Trope Description Improvement Drive

yeah i think the version of foil in the sandbox is much better and clearer

Edited by amathieu13 on Jul 22nd 2021 at 9:47:19 AM

Thanks, guys! If there are no objections or other remarks, I'm gonna change the current description.

The first part of Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls implies it is in-universe, the rest of the description inplies the opposite.

It's more giving the real life context for the trope than anything, though I agree it could stand to talk more about how this manifests in fiction.

The Bride with a Past has this.

A friend, family member, or employer brings his fiancée to the family house. One of the cast knows the woman already, revealing that she was a hooker/stripper/is Transgender. Family debates on whether the groom-to-be should be told. Hilarity Ensues, except not.

Often, the prospective groom already knows, and the episode ends with An Aesop about tolerance...usually, going directly against the attitude the episode took to such things up to that point.

That's it; that's the entirety of the trope description. I really feel this needs to be be reworked to A) Not have an Example As Thesis, and B) Not feel so terse and short.

Suggestions?

It needs some rewording. I think instead of "hooker/stripper/is Transgender" line, maybe we can say "hooker, stripper, etc. anything regarding the bride's identity that she kept hidden from the groom". Plus, another line about how it could be an Open Secret if everyone but the soon-to-be-groom didn't know. Also, isn't there a trope for like a relationship that depends on a secret being found out or not? Forgot its name, but we can link it here.

Hmm, what about this?

Meeting the fiance's family is always a tense situation, ready to explode with drama for a story. What makes it worse? One of the family members already knows the fiancée, and she has a secret.

A big one.

Maybe she was a hooker or a stripper, or less scandalously, maybe she dated an old friend or juicy rumors float surround her. Maybe she was Mistaken for Cheating. It could even be a positive secret, such as secretly being royalty Obviously, they have to share with the rest of the family, and the entire family discusses it in private, away from the happy couple.

Often, the prospective groom already knows, and the episode ends with An Aesop about tolerance...usually, going directly against the attitude the episode took to such things up to that point. Compare Secret Relationship.

Oh, this is neat. I especially like the introduction.

I'd rewrite this line, "...the episode ends with An Aesop..." into something like: "...the episode ends with either an Honesty Aesop, or a message about tolerance, or with no moral at all" (instead of the Broken Aesop pothole).

Though, I don't think this is really related to Secret Relationship. I was referring to the trope when you hide something about yourself from your partner because you're scared of their reaction? Something relationship -ing reveal? Or maybe I made that up...

All right, redid the Aesop line, cut the secret relationship bit, and updated the description.

To add a new one, Generation Xerox has. A very long description, that is somewhat repetitive.

Print Bonus: Any reason to keep the comic / Webcomic restriction on the page, when it's more about any digital work getting a physical version?

~alnair20aug93 - If you wanna talk about Pushy Mooks some more.

Pass. Although I do think the related tropes such as Invincible Minor Minion, Ledge Bats, and Punched Acrossthe Room needs mention to the page.

Also worth mentioning is Annoying Video Game Helper.

You don't really need consensus to add sister/related tropes as long as they make sense, so just add them if you think they'll improve the description.

I think those were already added before. Seems Annoying Video Game Helper is related though, so I'll add that.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but this topic only allows discussion on descriptions of trope articles, correct? Where should I go in order to get feedback for description on a work page or an Analysis subpage?

If the work has a forum thread, that could be a good start.

Understood, thanks!

Eiryu: I finally found the trope I was referring to! It's Milholland Relationship Moment! You can link to that in The Bride with a Past. :D

For Generation Xerox, We can move this whole paragraph (I think To a certain point, this trope can be...) to an analysis page. Plus, this paragraph (And heaven help you if your parents...) can be trimmed, it just feels like unnecessary padding to me.

Chopped Generation Xerox down and moved the suggested paragraph over to analysis.

Over in the Negativity Cleanup thread the subject of They Changed It, Now It Sucks! came up. Particularly, how the trope description for the page seems to be lampooning and insulting people for being anti-change before actually listing all the reasons why people might be justified after all (with the implication that justified complainers represent a minority).

However, in practice most on-page examples of the trope are about describing instances where audiences react badly to significant changes in properties, with implicit sympathy for them. Thus it would probably be best if the description was rewritten to be less bashy of those who dislike change, to reflect how the trope is used in practice (for when a change is egregious enough that it annoys large swathes of even more casual audiences, rather than to complain about Fan Dumb being petty).

For that matter, it may be worth looking at It's the Same, Now It Sucks! to see if it has the same issue.

Edited by AlleyOop on Aug 6th 2021 at 8:12:37 AM

I honestly think it needs TRS to clarify which definition is actually the correct one. They're both complaining, so it's not as if one strikes me as obviously preferable.

If all else fails, it'd at least work decently for an IUEO trope.

The second bullet point of Disability Immunity sounds like there's nothing to be immune to. Is it actually Handy Shortcoming? Or is Handy Shortcoming a subtrope?

I don’t really like the description for Utopia since it’s more of a lecture on why the trope is impossible rather than a description of the trope itself.