History Main / BooksOnTrope

* StructuralArchetypes: The Hero Myth, Outlaw Myth, Inverted Myth, etc.

* TheGrandListOfOverusedScienceFictionCliches

* [[http://www.rocketpunk-observatory.com/spaceguideA-E.htm The Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy]]
* [[http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2008/02/beverly-slapins-how-to-write-historical.html How to Write a Historical Young Adult Novel with an Indian Theme (For Fun and Profit)]]
* [[http://www.granta.com/Archive/92/How-to-Write-about-Africa/Page-1 How to Write about Africa]] and [[http://www.ourmaninabiko.com/2010/10/how-to-write-about-japan.html How to Write about Japan]]; actually, how ''not'' to write about these places.
* [[http://shannahmcgill.tumblr.com/ The Right Writing]]

* [[http://www.dramatica.com/ Dramatica]] -- This is a rather complicated literary theory that divides story telling into 4 story tellers, 64 "Quads" of 4 properties that examine 64 questions that must each be explored and resolved and...well...There's a 360 page PDF to read and you can buy a rather expensive program to sort it all out. Like most theories, it works pretty well often enough to help most of the time, but there are exceptions. The [[http://www.dramatica.com/downloads/dramaticomic.pdf comic book version]] is pretty easy to follow.
** Here's a page for us to give a summary: {{Dramatica}}.
* How to Read Literature Like A Professor (Thomas C. Foster) -- basic plots, clichés, and devices.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarne-Thompson_classification_system Aarne-Thompson Classification System]] and [[http://www.ruthenia.ru/folklore/thompson/index.htm Stith Thompson Folk Motif-Index]] describe a massive set of descriptors for folktales. For example, in "An Encyclopedia of Fairies" by Katharine Briggs she gives a breakdown of Cinderella. It is Type 510 (an example of Supernatural Helpers) and contians Motifes S31: Cruel stepmother; L55: Stepdaughter heroine; F311.1: Fairy godmother; D1050.1: Clothes produced by magic; F861.4.3: Carriage from pumpkin; N711.6: Prince sees heroine at ball and is enamoured; C761.3: Taboo: staying too long at ball. Must leave before certain hour; and H36.1: Slipper test. Given that the motif index is apparently six large volumes the detail seems overwhelming!
* [[Creator/GreenwoodPress Daily Life Through History Series]] : A vast hoard of UsefulNotes. Use these for research and you will never again write HollywoodHistory by accident.

* ''Literature/StoryStructureArchitect'', which offers 55 Dramatic Situations

[[AC:Personality Profiles]]

The most common trope collections are personality profiles. Many people have devised systems of sorting characters into a handful of pigeonholes (the [[UsefulNotes/MyersBriggs Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)]], UsefulNotes/TheEnneagram, the D&D CharacterAlignment system, etc.). Of course, they tend to think this works well for sorting ''people'', whereas we're going to take the more sensible view that it works well for sorting ''fictional characters'' who aren't nearly as complex as your average real human. They're useful systems for the writer as well as for the reader, so eventually we'll get them up here.

[[AC:Basic Plots]]

People have also tried to condense the wide and varied world of plots into a small and succinct list of ''possible'' plots. The most basic system says that all plots are about one of two things, [[LoveTropes love]] and [[DeathTropes death]], but the list can go up to fifty or even more. Joseph Campbell tried to pin it all down to a single heroic version in ''TheHerosJourney'', and while that doesn't cover every story, it works with a lot of them (and George Lucas decided to base ''Franchise/StarWars'' all around Campbell's work). It's when people start claiming that ''Film/SchindlersList'' has the same plot as ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' that we start to wonder if their systems make any sense, but hey, maybe they had a flash of inspiration. At any rate, studying plot archetypes can help writers to straighten out the odd kinks that are throwing them for a loop, and maybe to introduce elements that strengthen the overall story and underscore its thematic meaning. As for the reader... well, it's always fun to realize, halfway into the new blockbuster, that you're really watching a postmodern sci-fi version of "Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast".

[[AC:Lists of Clichés ]]

{{Dead Horse Trope}}s can be surprisingly stubborn beasts, refusing to leave the media well after they've been discredited, disbarred, and run out of the country for being So Last Century. The more that writers recognize the possible clichés that exist, the more they're able to avert, subvert, and even invert the critters, allowing for the possibility that their viewers are ''not'' morons and just might enjoy watching something written with a little connection to reality. Then again, it's just fun to [[BetterThanABareBulb review all the oddities]] that make up our collected media history (laser printers that still sound like a Dot Matrix?) and then play drinking games over recognizing when they show up in our favorite sitcoms.

[[AC:Personality Profiles]]

* Literature/TheCompleteWritersGuideToHeroesAndHeroines

* MasterCharacters
** MasterCharacterHeroes
** MasterCharacterHeroines
** MasterSupportCharacters
* [[UsefulNotes/MyersBriggs Myers-Briggs Temperament Indicator]]

* UsefulNotes/TheEnneagram
* UsefulNotes/BigFivePersonalityTraits
* FiveFoundationsOfMorality
* SystemsOfSurvival
* CharacterAlignment

[[AC:Basic Plots]]

* [[{{Conflict}} The Seven Basic Conflicts]]: as formulated by various [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_(narrative) critics]] after the fashion of Arthur Quiller-Couch.\\

* Literature/TheHeroWithAThousandFaces
* StructuralArchetypes: The Hero Myth, Outlaw Myth, Inverted Myth, etc.
* Literature/TheSevenBasicPlots, as analyzed by Christopher Booker
* TenMoviePlots, from ''Save the Cat!''

