This is an index for all tropes to do with writing, typing, drawing, doodling, and their utensils.
The oldest and earliest known writing and curving on walls and other mediums were in 3500 BCE in an area called Sumer (present-day Iraq) which is known as the Kish tablet. Ever since then, writing and drawing have evolved from shapes and patterns to letters, characters, and writing systems and with the help of technology, typing on devices became accessible and made it easier and faster than manual writing.
Not to be confused with tropes regarding writing fiction. Might overlap with Art Tropes.
Let's draw some tropes!
Related index:
- Art Initiates Life: A character's artwork comes to life.
- Art Reflects Personality: An artist's work shows what's going on in their head and/or heart.
- Carved Mark: Words or patterns are carved into a character's body.
- Condensation Clue: A hidden message is written/drawn in condensation with a finger.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: Writing with anything but a writing utensil.
- Dead Man Writing: A character writes something either because they know they are going to die, or in a way that it won't be seen until after their death.
- Face Doodling: Drawing and writing on an unconscious character's face.
- Furries Are Easier to Draw: It's easier for an artist to draw anthropomorphic animals rather than humans.
- Handwriting as Characterization: A character's handwriting says something about their personality.
- Human Notepad: A character's body is covered in tattooed writing.
- The Illegible: A character has bad handwriting.
- Invisible Writing: Hidden writing that can be revealed via a special method.
- Living Drawing: Drawings that magically come to life.
- Love Doodles: A character in love draws hearts and other symbols of love around their crush's name or Mrs. Hypothetical.
- Masculine Lines, Feminine Curves: Male characters tend to be drawn either boxy or lumpy; female characters tend to be drawn lithe and shapely.
- Mustache Vandalism: Drawing a mustache on the face of a portrait with any medium.
- Painting the Medium: Font, interface changes, or camera or editing tricks convey things about the story.
- The Pen Is Mightier: Weaponized writing utensils.
- Pictorial Letter Substitution: Replacing a letter (or part of a letter) with an image of something else with a similar shape.
- Rewriting Reality: The act of writing has the magical ability to change reality.
- Room Full of Crazy: When someone writes all over walls as a sign of obsession or some form of mental deficiency.
- Secret Diary: Discovering someone else's secret/"secret" diary which has all their darkest secrets.
- Sweetie Graffiti: A character in love writes something like their crush's name or initials, or something like "[their name] + [their crush's name]."
- Suntan Stencil: Outlining silly words or shapes on the Tan Lines of a character.
- Tattoo Sharpie: A stationery supply, mostly a pen or a marker, leaves permanent marks on a character's skin.
- That Was the Last Entry: Sudden diary discontinuation means that something happened to the writer that left them unable to continue writing; typically death.
- Writing Indentation Clue: A character scribbles a pencil on a seemingly blank paper to find any writing indentations of secret words that were written on it.
- Writing Lines: When a student is in detention and has to write lines on the chalkboard.
