Line #19 JustForFun/TheTropelessTale


1	->''"One of the things we tried to do with ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' was to try and do something that was so unpredictable that it had no shape and you could never say what the kind of humor was. And I think that the fact that 'Pythonesque' is now a word in the Oxford English Dictionary shows the extent to which we failed."''
2	-->-- '''Creator/TerryJones''' at the US Comedy Arts Festival, 1998
3
4	You're sick of all of those ClicheStorm, {{Troperrific}}, and JustForFun/TropeOverdosed stories. It's getting on your nerves. Why doesn't anybody do anything ''original?'' Something new enough not to get the label of "trope" stamped on them? It's just a term used to avoid having to say [[TWordEuphemism the C-word]][[note]][[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant No]], not ''[[CountryMatters that]]'' C-word[[/note]], anyway!
5
6	Then you get an idea. You know what you're going to do! You're going to write one yourself! A [[TitleDrop Tropeless Tale]]! So you go on Website/TVTropes and [[ArchiveBinge start finding every trope that exists]] so that you won't use them, consciously or unwittingly. Work something out afterwards once you know what you're left with.
7
8	As you browse the site and learn about more and more tropes to steer clear of, you think about how not using them will restrict you from writing a story conventionally, and how you might work around it:
9
10	# You can't have a {{hero\|Tropes}} or a {{villain\|s}}. Not a deal-breaker so far; there have been works with no one who's outright good or evil.
11	# You can't have an [[ActionHero Action Guy]] ''or'' a known NonActionGuy, nor can you have [[ChromosomeCasting only men or only women]].
12	# [[AuthorAppeal You can't write about anything you like]]. That might be fixable, if you just write about what you hate -- no, wait! [[PetPeeveTrope You can't do that, either]].
13	# You will not go [[PurpleProse overboard with your descriptions]], but you can't [[BeigeProse limit those descriptions, either]].
14
15	But then it hits you: avoiding certain recurring elements invariably brings forth other tropes! As you think about this, you continue gathering tropes and learn:
16
17	# You can't have [[TheAntagonist anyone opposing the main character]]... but then your story would have NoAntagonist.
18	# No matter how popular your story is, you cannot adapt it into a [[TheMovie movie]], a [[TheShowOfTheBooks show]], a [[LicensedGame video game]], a [[TheBoardGame board game]], a [[ComicBookAdaptation comic book]], an [[AudioAdaptation audio play]], a [[LicensedPinballTable pinball machine]], a [[AllMusicalsAreAdaptations musical]], a [[{{Novelization}} novel]], or [[TheMerch any merchandise at all]]. It looks like you have NoAdaptationsAllowed... wait, there's a trope for that too?
19	# You will not have a {{narrative\|Tropes}} in your story. That means no {{Dialogue}}, no {{Conflict}}, no {{Characters}}, no {{Plot\|s}}. Then your story will be about the [[NoPlotNoProblem purely abstract]], maybe even nothingness. [[SceneryPorn Just a page or two describing the non-existent scenery]] that is [[{{Pun}} uTropia]]. [[PurpleProse Or maybe just describing nothingness]]. [[SeinfeldianConversation Aww, nuts, that won't work either...]]
20	# You can't simply use as few tropes as needed; [[{{Minimalism}} that is also a trope]]. So, you should avert all tropes... but you cannot use AvertedTrope on any nigh-{{omnipresent tropes}}. Sound like some sort of LogicBomb? [[MindScrew Well, you have to avert that now too]].[[note]]And then you realize you have to avert MindScrew as well, and OverlyLongGag, and DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment, and ShapedLikeItself, and...[[/note]]
21
22	It's at this point that [[YourHeadASplode your head explodes]] from [[GoMadFromTheRevelation the sheer number of paradoxes]] that have arisen from trying to create a Tropeless Tale. [[WingedSoulFliesOffAtDeath Your spirit rises out of your body]] into [[FluffyCloudHeaven the clouds]], where JustForFun/TropeTan, goddess of tropes, is waiting for you. Incensed, you say to her, "Is this some kind of [[CosmicPlaything cosmic prank]] you're pulling? I'm sure there ''has'' to be a way to write a story without tropes!"
