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Hello, fellow writers! Got any question that you can't find answer from Google or Wikipedia, but you don't think it needs a separate thread for? You came to the right place!

Don't be shy, and just ask away. The nice folks here, writers and non-writers, experts and non-experts, will do their best to help you.

The folder below contains links for special interest threads, mostly at OTC, but also from Yack Fest and Troper Coven.

    Special Interest Threads 

Also take a look at Useful Notes on various topics. They can be pretty useful.

Now, bring on the questions, baby!

edited 11th Apr '18 6:31:51 PM by dRoy

Swordofknowledge Spreading literacy with book and blade from I like it here... Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Spreading literacy with book and blade
#26376: Aug 14th 2023 at 7:00:30 AM

Ah, I see.

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
NickTheSwing Since: Aug, 2009
#26377: Aug 14th 2023 at 5:45:51 PM

So I have a villain who comes from the Scythian Empire, being The Ageless.

While he spends most of his time in a suit of magitek Powered Armor, what would his skin color / appearance under the armor most likely be? And while he speaks English, I was thinking of giving him an accent. Should I do so?

ArsThaumaturgis Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: I've been dreaming of True Love's Kiss
#26378: Aug 15th 2023 at 12:38:33 AM

[up] I'm not familiar with the matter myself, but a look at Wikipedia seems to indicate that they may have looked more or less European.

As for an accent, presuming that he still has the capacity to adapt (depending on the effects of his immortality), I would likely expect that he would have an accent that reflects the places that he's spent the most time in recent decades.

(Although he might retain something like his Scythian accent if he's made a conscious attempt to do so, or has been isolating himself from other accents.)

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Cutegirl920fire Player 222 from the Squid Games (Five Long Years) Relationship Status: Paris holds the key to my heart
Player 222
#26379: Aug 15th 2023 at 1:32:49 AM

So, I have this character from a fic who got pregnant. The father is an abusive husband that she got away from, she's squeamish about the concept of being pregnant and she has access to abortion and isn't against it.

Even with getting a support system that can help her raise the baby and acquiring therapy that helps her sort out her issues, what would be a plausible reason for her to go through the pregnancy and keep the baby?

CG for short
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#26380: Aug 15th 2023 at 1:37:51 AM

Religion is a big one. Many Christians (and probably members of other religions) are fully against abortion, though they sometimes make exceptions for certain situations like rape or the mother's health.

If she's not religious, the community around her may be, which could lead to a fear of being shamed for her choice if she's in a conservative area.

Also, if she waited too late, then I think most places are not going to let her get an abortion because at a certain point people aren't comfortable with it.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
ArsThaumaturgis Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: I've been dreaming of True Love's Kiss
#26381: Aug 15th 2023 at 4:43:42 AM

Even if she's squeamish about being pregnant, once she is pregnant, she may feel that the resulting child is then worth going through with it. More simply, she may start to love the child even before birth, if I'm not much mistaken.

(Especially once the fetus becomes sufficiently developed that she can feel the movement thereof, thus reifying it.)

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Swordofknowledge Spreading literacy with book and blade from I like it here... Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Spreading literacy with book and blade
#26382: Aug 15th 2023 at 5:00:14 AM

[up]x3 @ Cutegirl920fire:

what would be a plausible reason for her to go through the pregnancy and keep the baby?

Backing up what others have said, there are plenty of reasons that can range from absolutely grim to heartwarming. She could feel trapped by her situation and feel like she has no choice but to have the baby (particularly if her moral/religious beliefs are against abortion).

On the other hand, she could feel like parenthood is something she wants, even if the circumstances are less than ideal. There are people who are victims or abusive relationships and even horrific assaults who treasure the children born from those incidents because they truly love parenthood and their offspring even if the would have never wanted them to be conceived from those circumstances.

One other reason (that I find personally distasteful but am aware that it's a shade of gray) is that perhaps she thinks of carrying her abuser's child as a kind of "project". She feels that by raising this person to be a better human being than its father, she is somehow reclaiming power from that horrible situation or just trying to put some good into the world. Again it personally repels me, but it's certainly something that is a viable motivation for a character.

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Swordofknowledge Spreading literacy with book and blade from I like it here... Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Spreading literacy with book and blade
#26383: Aug 15th 2023 at 6:36:16 AM

Would it count as being "undercover" as a teacher if the character in question is a teacher?

One of my characters, the husband of one of the main villains, establishes himself as a teacher at the school attended by the four main characters. This is part of a larger plan his wife has for the town and its people.

However, he actually is a licensed and trained teacher, so his employment and background are legitimate despite all of the other things going on with him.

So he is still undercover?

Edited by Swordofknowledge on Aug 15th 2023 at 9:40:08 AM

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Trainbarrel The Story Supporter from The Star Ocean Since: Jun, 2023 Relationship Status: You cannot grasp the true form
The Story Supporter
#26384: Aug 15th 2023 at 8:15:45 AM

[up]Yes.

Because even as a legit teacher, he's not there because he wanted to be a teacher.

So he is undercover as himself.

