Are these Character Tropes?

I keep finding Mythology Gag, Shout-Out, Foreshadowing, and Irony on character sheets. Is this right or wrong?

As long as the context are specific for the character then they could fit. Simple enough.

I don’t think that’s how it works. I mean they all should go on the main work page right?

As far as I know we don't (yet) have a clear categorization for character tropes. The tropes mentioned in OP look like they belong on the main work page though. Tropes I feel uncertain about are things like Character Development, Heroic BSoD, Adult Fear or Kick the Dog.

But not Shout-Out or Irony or Foreshadowing

Back to my answer. Context is everything.

As I said in the original query, I'm pretty sure tropes for character pages are, well, character tropes- the ones that describe who a character is and what they do, in-universe. A character is not Irony. They don't Foreshadow.

No, they're for tropes that happen to a specific character regardless of what it is. If it happens to the narrative, or a group of characters, they go to the main work page (so that the so-called "character tropes" can go there too, if it happens not in a specific way).

I disagree, character sheets are for tropes that describe the character, i.e. character tropes. See this ATT query for mod weigh-in. Listing "thing character does" can lead to huge redundancies with the main page and is a primary cause of character sheet bloat.

Redundancy is not the issue as tropes are not supposed to be duplicated between work pages and character pages. The latter ones are extensions of the fist ones. It's up to you to decide where it belongs.

Sure, groups go on the main page, but on the character page they're still there, just split up by character.

I really don't see how out-of-universe concepts like Irony and Foreshadowing could possibly apply to a character. It doesn't describe them; it's not anything to do with them. You can have Foreshadowing or Irony without it involving a character, but you can't have, say, a Big Bad without the character to be the villain; you can't have a Dark and Troubled Past without a character to have the backstory; you can't use Evil Redhead without describing a character. That is the distinction; Character Tropes are specific to characters and Character Pages are meant for Character Tropes.

Edited by WarJay77 on Dec 5th 2018 at 9:00:07 AM

^ It's just not as clear-cut as you make it look. E.g. a Troubled Backstory Flashback is used to provide further insight into a character's motivation and you can't have such thing without the character. However, it does not feel like a character trope the same way a Flashback does not.

That is why context is more important than the tropes themselves.

?

Idk, all I'm trying to say is that the way I see it, character pages are for describing who the character is and how they act and what they do in-universe. That's why Troubled Backstory Flashback, I'd say, would belong on a character page but not Foreshadowing: A character cannot foreshadow in-universe, and even the ones that can (the fourth wall breaking ones and the like) don't make this a character trope because Foreshadowing is about hinting at future events in the plot; those events include characters, but the trope isn't ABOUT characters, it's about the narrative.

Refer back to my very first post.

Jesus, I can't tell what's right or wrong.

Edited by VulgarBee on Dec 6th 2018 at 8:58:00 AM

But I disagree with that statement, you haven't said anything to convince me that context matters over the actual trope.

If the context of the trope's example centers on a single character (i.e there may be other characters involved, but it chiefly talks about one), then it's a "character example" and goes to the Character Sheet. If the context of the trope's example is more general (involves more than 1 characters at once, or a whole group), then it goes to the main work page.

Do you get me now?

I always got what you were saying, I just disagree about that being how it works. To me, the context isn't the end-all be-all, but the important part is the trope itself. Tropes like Foreshadowing and Irony don't describe characters, they aren't character tropes, they're meta concepts.

I just don't see why non-character tropes should belong on a character page. No other page is dependent on context for the tropes used on it; what makes character pages different?

Is Adaptation Expansion a character trope?

I don't see how that one could be at all, even going with 4tell0life4's preference of context, I genuinely don't see how that one could be made character-specific; it's about a story being expanded, that's it. I at least see the reasoning behind making tropes like Foreshadowing and Irony character tropes even if I disagree with it.

What's the example you have in mind? Does it involve a single character?

I saw it in Kratos' page in the God of War Series.

Okay, I went and looked at the example, and...I'm pretty sure that's misuse. It's a trope about expanding storylines.

Edited by WarJay77 on Dec 8th 2018 at 3:51:18 PM