23
24	Trope-tan shakes her head and answers:
25
26	"Even if you actually accomplish it somehow, despite all the other issues you encountered, even if you manage to create a story that is well and truly tropeless, what happens if other people decide they like your ideas enough to [[FollowTheLeader copy them in]] ''[[FollowTheLeader their]]'' [[FollowTheLeader stories]]? Then your tale would no longer be tropeless, but instead be the TropeMaker for an entirely new set of tropes, because that's what a {{trope}} is: a pattern of elements meant to convey meaning."
27
28	Heck, the "story" can't even exist because there is no world, characters, plot, themes, etc.; everything ''IS'' a trope, you will just do nothing for that's lazy... to "create" your "franchise", it just can't actually exist... What all just is ''plain nothing'', but think... what the merchandise be made out of. It can't be plastic, wood, fabric, metal, paper or any material at all; can it be made out of air?!? '''You can't mold air''', and it has no shapes... the idea may be already "existing" and that "idea" is '''''nothing™️''''' in the living mater of existence of the world if it does not...
29
30	You stare in silence for several seconds. Finally, Trope-tan asks you, "[[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle So, what did you learn?]]"\
31	And you reply, "I learned two things:"
32
33	# "I can't write a story without tropes, and that's okay."
34	# "[[SpaceWhaleAesop Trying to write a story without tropes will make your head explode.]]"
35
36	->''[TheEnd and roll credits]''
37	----
38	Due to the ''impossibility'' of writing a story without tropes, it is generally not to be undertaken except as an artistic challenge, and attempting to not use tropes is not necessarily intelligent writing; instead, an easier end toward intelligent writing is to take old tropes and [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools use them in a new way]]. ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' is considered a masterpiece, even though nothing in it was new. It just used the old in a fascinating way. Creator/WilliamShakespeare lifted all of his plots from other works (except maybe [[Theatre/TheTempest one]] or [[Theatre/LovesLaboursLost two]]). ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' is one of the most critically acclaimed fantasy series in modern fiction, and was [[{{Troperiffic}} deliberately filled with every trope, convention and cliché that the writer could think of]]. Also, let's not forget that the three highest grossing movies of all time, ''Film/Titanic1997'', ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', and ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', are riddled with tried and true formulae, familiar story structure and arc characterisations.
39
40	It's important to note that this page is not meant as a smug, pop-psychology attack on the stupidity and unoriginality of the human brain, but rather a testament to how many tropes authors and artists have created, including some pairs of tropes that are exact opposites and even some that necessarily occur whenever others don't. In contrast, the message here is that writing a tropeless tale is impossible because writers long ago have thought of so much, often in deliberate attempts to avoid using tropes. So don't take it personally. Heck, even stories purposefully written with as few words as possible can unintentionally spawn a myriad of tropes, such as Literature/HemingwaysSixWordStory, the three surviving lines of ''Theatre/TheProgeny'', and JustForFun/TheUglyBarnacle.
41
42	The closest thing to a Tropeless Tale is TV static from a channel you can tune to, but don't get -- in other words, a SnowyScreenOfDeath! ''Curses!'' YouAreTooLate!
43
44	Some works have come close to reaching this nebulous quality such as ''WesternAnimation/{{Allegretto}}'', ''Film/AfterLastSeason'', ''[[Film/Empire1964 Empire]]'', ''VideoGame/GrandPianoKeys'', ''Film/{{Koyaanisqatsi}}'', ''Film/MyDinnerWithAndre'', ''Film/ManWithAMovieCamera'', ''Music/NowThatsWhatICallMusic'', ''Film/RussianArk'', ''Film/{{Decasia}}'', ''Literature/AMillionRandomDigitsWith100000NormalDeviates'', ''Une semaine de bonté''[[note]]a series of collage artwork by [[{{Surrealism}} surrealist]] artist Max Ernst[[/note]], ''WebVideo/WebdriverTorso'', and quite a few TrueArtIsIncomprehensible works, although all of these are arguable and subjective, and well... they tend to come up with tropes anyway. The closest example in video games is arguably ''VideoGame/PyongyangRacer'', and that still has some tropes. Also, ''Literature/FinnegansWake''. No, wait, that's a MindScrew... Arguably, the closest thing to it is the film ''Film/RoundhayGardenScene'' which is 2 seconds long and depicts no real action, but it's questionable whether it can even be considered a "work".
