Writing Pitfall Index cleanup

An author raging against their fanbase isn't something that they write in the work, and it has more to do with criticism and the reaction to it instead of writing anyway. Keep it off.

Reposting these proposals since we're now on a new page.

Crazy Characterization

• Informed Flaw: If a character is said to have a flaw, show the flaw affecting the story or character in some way instead of just telling the audience.
• Forgot About His Powers: There needs to be a better explanation than "they forgot" for characters not using their powers that could easily solve a problem.

Edited by Kevjro7 on Mar 19th 2021 at 4:33:47 AM

Ok, they seem reasonable. You're going to have to request to add it in the Locker Pages thread, however, since Writing Pitfall Index is locked.

You Keep Using That Word has been retooled into an In-Universe Examples Only trope and the former content has been moved to UsefulNotes.Commonly Misused Words. Should the latter page be added to the index?

Edited by LaundryPizza03 on Feb 20th 2021 at 9:14:37 AM

Useful Notes aren't tropes, so no.

How about this (under Crazy Characterization)?

• Moral Luck: Don't treat one as right or wrong if the outcome was due to circumstances outside their knowledge or control.

The only uses of this trope that aren't complaints are those self-aware enough to be playing with it.

Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught on Jun 14th 2021 at 5:44:17 AM

I admit, I've tried to wrap my head around Moral Luck and I still don't fully understand it, so I'm not sure if your definition is correct or not.

Looking through the Moral Luck page, I'm spotting plenty of examples where it's a character flaw rather than a flaw in the writing (e.g. Lady Bracknell), so in my opinion it doesn't belong.

That is a playing with, invoked to treat as unfair. But I suppose un-self aware examples are not common enough to count. Maybe it needs some cleanup to remove such complaining as those probably fit Unintentionally Sympathetic/Unsympathetic or other bad writing tropes better.

Critical Research Failure is on the list despite it being YMMV. I thought we agreed to purge YMMV, Trivia, and non-tropes as they are not actually part of the writing.

Should The Stations of the Canon be on the list if it's a case of Tropes Are Tools and works still being good stories?

Might I suggest that Opening a Can of Clones and The Chris Carter Effect be added to the list? I mean, let's face it: if the audience doesn't care what happens in your story because there's no guarantee that any plot points will be of lasting consequence (the former trope), or if they feel alienated from the story because there's no satisfying resolution in sight (the latter trope), I'd say that pretty much fits the bill for bad writing.

I am pretty sure YMMV can not get added, since it is subjective, and in that case, can be subject to change.

Edited by Delibirda on Sep 13th 2021 at 2:35:59 PM

Well, those YMMV concepts are about things people dislike, things that make the narrative suffer but aren't objectively present. I think because they're still about writing flaws, they count, but I know this debate happened before so, eh.

Should Xenafication be included in the list of crazy characterization? Like its opposite Chickification, while it may sound cool to turn a more relaxed girl into an Action Girl, doing it with no in-universe justification can still be jarring to several people.

Hey, I'm indexing this newly-launched trope and one of the indexes discussed was this one. It goes like this:

• Heinousness Retcon: A returning villain's crimes or personality are retconned to make them better/worse than originally established.

Does it qualify?

Bumping.