Basic Trope: The mindset that you're not allowed to criticize a piece of media if you have no experience creating something.
- Straight: After Bob heavily criticizes Alice's novel The Perfect Adventures of Mary Sue, Alice challenges him to write a better book in response.
- Exaggerated: Bob calls The Perfect Adventures of Mary Sue the worst book ever written by a human, to which Alice dares him to write the next Great American Novel (or whatever nationality he is).
- Downplayed: Bob gives constructive criticism to Alice's novels, and Alice encourages him to use the ideas he suggested for a novel of his own.
- Justified:
- Alice Can't Take Criticism well.
- Bob is a Know-Nothing Know-It-All who gives advice any real writer would immediately dismiss and/or has unrealistically high expectations for her work, so Alice isn't necessarily being unreasonable.
- In his review, Bob claimed that anyone could write a better novel. Alice wants him to prove it.
- Inverted:
- Alice reads Bob's badly written novel and is inspired to write a better book because of it.
- Bob praises Alice’s novel. She dismisses his compliments and says he could probably write a better book himself.
- Bob praises Alice’s novel. She rejects his compliments because he’s not a writer.
- Bob disparages Alice's novel. She agrees with him.
- Famous novelist Bob disparages Alice's novel. She is ecstatic that he even acknowledged her at all.
- Subverted:
- Bob criticizes Alice's work, but she appears to take it well.
- Bob criticizes Alice's work, and she demands that he make something better... so he actually writes a book and it becomes a beloved classic in the following centuries, while hers remain forgotten.
- "I'm not asking if you can do better. I'm asking if literally anybody could meet those standards you set?"
- Double Subverted: ...or so it seems. She then goes on an angry rant about her book is a masterpiece and challenges Bob to write a better story.
- Parodied:
- Bob is famous in-universe for writing several popular and/or acclaimed novels.
- Bob points out a In-Universe Factoid Failure in Alice’s novel. Alice claims she’s right because she’s a published author and he isn’t. He points out that she failed history, which shuts her up.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob criticizes Alice's novel. She stays calm for a moment, but later she dares him to write something better. After Bob starts writing, Alice rescinds her challenge. He finishes his own novel and gets it published. It gets a polarized reception, much of its fandom overlapping with Alice's hatedom and vice versa.
- Averted: Alice never issues such a challenge.
- Enforced: "These know-nothing critics know nothing about the writing process! I'll show them, then!"
- Lampshaded: "You know, not everybody is a jealous hack, Alice. Sometimes you just have to listen to criticism."
- Invoked:
- Alice learns Bob is a failed novellist and figures she can get under his skin by reminding him of her greater success.
- Alice makes this criticism as a Batman Gambit designed to get Bob to write a better novel so Alice can ride off his success.
- Exploited: Alice knows Bob can't write as quickly as she can, so she writes a couple more novels while he's working on his first, and he can't write proper critiques of them because of his divided attention.
- Defied:
- Alice listens to Bob's criticism, knowing she'd only sound Wangsty if she played this card.
- “Alice, don’t even try to play the ‘let me see you do better’ card. I may not have any writing experience, but I can tell that I didn’t enjoy your book.”
- "Your right that I can't write good books. Now listen to me and learn from my mistakes."
- Discussed:Bob: The gauntlet is down, Alice, and I accept your challenge.
- Conversed: "Hey, doesn't Bob have a different, regular job? And didn't they establish, like, last season that he's a sloppy writer?"
- Implied: Bob is seen frantically writing a story and, when asked what he's doing, he says that Alice challenged him.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice is seen as somebody who just can't take criticism after pulling this card one time too many. Consequently, she realizes finally that she might have to listen to their criticisms.
- Charlie, a bestselling novelist, comes in and backs up Bob's criticisms. Alice is forced to eat her words.
- Reconstructed:
- This ends up being an Ignored Epiphany and she goes back to her old methods.
- This trope was just one of many fallacies Alice has ready at her disposal. After shooting down each one that comes their way, Bob and Charlie decide it's not worth the effort, and leave Alice with the last word.
- Alice reluctantly accepts criticism from Charlie, at least she is consistent.
- Played for Laughs: Bob does write his story as promised, and it ends up being as bad as Alice's, if not even worse.
- Played for Drama: Unintentionally, this ends up being an Armor-Piercing Question for Bob, as he always wanted to be a writer but after many failed attempts concluded he had no talent and settled for being a critic instead. This unwelcome reminder of his past sends Bob into depression.
Oh, please. You couldn't write a better main page than I could.
