This picture will give you bad reams.
Index for paper stuff: letters, documents, contracts, reports, homework, notes, messages, notebooks, posters, newspapers, toilet paper and so on, and various related plots.
Compare Bookish Tropes, Box Tropes, Mail and Delivery Tropes and Photography and Illustration. See also Text Tropes and Writing and Drawing Index.
Badass on Paper, Paper Cutting, Paper People and Paper Tiger are unrelated.
Art, crafting, creating and stuff made of paper
- Dunce Cap: A student who misbehaves or does poorly in school is punished by being made to sit in the corner and wear a pointy cap made of paper.
- Improvised Umbrella: Can be improvised with a large piece of paper, usually a newspaper.
- Love Doodles
- Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book
- 1000 Origami Cranes
Contracts and documents
- Conveniently Interrupted Document
- Destroy the Evidence: If the evidence is a document, e.g. a letter, a contract or something similar.
- Eat the Evidence: If the evidence in question is something made of paper.
- Fictional Document
- Magically-Binding Contract
- Read the Fine Print
- Tear Up the Contract
- Tricked into Signing
- Unreadable Disclaimer
Letters and messages
- Blood-Stained Letter
- Chain Letter
- Dead Man Writing
- "Dear John" Letter
- Epistolary Novel: Consists of letters.
- Love Letter
- Love Letter Lunacy
- Message in a Bottle
- Obsessive Love Letter
- Passing Notes in Class
- Strongly Worded Letter
- Voiceover Letter
Newspapers
- Authentication by Newspaper
- Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
- Newspaper Dating
- Newspaper-Thin Disguise: Holding up a newspaper or other form of reading material to avoid being seen.
- Spinning Paper
Paper bags
- Brown Bag Mask
- Hyperventilation Bag: Breathing into a paper bag to calm down.
- Paper-Bag Popping
Posters
- Admiring the Poster: Character lusting in front of a pin-up poster.
- Fauxtivational Poster
- Just Take the Poster
- Poster-Gallery Bedroom
- Poster Patchup
- "Wanted!" Poster
Toilet paper
- Only Useful as Toilet Paper: A piece of writing is considered so poor that its only good use is for wiping your ass or some other purpose that involves defiling the paper.
- Toilet Paper Prank: A prank where you wrap rolls of toilet paper around everything.
- Toilet Paper Substitute: Running out of toilet paper and having to use something else.
- Toilet Paper Trail: Someone leaves the bathroom with a piece of toilet paper stuck to their foot.
- There Will Be Toilet Paper: People who cut themselves shaving always use bits of toilet paper to stop the bleeding.
Writing
- The Illegible: A character who writes in a way only they can understand.
- Rewriting Reality: Want to change reality? Just get a notebook and write!
- Secret Diary: Discovering someone else's secret/"secret" diary which has all their darkest secrets.
- Scrapbook Story
- That Was the Last Entry: Sudden diary discontinuation means that something happened to the writer that left them unable to continue writing; typically death.
Written assignments and homework
- Completely Off-Topic Report: A student is asked to write a paper, but somehow has it written on a subject that has nothing to do with the topic that was assigned.
- A Dog Ate My Homework: A student who neglected to do their homework (frequently something written on paper) avoids getting in trouble by claiming their dog ate the homework.
- Homework Slave: Bullying someone else into doing your homework for you.
- Writing Lines: The lines can be assigned to be written into a notebook/piece of paper.
Other
- Break-Up Bonfire
- Burn Baby Burn
- Cardboard Box of Unemployment: When a person gets fired, they have to carry their possessions in a cardboard box.
- Kids Prefer Boxes: Children prefer playing with the box rather than the toy the box contained.
- No-Paper Future
- Origami Gag: Doing something funny with paper and papercraft.
- Padding the Paper: Someone is assigned to write a document and pads it out by adding unnecessary words, larger fonts, pictures, etc.
- Paper Destruction of Anger
- Paper Fan of Doom
- Paper Master
- Paper Talisman
- Pen Pals: Friends who exchange letters.
- Plot-Triggering Book: A character either discovers a special book or is given one which kickstarts the plot.
- Press Hat: A piece of paper that says PRESS tucked in a reporter's hat.
- Ripped from the Phone Book: Tearing out a phone book page instead of writing the number down.
- Scantron Picture: Someone taking a Scantron test fools around by filling in the dots to make a picture.
- Signed with a Kiss: A character signs a letter, photograph, or other piece of paper with a kiss mark in addition to or in place of their name.
- Stalker Shrine
- Stopped Reading Too Soon: Character mistakes a break in a document for its actual end, missing an important part of the message.
- Wastebasket Ball
- Writer's Block Montage
- Zigzag Paper Tassel
