Basic Trope: A "how-to" guide doesn't give any useful information.
- Straight:
- Alfred reads a guide on "How to Publish a Book". All it does is tell him "Step 1: Write a book. Step 2: Publish it."
- Alfred reads a guide called "How to Sit in a Chair". The steps are "1: Find a chair. 2: Sit in it."
- Exaggerated: Alfred reads a "how-to" guide that goes on for a long time, but it still gives no relevant information about what he's trying to do.
- Downplayed: The guide on how to publish a book gives some decent advice, but still notably misses several important details.
- Justified: Whoever wrote the guide didn't care to give a detailed explanation.
- Inverted: ???
- Subverted:
- The guide on "How to Publish a Book" only has those two steps as its intro. It gives more information afterwards.
- "How to Sit in a Chair" actually turns out to be giving advice on how to correctly sit in a chair to help one's posture.
- The guide seems to be giving advice about something everyone knows how to do, but it turns out it's actually a guide aimed at young children.
- Double Subverted:
- The rest of "How to Publish a Book" doesn't give a lot of helpful information, either.
- "How to Sit in a Chair" gives incorrect or incomplete information about sitting in a chair correctly.
- The guide is aimed at kids, but it doesn't provide enough information to be useful to them.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig-Zagged: The how-to guides that Alfred reads provide some helpful information, as well as some unhelpful information.
- Averted: The guide gives helpful and useful information.
- Enforced: Rule of Funny
- Lampshaded:
- "I didn't know publishing a book was that easy."
- "Who needs a guide for sitting in a chair?!"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
To make a Faux-To Guide, all you have to do is... believe in yourself!
