Line #1 Tropers/NoirGrimoir


1	I'm a female Troper from the United States finishing up a Bachelor's in Graphic Design, concentration in Illustration at PLNU. I read and watch a lot of anime, manga, and sci-fi/fantasy genre books, play the occasional video game, draw of course, and write fanfictions which I never finish. I love story and character, which is probably what drew me to this place. Ever since discovering [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife TvTropes, it's practically taken over my free time.]] You'll probably see me trolling the YKTTW and TropeRepairShop in the evenings, adding my two cents in discussion. Not much of an active member in the forums, but who knows, I might drop in once in a while. I also happen to support {{SPOON}} and '''SPATULA''', '''S'''upporters of '''P'''age '''A'''ltering '''T'''o '''U'''rgently '''L'''ead to '''A'''melioration (''basically, supports just getting stuff done and making needed changes without screwing around in Trope repair unless it's something big, like cutting a page or changing the trope definition'').
2
3	I'm currently working on a novel called ''DarthWiki/BrawlyBoys'', and a loose series of books taking place in my Valruth Universe, tentatively referred to as ''DarthWiki/TheGrimmcroftSeries''.
4
5	I'm also heading and starting TheAnimeAndMangaTropingClub. Participation is welcome!
6
7	[[foldercontrol]]
8
9	[[folder: Tropes That Apply To Me]]
10
11	[[AC:Tropes I Think Apply To Me]]
12	* {{Bookworm}}
13	* BrainyBrunette
14	* SmartPeopleWearGlasses (I like to think so, anyway.)
15	* MostFanficWritersAreGirls
16	* ObliviousToLove
17	* {{Otaku}}
18	* QuirkyCurls
19	* ProudToBeAGeek
20	* RidiculousProcrastinator
21	* StarvingArtist
22	* {{Tsundere}}
23	* YaoiFangirl
24
25	[[/folder]]
26
27	[[folder: Trope Activity]]
28
29	[[AC: Tropes I've Launched]]
30
31	* ThatMysteriousThing
32	* SinkOrSwimFatherhood
33	* DidntWeUseThisJokeAlready
34	* GaggingOnYourWords
35	* ThoseWilyCoyotes
36	* JanitorImpersonationInfiltration
37	* HorrifyingHero
38	* FourPhilosophyEnsemble
39	* ClimacticVolcanoBackdrop
40	* RaisedLighterTribute
41	* ExtracurricularEnthusiast
42	* UtilityMagic
43	* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling
44	* AnimeCatholicism
45	* FantasticCatholicism
46	* CucumberFacial
47	* BadassAndChildDuo
48	* BlackBossLady
49	* CaperCrew
50	* HippieParents
51	* FictionNeverLies
52	* LadyAndKnight
53	* InternalReformist
54	* WildlifeCommentarySpoof
55	* GentlemanWizard
56	* CyberpunkTropes
57	* SteampunkIndex
58	* AnIndexOfLadiesAndGentlemen
59	* WarElephants
60	* FuturisticTechIndex
61	* RealityWritingBook
62	* QuirkyCurls
63	* WeirdBeard
64	* LastMinuteBabyNaming
65	* ThighHighBoots (Started by me, nurtured and launched by Serocco)
66	* CoolCrown
67	* MagicStaff
68	* LivingBattery
69	* AllWitchesHaveCats
70	* PrincelyYoungMan
71	* InTouchWithHisFeminineSide
72	* HedgeMaze
73	* CreepyShadowedUndereyes
74
75	[[AC: Works Pages I've Launched]]
76	* TwoKeys
77	* HanaNoNamae
78	* I also fleshed out the characters section of TrueBlood quite a bit.
79	* Started work on the HeraldsOfValdemar Character pages.
80	* launched the character page for {{Uta no Prince-sama}}
81	* InuXBokuSS
82
83	[[AC:Other work I've done]]
84	* I came up with the name [[ShanaClone Tiny Tyrranical Tsundere]]! Too bad we don't get to use it...
85	* Rewrote the MagnificentBastard page, helped redefine to include AntiHero and Hero characters.
86	* Did most of the rewrite for the ByronicHero page. I'm pretty proud of it.
87	* Helped redefine ActionHero, wrote most of the new page.