* StoryStructureArchitect, which offers 55 Dramatic Situations
* Literature/{{Story}}: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting
* Literature/TheAreasOfMyExpertise offers ''another'' Fifty-Five Dramatic Situations
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirty-Six_Dramatic_Situations The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations]]
* Lists of "dramatic situations" seem to have been somewhat popular around the turn of the century, as described [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2015/10/27/history_of_screenwriting_a_master_book_of_plots.html here]], which also contains another list of Thirty-Seven Dramatic Situations dating to 1919.

* The ''Literature/{{Poetics}}'' of Creator/{{Aristotle}}, the UrExample.

* AsimovsThreeKindsOfScienceFiction
* TheHollywoodFormula

[[AC:Lists of Clichés ]]
* [[http://www.cs.utah.edu/~duongsaa/more_htm/jk_100animeRules.htm 100 Rules of Anime Physics]]
* [[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=GLOSSARY Ebert's Little Movie Glossary]]
* Literature/AmericanCornball
* Literature/EbertsGlossaryOfMovieTerms
* EvilOverlordList
** JustForFun/TheUniversalGenreSavvyGuide
*** JackButlersOriginalEvilOverlordList
* Blog/LimyaaelsFantasyRants
* Website/TheFantasyNovelistsExam

* Literature/FenimoreCoopersLiteraryOffences
* Website/TheGrandListOfConsoleRolePlayingGameCliches

** [[http://www.rocketpunk-observatory.com/spaceguideA-E.htm The Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy]]
* ''Literature/HelpMyStoryHasTheMarySueDisease'', by L.C. Morgenstern. Goes through cliches and tropes associated with the dreaded MarySue by topic, but doubles as general character-writing advice.

* [[http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2008/02/beverly-slapins-how-to-write-historical.html How to Write a Historical Young Adult Novel with an Indian Theme (For Fun and Profit)]]
* Blog/HowToWriteBadlyWell

* Website/TheRPGClichesGame

* Website/TurkeyCityLexicon
* "Literature/SillyNovelsByLadyNovelists" by Creator/GeorgeEliot
* ''Literature/TheArtOfCourtlyLove'' by Andreas Capellanus
* [[http://www.granta.com/Archive/92/How-to-Write-about-Africa/Page-1 How to Write about Africa]] and [[http://www.ourmaninabiko.com/2010/10/how-to-write-about-japan.html How to Write about Japan]]; actually, how ''not'' to write about these places.
* [[http://shannahmcgill.tumblr.com/ The Right Writing]]
* "Literature/TheThreeDecker" by Creator/RudyardKipling
* "Literature/WhyLiteratureIsBadForYou" by Peter Thorpe, which discusses the detrimental effects reading can have in the wrong mindset, and how it can even attract people who write badly or even ''encourage'' people to write badly.

[[AC:Other works]]

* ''Literature/OnFairyStories''

* Literature/TheFourLoves -- the ones codified by Creator/CSLewis, at least; never enter a {{Shipping}} debate without it!
* ''Literature/TheDiscardedImage''--A series of lectures by Creator/CSLewis about the Medieval worldview and its effect on literature. Very useful. Contains explanations on the Medieval take on such tropes as EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse, AllMythsAreTrue, ButIReadABookAboutIt, and of course TheFairFolk.

* ''Literature/HamletsHitPoints'' examines one rather famous play and two movies for their narrative beats and how the understanding of these can be used to improve role-playing games.
* ''Literature/BlowingUpTheMovies'' examines two dozen famous action movies for the coolest action genre tropes and trope combos they exemplify and analyzes how these can be used as tools to improve TabletopRPG campaigns.
* ''Literature/TheAmericanCredo'' discusses many things believed to be true by Americans in RealLife; not surprisingly, many of them are also common tropes in American fiction.

[[AC:Miscellaneous]]
* WebAnimation/ExtraCredits -- Lectures on story and mechanics tropes in video games, and how game developers can get the most use out of them to make better games.
* Podcast/WritingExcuses
* Website/AtomicRockets: A resource for hard science fiction writers.

[[AC:Resources Without Their Own Pages]]

** RomanceGenreHeroines

* Literature/HeroesAndHeroines
** RomanceGenreHeroes

* Website/FantasyNovelistsExam

* [[http://www.rinkworks.com/fnovel/ The Fantasy Novelist's Exam]]

* WebVideo/ExtraCredits -- Lectures on story and mechanics tropes in video games, and how game developers can get the most use out of them to make better games.

* BigFivePersonalityTraits

* MasterPlots

* ''ComicBook/UnderstandingComics''

* The ''Literature/{{Poetics}}'' of Creator/{{Aristotle}}

* ''WebVideo/FeministFrequency'': Web series analyzing the representation of women in media.

* WebVideo/ExtraCredits

* [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2015/10/27/history_of_screenwriting_a_master_book_of_plots.html Here's]] another Thirty-Seven Dramatic Situations from 1919, as well as mention of even older similar lists.

* ''Literature/{{Hieroglyphics}}'' by ArthurMachen -- Mainly used to share his theory on what makes a book ''true art'' as opposed to mere entertainment but also discusses the nature (and pitfalls) of various tropes.

The most common trope collections are personality profiles. Many people have devised systems of sorting characters into a handful of pigeonholes (the [[MyersBriggs Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)]], UsefulNotes/TheEnneagram, the D&D CharacterAlignment system, etc.). Of course, they tend to think this works well for sorting ''people'', whereas we're going to take the more sensible view that it works well for sorting ''fictional characters'' who aren't nearly as complex as your average real human. They're useful systems for the writer as well as for the reader, so eventually we'll get them up here.

* [[MyersBriggs Myers-Briggs Temperament Indicator]]