45
46	To put it another way, the Tropeless Tale would be... absolutely nothing.[[note]]Just make sure to avoid EmptyRoomPsych when you present it.[[/note]]
47
48	%%To put it another way, the Tropeless Tale is [[SelfDemonstrating/TheTropelessTale this]].[[note]][[EmptyRoomPsych Oh, wait]].[[/note]]
49
50	%%Or this: ∞ [[note]][[{{Infinite}} No, wait, this won't work either]].[[/note]]
51
52	See also SoYouWantTo.BeOriginal.
53	----
54	!!Look, even this page uses tropes:
55
56	* AnAesop: [[TropesAreTools You can't write a story without tropes]], and that's OK.
57	* AlliterativeName: '''T'''he '''T'''ropeless '''T'''ale.
58	* AwfulTruth: You will never be 100% original. Yes, it's sad, but you have to accept it and move on.
59	* BeigeProse: The only words in the Tropeless Tale are in the title.
60	* BreakThemByTalking: That's right, [[TakeThatAudience go ahead]]. Try and make a tropeless tale. It is impossible.
61	* {{Conflict}}: Averted, as the story has no conflict (unless you count the writer trying to make a Tropeless Tale as the conflict).
62	* EmptyRoomPsych: The lack of tropes would make people want to find meaning and content in the story anyway, even if there weren't any content intended in the first place.
63	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: It's a story without tropes (or at least, its ideal is to be one).
64	* FlashFiction: The Tropeless Tale is as short as you can possibly make a story, as it has ''no words at all'' (not counting the title).
65	* TheLawOfConservationOfDetail: Ideally, the aim of the Tropeless Tale is to have absolutely no content in it at all. But as the other tropes prove, even having the story be completely absent of even the most basic things a story needs, to the point where it has absolutely no words beyond the title, will spawn a myriad of tropes by itself.
66	* MindScrew: A story with no tropes spawns a list of tropes anyway. Try to wrap your head around that.
67	* {{Minimalism}}: Trying to make a story that uses absolutely no tropes at all is similar to the mindset of this, albeit taken to an insane and impossible extreme.
68	* MinimalistCast: Exaggerated; as this work doesn't contain characters at all.
69	* NamelessNarrative: The Tropeless Tale has absolutely no characters in it. In fact, the only "names" are the title itself.
70	* NonIndicativeName: Despite being a story that attempts to use no tropes, its attempt to completely avoid using them [[YouCantFightFate ends up spawning a list of tropes for it anyway.]]
71	* NoPlotNoProblem: The Tropeless Tale has no plot or narrative to speak of, but it does exist to make a point, ironically due to its utter ''lack'' of content.
72	* PoesLaw: Is this serious, or is it a challenge to all you writers out there with a bit of guts?
73	* SecondPersonNarration: The Tropeless Tale narrating itself without the use of "I" or "me".
74	* SelfReferentialHumor: This is Website/TVTropes making fun of its troping ability.
75	* SchmuckBait: The challenge to write something tropeless seems appealing.
76	* ShaggyDogStory: In the end, you couldn't create a tropeless tale.
77	* ShowDontTell: The story proves the folly of trying a write a story with no tropes by showing that a story with no tropes has nothing in it at all, and yet still manages to spawn content, tropes, and a reaction to it, anyway.
78	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Can go either way, depending on whether you interpret the impossibility of making a Tropeless Tale as a good thing or a bad thing.
79	* TropeMaker: Maybe, just maybe, you might come up with something that averts all existing tropes. Success? Nope, as the page quote shows, the best you can hope for is that you've created a new one.
80	* UnpleasableFanbase: Even if you managed to create a tropeless tale, someone would still find something in your work to bash and/or criticize.
81	* UnwinnableTrainingSimulation: The Tropeless Tale is the storytelling equivalent of this by showing writers aspiring to 100% originality that success is impossible.
82	* WeDoTheImpossible: This is the aim of anyone trying to write a Tropeless Tale, as it absolutely ''is'' impossible.
83	* YouCantFightFate: Even if it were possible to succeed, any work created that way would act as a TropeMaker for new tropes. If you found a way around that, "tropeless tale" itself would become a trope. %%Worse yet, since you're reading this, it already is.
84	* YouKeepUsingThatWord: If you honestly think in the way portrayed by the Tropeless Tale, you're confusing "{{Trope}}" with "{{Cliche}}".
85
86	----
87	->...And that, folks, is the reason why we say Administrivia/TropesAreTools around here. Even the mere ''concept'' of a Tropeless Tale has {{trope}}s.

Context JustForFun / TheTropelessTale