88	* Helped redefine ActionGirl as a female badass also wrote most of the page.
89	* Wrote {{Kuudere}}'s replacement, SugarAndIcePersonality.
90	* Reformatted ShanaClone and ReiAyanamiExpy to match the CharClone format.
91	* Assisted in the rewrite of CuteAndPsycho upon it's split and name change.
92	* Wrote most of the new description for StaffChick.
93	* Wrote the new description for UnsettlingGenderReveal.
94	* Wrote the new description for UrbanFantasy.
95	* Proposed the new name for Swiss Messenger: UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom
96	* Proposed the mash-up of two other proposals for the new name of Insespector Zenigata: SympatheticInspectorAntagonist
97
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder: Works I Enjoy]]
101
102	[[AC:Anime I Enjoy]]
103	* {{Baccano}}
104	* BigO
105	* BlackLagoon
106	* DarkerThanBlack
107	* {{Durarara}}
108	* {{Escaflowne}}
109	* EurekaSeven
110	* FuriKuri
111	* GGundam
112	* GhostInTheShell
113	* GunslingerGirl
114	* HetaliaAxisPowers
115	* LastExile
116	* NeongenesisEvangelion
117	* OutlawStar
118	* SailorMoon
119	* SamuraiChamploo
120	* SekaiichiHatsukoi
121	* SoulEater
122	* SpiceAndWolf
123	* SwordOfTheStranger
124	* TenchiMuyo
125	* TengenToppaGurrenLagann
126	* TigerAndBunny
127	* ToaruKagakuNoRailgun
128	* {{Toradora}}
129	* {{Trigun}}
130	* {{Uta No Prince-sama}}
131	* WolfsRain
132	* YuYuHakusho
133
134	[[AC:Manga I Enjoy]]
135	* {{Beelzebub}}
136	* {{Blame}}
137	* {{Bleach}}
138	* BloodAlone
139	* {{Claymore}}
140	* DeathNote
141	* DOGSBulletsAndCarnage
142	* EternalSabbath
143	* FairyTail
144	* FlunkPunkRumble
145	* {{Freesia}}
146	* {{Freezing}}
147	* FullmetalAlchemist
148	* {{Genshiken}}
149	* {{Gokusen}}
150	* HanaNoNamae
151	* {{Hellsing}}
152	* {{Historie}}
153	* {{Jiraishin}}
154	* KimiWaPetto
155	* MidnightSecretary
156	* {{Naruto}}
157	* NodameCantabile
158	* OnePiece
159	* {{Ore-sama Teacher}}
160	* OuranHighSchoolHostClub
161	* Psychometrer Eiji
162	* TeamMedicalDragon
163	* TheBreaker
164	* TheOne
165	* UntilDeathDoUsPart
166	* UsagiDrop
167	* VagrantSoldierAres
168	* {{Veritas}}
169	* VictorianRomanceEmma
170	* WolfGuy
171	* XS Hybrid
172	* {{Zetman}}
173	* ZettaiKarenChildren
174
175	[[AC:Literature I Enjoy]]
176
177	* [[JohnCWright The Chronicles Of Chaos]]
178	* Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Trilogy
179	* SandmanSlim Series
180	* TheWheelOfTime Series
181	* The AniteBlake Series
182	* Anything by RobinMcKinley, especially ''{{Sunshine}}''
183	* MercyThompson Series
184
185	[[/folder]]
186
187
188	[[folder: Tropers Who Are Officially Awesome]]
189
190	* '''Tropers/OhSoIntoCats''' and '''{{Tropers.Vyctorian}}''' for reveling in shipping with me in the Writers Block Daily thread.
191	* '''Tropers/{{Madrugada}}''' for being a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, and for defending anime against FastEddie in TRS.
192	* '''Tropers/{{Raso}}''' for being a MagicalGirl fanboy. It's kind of adorable. Also we tend to agree on things.
193	* '''Tropers/{{nrjxll}}''' for having similar opinions as I do on pointlessly underaged protagonists.
194	* '''Tropers/USAF713''' for being nice and for having a good head on his shoulders, also liking history.
195	* '''Tropers/MrHollowRabbit''' for vandalizing my page and being nice!
196	* '''Tropers/PunkReader''' because she says she admires me! That's cool! Dunno if I deserve it, but...