Edited by Trainbarrel on Aug 15th 2023 at 8:15:52 AM

"If there's problems, there's simple solutions."
Swordofknowledge Spreading literacy with book and blade from I like it here... Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Spreading literacy with book and blade
#26385: Aug 15th 2023 at 8:29:01 AM

[up] @ Trainbarrel:

Fair enough, that's a good point. I just found it an interesting thing to think about when I really pondered it.

So he is undercover as himself.

Very much the case I guess, he even uses his real name and everything [lol].

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Cutegirl920fire Player 222 from the Squid Games (Five Long Years) Relationship Status: Paris holds the key to my heart
Player 222
#26386: Aug 15th 2023 at 5:05:29 PM

EDIT: Nevermind, I figured it out.

Edited by Cutegirl920fire on Aug 15th 2023 at 7:01:55 AM

CG for short
Florien The They who said it from statistically, slightly right behind you. Since: Aug, 2019
The They who said it
#26387: Aug 15th 2023 at 6:44:21 PM

The most logical option is that sometimes there usually isn't a bloodline, in any circumstance, and that breeding two people with active bloodlines together simply makes it more likely that one is inherited (by path B, of course) but it's still unusual.

Nearly everyone in central asia is directly descended from Genghis Khan (or possibly one of his soldiers, but either way we know it was just one guy) and pretty much everyone in europe is directly descended from Emperor Charlemagne of the HRE. There are so many famous historical people who had like twelve children long enough ago that nearly everyone should have a bloodline and powers, if not literally everyone.

If you go back about five thousand years, very nearly everyone who left descendants is the ancestor of everybody living today, and with bloodlines getting stronger with time, a huge problem becomes apparent. Does nearly everyone in the world have the (likely very strong) powers of Ramses II of Egypt? Hammurabi? Sargon I?

This is why either bloodlines shouldn't be inherited at all but claimed in some way, or should be inherited very infrequently in any circumstance.

Edited by Florien on Aug 15th 2023 at 6:44:43 AM

Swordofknowledge Spreading literacy with book and blade from I like it here... Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Spreading literacy with book and blade
#26388: Aug 16th 2023 at 7:50:41 AM

I'm curious if the following examples are "gaslighting" or merely the act of lying. I know it's not healthy either way, but I know there is a far more negative connotation with the latter.

My main protagonist's parents have spent their entire relationship (dating, engagement, married life) hiding secrets from each other—-namely that his mother is a supernatural being and that his father is an "honorary" member of a werewolf pack despite being human.

Examples of them hiding these traits from each other include:

  • When they were dating, the protagonist's father accidently saw his then-girlfriend's Game Face late at night while in bed together. She immediately reverted it and assured him he was hallucinating due to lack of sleep from the rigors of medical school and continued doing this until he believed it.

  • He once returned home covered in blood from being a bystander to an incident between two members of the pack he hangs around with, and he continued to assure her it was blood from helping with a car accident victim. He keeps heading off any suspicion she has until she believes it and leaves it alone.

  • When they were living together as a newly married couple and fixing their new house together, his wife accidently slams a window on her hand, hard enough to break bones. He is shocked that it only results in an ugly bruise and as a doctor he knows she should have a worse injury. But she insists that he saw things incorrectly and that the window slamming incident was far less severe than he imagined.

There are many more, but they do this off and on throughout their relationship when either of them stray too close to learning about their respective secrets. It isn't healthy—and it isn't meant to be—but I wonder if it's worse than mere lying.

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Altris from the Vortex Since: Aug, 2019 Relationship Status: Not caught up in your love affair
ArsThaumaturgis Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: I've been dreaming of True Love's Kiss
#26390: Aug 16th 2023 at 9:02:11 AM

By my understanding of the term, the wife is gaslighting the husband, but not the other way around.

Specifically—to go by the descriptions there—she calls into question to the husband his own perceptions and/or faculties, where he "just" asserts something untrue.

(Of course, this may depend on just how he diverts suspicion.)

(Also, did you mean "former" instead of "latter" in your first paragraph? I had the impression that gaslighting carried greater stigma than did "just" lying.)

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Swordofknowledge Spreading literacy with book and blade from I like it here... Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Spreading literacy with book and blade
#26391: Aug 16th 2023 at 9:58:15 AM

[up] @ Ars Thaumaturgis:

That's interesting, since I was worried about both of them engaging in gaslighting, but it does seem like she is the "guiltier" party in this situation. I always had a difficult time differentiating between gaslighting and ordinary lies, so that's helpful.

Going by your definition there are other examples where the husband engages in gaslighting his wife too. So that's interesting to know.

Also, did you mean "former" instead of "latter" in your first paragraph? I had the impression that gaslighting carried greater stigma than did "just" lying

Yes, that was my mistake, sorry tongue.

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
AdeptGaderius Otaku from the Anime World Since: Nov, 2018 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
Otaku
#26392: Aug 16th 2023 at 6:42:20 PM

I'm writing a Nightmare Sequence of the mother in a story. The nightmare is filled with psychological imagery symbolic of the mother's long-repressed, deep-seated grief surrounding the death of her children and acts as a hint for the true circumstances of their deaths - one of them from SIDS and the other was stillborn.

