.
openLow-key PragmaticVillainy? Literature
For the novel Firefly: Carnival.
The crew needs to make some money quick, so River, Jayne, and Wash head to a casino, where River uses her Psychic Powers to read a futuristic roulette wheel and maintain a winning streak, starting with one platinum, doubling it every win, and soon equalling that casino's record take. She chose the casino well, though, and because others keep betting with her and losing, the house isn't actually losing money. So the casino owner slides up, tells then to stay at this table, spreads around champagne, and when River hits the record, takes them up to his office, pays them, gives them more champagne, summons a car to take them back to Serenity, and politely asks them to leave and never come back.
The guy isn't a villain, he's actually one of the more decent characters in the book, but Downplayed Pragmatic Villainy seems the best fit for this to me. Is there a better one?
Edited by ErikModiopenHide at the scene Literature
A person has just committed a murder. In stead of escaping the scene of the crime, hoping no one will see them, the culprit hides at the scene, waits for others to show up, and then leaves the hiding place and pretends they came with everyone else.
openI'm finally ready for a relationship with you! Oh, you've moved on...damn Literature
Y'know when there's a will-they won't-they with two characters, maybe the love interest (LI) doesn't want to be with the Main Character (MC) because they're both the same sex, or of a lower social class, or they just don't think they're worthy of the MC. Regardless, they spend a lot of time pining and vacillating on whether a relationship is right yada yada yada.
Is there a trope for when the MC just straight up moves on? They get tired of the indecision and just straight up leave, finally dating one of the other people that have also been vying for their heart.
Maybe the LI finally confesses but the MC is already happily dating someone else, or has finally accepted that promotion 5000km away, or if the LI takes long enough, maybe the MC is already happily married and expecting a child.
I'm just tired of reading fanfic where this scenario is one of the only sources of tension.
openThe Company Officer Literature
Predator: If It Bleeds, short story "Devil Dogs." A guy from something called Section Seven is accompanying a Marine crew. Section Seven is made up of ex-military people, but answering to the Company board, and he's there to ensure Company assets are looked after, ostensibly having the last word in command decisions. Does this fit under The Political Officer, or a different trope?
resolved Fascinated by the Villain's Cruelty Literature
Is there a trope for this type of behavior - An Anti-Hero, or an ambiguous ally to the hero, is fascinated by how evil and inhumane the villain is. Often because this character is more interested in other aspects of the conflict with the villain than "being good".
For instance, a glory hog on the side of the heroes might be happy to find out the villain slaughter a bunch of innocent people because once the villain is defeated, his fame'll be even greater. Or, he's a psychiatrist who sees the villain's crimes as something worth studying, so the more there is to analyse, the better. Or even, the hero's a bored Smug Super who's excited an actually dangerous villain shows up for him to fight.
resolved Self-damaging attack Literature
Trying to find a trope for attacks that also slightly injure the attacker, a la Take Down in Pokémon. I looked at Self-Damaging Attack Backfire but that's not it.
ETA: The specific example I'm thinking of is new information about Lesedi Ingwe from Reign of the Seven Spellblades: she's a Kung-Fu Wizard Kick Chick who, it turns out, normally wears armor on her legs because otherwise she'd injure herself from the force of her kicks (apparently she lacks Required Secondary Powers). She takes them off in her fight scene in volume 10 to lose the Power Limiter, which ends with the flesh on her legs in tatters. I currently have the information listed as an inversion of Armed Legs.
Edited by StarSwordresolved shocked by bad language Literature
Do we have a trope for a character being shocked by another character's bad or uncouth language? I mean irrespective of whether they're a Sir Swears-a-Lot, this would be a reaction trope.
openLove triangle but for pain? Literature
So, it's like this.
Alice loves Bob, and they used to date. Bob used to date Alice, but after Alice broke his heart, he fell in love with Carol. Bob still loves Alice, but like a little sister instead of a lover. Carol is best friends with Alice, and doesn't want to hurt Alice by dating Bob, even though she is also in love with him.
Alice says that if Bob and Carol get together, she'll support it, but will secretly be hurt. Bob is getting pushed back and forth between Carol saying "Alice loves you, be with her" and Alice saying "You love Carol, go be with her."
Meanwhile, Bob is hurt because the woman he loves and his best friend / little sister figure are both rejecting him.
Are there any tropes like that?
openLove triangle but for pain? Literature
So, it's like this.
Alice loves Bob, and they used to date. Bob used to date Alice, but after Alice broke his heart, he fell in love with Carol. Bob still loves Alice, but like a little sister instead of a lover. Carol is best friends with Alice, and doesn't want to hurt Alice by dating Bob, even though she is also in love with him.
Alice says that if Bob and Carol get together, she'll support it, but will secretly be hurt. Bob is getting pushed back and forth between Carol saying "Alice loves you, be with her" and Alice saying "You love Carol, go be with her."
Meanwhile, Bob is hurt because the woman he loves and his best friend / little sister figure are both rejecting him.
Are there any tropes like that?
resolved "Story Breadcrumbs", but for literature. Literature
I only got examples about videogames, but books are my favorite hobby, so I need a trope which applies to them. The trope is this:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StoryBreadcrumbs
Edited by luigirovattiopenCover art style shift Literature
So, the situation. On original release, whoever designed the book series' covers, thought it's a good idea to make character appear "cool" and "punky" (possibly thinking it would appeal to the target audience, the teenagers), which doesn't even fit their personalities, or series' morale... as well as draw a visible breast to female lead (which only gets more noticeable due to outfit choices), despite it being made pretty clear that by the start of the series, she's thirteen (if convert into human years; she's celestial); she only starts ageing up at normal speed later, as she starts turning into human.
When the series got republished, covers were redesigned to both give characters more chaste outfits, and make them actually look their age.
I'm looking for something to reflect that design has changed significantly between first and second editions.
Character A is an orphan, adopted into a very wealthy family. Character A has a hard time adjusting to his new life, but character A's sisters, with various professions, starts teaching character A. When he gets tested in an exam from each of them, character A, for some reason, passes it with flying colors by accident, as he just does them half-assedly, to the point he accidentally invented something new for humanity.