197
198	[[/folder]]
199
200	[[folder: Noir's Rants On Writing]]
201
202	There are a lot of things currently going on in the writing scene that [[BerserkButton piss me off]], as everyone in WritersBlock knows by now from my probably excessive ranting on the subjects whenever they come up. I'll throw them up here so I can refer people to them and hopefully not rant as much about them.
203
204	[[AC: Rants On Specific Genres]]
205
206	!!!'''EpicFantasy'''
207
208	I hate it. It's all completely derivative crap jacked from JRRTolkien and [[TheWheelOfTime Robert Jordan]], mangled and bastardized until it holds no emotion or meaning, spat into a manuscript and then served to me as if it was something special. These days it's all so flat and generic it isn't worth reading. Not only is the plot basically "ragtag group of regular dudes who end up being specially empowered people, one of which who might also be TheChosenOne, fight against an oppressive regime and/or the ultimate evil that is behind it" but the whole genre has descended into a wangst-fest filled with BloodierAndGorier, that brutalizes it's characters to the point of DarknessInducedAudienceApathy. There is literally no point in reading anything that is epic fantasy anymore. All the plots are more or less the same, your favorite character ''will'' be killed off just to screw with the audience's feelings, and by the end of things half the characters ''will'' be horribly maimed or at least whine as if they were. On top of that, no one is pure, no one is happy, and 99% of the time there is little to no hope to the point that even if a happy ending is somehow pulled out of a hat, it isn't very believable. The romances in them are crappily written, the characters feelings are superficial and not written with actual emotion, and they all retread the same {{Aesop}}s I've been spoon-fed ten trillion times by every other work ever and which I already agree with anyway. On top of all this, there are really only so many times I can be told the fate of the world is at stake, as well as the very idea of "the fate of the entire world or world as we know it" being at stake being pretty ridiculous in the first place. I hate to look like a bitchy Feminist, but I honestly believe that the reason the genre is so lame is because it is almost entirely composed of men, most of whom are Robert Jordan fanboys, writing in the genre. (Although, I actually read an epic fantasy written by a woman--''The Witches Of Eileanan'' by Kate Forsyth--and while the characters were a trillion times better written and so were the romance and character interactions, it still had that "what other shitty thing can we throw our character's way?" thing going on. ''Argh!!!'')
209
210	!!!'''Mainstream UrbanFantasy'''
211
212	It's all the same and it's writers couldn't portray anything seriously even if they were having a heart attack and told to write how they were feeling as their life slipped away. It's crap like mainstream UrbanFantasy clones that make ''Lit'rachuh'' nuts think they have something on genre fiction (which they don't, by the way). I can describe to you the stock UrbanFantasy protagonist: "stubborn" (by 'stubborn', they apparently mean 'stupid' or 'not a doormat'); snarky; having a shitty job, for which if they have a degree it has nothing to do with it; suicidally heroic without an ounce of self-preservation or freaking sense; just magic enough that everyone expects them to save the world, but incompetent enough to make those people look like morons for thinking so; gets away with saying the stupidest, most suicidal crap to dangerous people, who inexplicably like and spare them; and just plain ''dumb'', (the plots of these stories are so obvious that a child could figure out the 'mysteries' going on in them two hundred pages ago, yet the protagonists take till the end of the book to clue in as the villain reveals themselves. But not only that, they routinely admit they aren't very smart in-series, and yet other characters insist they actually are smart). Basically the main difference between these protags is appearance and powers. And speaking of appearance, why the hell is every single Urban Fantasy cover ''the exact freaking same?'' Hot chick (or scruffy guy) in unlikely clothing + CityNoir background + hands taken up by a gun/sword/magic or all three + random smoke, bloodstains, sparkles or other embellishment: this describes basically 99% of mainstream UrbanFantasy covers.