What imagery could be using in the following nightmare sequence?

TheLivingDrawing Lucas the Dreamer from The Town of Clayton Since: Apr, 2019 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
Lucas the Dreamer
#26393: Aug 16th 2023 at 8:06:00 PM

To clarify what I said about villains “having no reason to be evil” I meant that they have no tragic or sympathetic backstories. They had no reason to become evil but they chose to anyways.

Once Upon A Time.
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#26394: Aug 16th 2023 at 8:39:57 PM

Speaking personally I'd say a tragic backstory is no valid excuse to become evil, but from a less biased standpoint, I get it. Really though you can totally pull it off even in a Rousseau Was Right type of story, some people are just wicked to the core, a budding sociopath or psychopath often shows signs of their nature even in early childhood even if they had a great background, and some people will simply be so consumed by their personal desires that committing evil acts is just fine if they get what they want.

Edited by WarJay77 on Aug 16th 2023 at 11:40:11 AM

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
TheLivingDrawing Lucas the Dreamer from The Town of Clayton Since: Apr, 2019 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
Lucas the Dreamer
#26395: Aug 16th 2023 at 11:06:29 PM

[up] The series does note that, while it is never an excuse to harm the lives of others, monsters are usually created, not born. The main characters do add that there are exceptions, but they are rare and generally never get far in life. Being Evil Sucks is a Central Theme so people who chose to be evil are portrayed as being pathetic and miserable deep down.

Once Upon A Time.
ArsThaumaturgis Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: I've been dreaming of True Love's Kiss
#26396: Aug 17th 2023 at 12:46:30 AM

@Adept: Hmmm... The following may be a bit too on-the-nose, but in cast it helps, I offer it anyway.

Also: Content warning for this post: there's some body- and infant- horror suggested here.

To start with, an obvious one might be an empty crib.

Depending on how far you want to go, you might have a female figure with a stomach distended as though pregnant—but one or both of open to show it to be empty, or blackened.

Another thought might be crawling, silent infants—or foetuses. Or maybe foetuses that call out for their mother, asking why she doesn't come for them.

Hmm... Less on-the-nose might be to analogise: have an image of a pregnant cat that gives birth to something other than kittens— rocks, maybe, or for greater horror, just blood?

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Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#26397: Aug 17th 2023 at 1:09:18 AM

Really though you can totally pull it off even in a Rousseau Was Right type of story, some people are just wicked to the core, a budding sociopath or psychopath often shows signs of their nature even in early childhood even if they had a great background, and some people will simply be so consumed by their personal desires that committing evil acts is just fine if they get what they want.

"Some people are just wicked to the core" is the exact opposite of Rousseau Was Right, though.

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Trainbarrel The Story Supporter from The Star Ocean Since: Jun, 2023 Relationship Status: You cannot grasp the true form
The Story Supporter
#26398: Aug 17th 2023 at 1:26:59 AM

@Adept:

How about this?

The mother in the kitchen, ready to bake, while her baby is in a high chair at the table behind her. She picks an egg from the carton, cracks it against the bowl's edge.

A fully formed chick slips down into the bowl from the cracked egg. (So close to birth)

The mother panics, looks back.

There is just a baby doll sitting in the high-chair. Not the living baby she saw moments before looking away.

The nightmare continues for a bit, then she wakes up.

"If there's problems, there's simple solutions."
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#26399: Aug 17th 2023 at 2:39:54 AM

[up][up] Eh, that's fair I guess. Haven't read that page in a while. Though my point was less "these characters are born evil" and more "they're just evil because they are"... the trope page is sort of wishy-washy on if the character can be pure evil or not (it uses language like "tends to" and then the whole paragraph at the end talks about varieties of evil and what "innocence" means in this context).

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ArsThaumaturgis Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: I've been dreaming of True Love's Kiss
#26400: Aug 17th 2023 at 3:01:27 AM

Regarding villains in a Rousseau Was Right setting, I suppose that my question is this: For the purposes of this conversation, what does the word "sympathetic" in the term "sympathetic backstory"?

That is, does it refer only to the sort of backstory that makes one think: "Ah, poor character! With so heartbreaking a background, I can see how they turned out like that!" (i.e. Freudian Excuse)

Or does it also include backstories where the villain's path is understandable, where one can see how they might have gone the way that they did, even if one feels very differently?

For example, does Sauron from Tolkien's Legendarium count? He didn't start off evil, but came there by ways that are, I think, understandable.

I can see how someone with a particular perspective could look at the world and say: "Such waste and inefficiency! This could all be so much better! If I could just reorder things, it would be for the good of the world!"

I don't agree, but I can see how someone else might think that way.

And then, over time, focus on achieving this, and perhaps the psychological impact of doing the things involved, results in the means slowly becoming the ends...

(This is highly simplified, of course. But hopefully it's useful as illustration of what I have in mind.)

Would that sort of backstory fit, or would it be too sympathetic...?

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Aug 17th 2023 at 12:01:53 PM

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