213
214	The other annoying thing that all mainstream urban fantasies do, is make everything 'quirky'. They aren't serious, ''at all'', even when they pretend to be. The magic creatures are often silly and act like completely modern humans, even when they are supposed to be 700 year old vampires who grew up in the Dark Ages, or two thousand year old Fae who were never human to begin with. The writers write in FirstPersonSmartass and the whole setting is a WorldOfSnark which we can't escape, even when supposedly serious shit is going down. If there are any serious characters at all, they end up being TheComicallySerious, simply because everyone and everything around them is so ridiculous it leaks over. The plots are stuffed with wacky hijinx and the character falling on their ass and wearing stupid T-shirts or having coffee mugs with wisecracks on them. They have multiple inhuman side-characters whose only job seems to be being a snarky asshole and pointing out how retarded the protagonist is while feeding them badly written exposition. All mainstream UrbanFantasy books also seem to utilize {{Masquerade}}s, each of which are more improbably maintained and less well-explained than the last (more on Masquerades in Trope Rants).
215
216	The romances are tacked on and badly written and seem to consist entirely of VampireWerewolfLoveTriangle wherein previously cool and sensible characters act like complete caricatures who only want to engage in {{Cock Fight}}s over the girl, despite the fact that she is apparently ''not'' drop dead gorgeous, but 'average', and both suitors are equally depthless, {{Shallow Love Interest}}s. If she has a NiceGuy human boyfriend or suitor, he is somehow even more flat and uninteresting than the more fantastical suitors, and sometimes even outright vilified. If the main character is a male, he will have some bizarre crush on a wholesome girl who he seems to treat like she's a porcelain doll instead of a person, and there's a fifty-fifty chance she's dead before the story starts, while on the other hand he's over here having sex with, or trying to fend off having sex with [[BettyAndVeronica Veronica]], who is either a FauxActionGirl or some kind of supernatural creature (but probably not a vampire), while strutting around, running completely on RuleOfCool with little justification for any of it (big, probably heavy scepter that looks like a coiled dragon and spouts fire and would really turn heads if someone had it on the street like this character walks around with it, and where did this guy get it in the first place? Throw it in!). Basically mainstream UrbanFantasy had degraded into a formulaic equation like a mad libs book, where vampire can be switched out for demon/warlock/djinn/dark-elf and the main character re-purposed with a race-lift or different hair color and shoved out onto the market as if it was something fresh. I don't go anywhere near any book that was approved by Kim Harrison or Jim Butcher, because I know for a fact that it will be the exact same damn thing as their books (dear god, how many of these books do they read? There quotes are on freaking everything!) It's seriously irritating that the publishing industry seems take any piece of crap that is along the lines of this formula, so they can toss it out for the sheep to consume and rake in the moneys. We're at the point of market saturation, maybe soon they'll move on to the next thing and I can get tired of those knock offs too.
217
218	!!!ScienceFiction
219
220	There are some seriously prevalent things that make me want to kick most of the people who write ScienceFiction in the face. The main thing is that the entire genre has turned into tech-wank, with RuleOfCool and Rule Of ''"Let's see how complicatedly we can describe this device when 'really big microwave' would have done just as well as a description"''. The heroes are yawningly boring and the prose that was [[PurpleProse purple]] describing some alien microbe drops off into [[BeigeProse beige]] territory when it comes to describing a characters feelings or thought patterns. Actually the characters don't have feelings or thought patterns, they just do things as cool scenery drifts by and their cyborg arm transforms into a death ray and zaps a smeerp as the narration describes the various laws of physics that make this piece of technology work. All the protagonists are men, or women who act like men, or women who act like sluts. Every excuse is used as an attempt to validate fetishistic AuthorAppeal and twisted fantasies of lesbian alien harems. The human condition is given a passing glance and ignored in favor of theoreticals that themselves can't elevate a story to the level of 'interesting' or even to the level of 'story' for that matter. The characters are automatons acting out a silicon existence in a universe that takes itself too seriously and pretends at emotion while ignoring it completely in favor of technology and not even having the intelligence to examine that fact in the story in a way that is emotionally powerful or stimulating to the psyche. Authors spend too much time on calculations, not enough time on characterization, and little time to please anyone but the readers who, like them, seem to want nothing more than bleeding edge technology in a flat world with nothing so complicated as actual characters to distract them from it. Not only that, but like with many forms of fantasy (I'm looking at, EpicFantasy!) the writers rely too heavily on previously established concepts, recycling them to the point that it is literally very difficult for someone who hasn't already been into the genre for years to figure out what the hell is going on, so much terminology is stolen from older works, reused and never explained as if it was something everyone ought to know. ScienceFiction has sold it's soul to science and lost its heart and humanity in the process. Again, I think this is too many men in the genre's fault. The two female ScienceFiction writers I've read (LoisMcMasterBujold and AnneMcCaffrey) didn't have any of these problems. But don't worry men, it's probably women's fault that UrbanFantasy is over-dramatized silly shit without any justification for anything (both women's fault and JimButcher's.)
221
222	[[AC:Rants On Tropes]]
223
224	* Coming Soon
225
226	[[/folder]]
227
228	[[folder: Noir's Ten Rules to avoid writing a shitty fan fiction.]]
229
230	# Know English. Or whatever language you're writing in. Know the mechanics of writing. Use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation. If you don't know them, don't post in public, you'll only embarrass yourself.
231	# Use a Beta. Preferably one who is better at writing than you are.
232	# Know the characters, keep everyone as in-character as possible. Don't vilify a character who isn't a villain. Don't ignore a character's faults and write them like a saint. Any deviation from canon should be at least somewhat justified in the story with elements and facts from the canon.
233	# Make it make ''sense''. Properly foreshadow events, don't pull stuff out of your ass. Have a good idea where your story is going, how it will end and what is to be accomplished in each chapter before you write it.
234	# Don't use “soap opera drama” (constantly plaguing all characters with over the top problems, like drug abuse, depression and cutting, pregnancy out of wed-lock, being battered or abused by parents or spouses, finding out they are gay, incestuous relationships, etc.) Any one or two of these things is an interesting story. All of them in one story is a train wreck. Essentially, just don't excessively torture or torment your characters solely for the sake of adding in more drama.
235	# Use sex scenes in a story sparingly. If you aren't excellent at sex scenes, just don't write them. Nothing is worse than reading a bad sex scene.
236	# Be careful with original characters. Don't use one where an existing character could reasonably be used instead. if you do write an original character. Make them a character that serves a purpose, not a cooler, hotter you. We can tell when you do that. Again, you'll only embarrass yourself by doing this.
237	# Be spare with visual/physical description an overly flowery language, unless it's significant to the story in some way. No one wants to read your five paragraph long description of a character's "beautiful orbs" or hot body, or cool car, or awesome clothes. Focus on internal sensations. Write about the character's emotions and thought processes and physical sensations, like smell, taste or touch. Also, don't just write a script of dialogue. Just don't write in script format at all.
238	# Write chapters that are 1,000 words or more. Any shorter and it's a pain in the ass to read and very little gets accomplished in each chapter.
239	# Don't do amateur-y fan fic writer stuff. This includes apologizing for your summery or your story. It's annoying. Saying your story or summery isn't that good isn't going to make me want to read it. Don't say it's your first fan fiction or your first time writing in a series. No one cares. Don't write hugely long author notes or add author's notes amidst the story. It's not helpful, it's annoying.
240
241	If you can follow all of these rules, your story should at least be ''readable''. Making it cohesive, interesting and compelling is all up to you.
242
243	[[/folder]]
244
245	[[AC: VANDALIZING AREA! Be sure to say hello when you drop in!]]
246
247	--->Leave your name and a message below. Why? Because it's fun!
248
249	* Hello, thanks for all the great work on the ByronicHero write up - {{Tropers.Vyctorian}}
250	* Hi. I admit that tvtropes has also taken up much of my free time, but I also plan to use it as a guide to helping me develop my movie ideas (mostly Action movies that invoke TheVillainMakesThePlot). - {{Tropers.Kersey475}}
251	* YOU EDITED MY PAGE. WITH WORDS. And thanks for the advice! :D - {{Tropers.Eventua}}
252	* I've never laughed so hard in a long time. I swear there's piss on the floor. - {{Ragna The Saviour}}
253	* Another fantasy fan with issues with fantasy, in my TVTropes? Excellent. Have some vandalism! - {{Tropers.JHM}}
254	* Hey, these rants are actually pretty good. For rants, which doesn't say much, but still! {{Tropers.Dealan}}
255	* YAY! I finally have tropers vandalizing my page!! Great advice for my characterization of my main character. Let's vandalize! - {{Tropers.MrHollowRabbit}}

Context Tropers / NoirGrimoir