#but also taking all the romance tropes

[butterflysonnets]

yes i'm rooting for m*leven breakup because byler is neat but mostly? i'm rooting for m*leven breakup for the sake of el and mike.

to me, their romance was always a puppy love born out of a combination of social pressures, naïve curiosity, and a lack of true understanding regarding intimacy and romantic love and what it really is. it was real in that they do truly, deeply care about each other and they are close friends, maybe even shared an attraction, but a maturing romance is so much more than that. they've grown up and out of being boyfriend/girlfriend, and that's okay! i think television/film needs to show more often that most of us don't have definite "soulmates" or first childhood loves that we spend our whole lives with. it doesn't mean these relationships meant nothing and didn't impact us, it just means they've run their course and that something else is in the cards, and this is part of life!

i've always felt el was at her best and most confident self when broken up with mike, discovering who she was and what she liked alongside another girl her age instead of just relying on mike for mentorship on how to live in the real world. she deserves more of an opportunity to find herself, her autonomy, and her independence, and to love who she is, and she's made it clear she's felt insecure in the relationship with mike because she isn't being loved and understood the way she wants, needs, and deserves from someone who is her partner.

also, it's okay if mike doesn't love her in "the way he should". he is not obligated to love her romantically and stay in a relationship with her just because she's a girl, because she "needed someone", or because he cares about her a lot. he shouldn't be pressured into a romance if it's not truly coming from his heart. he deserves freedom to find out and honour who he is, too, instead of just staying in his non-functional first relationship — one he got into as a child, essentially — and defining himself that way because it's what's expected when a boy and a girl are close. he loves her in some way, yes, but it's okay if he doesn't feel comfortable or secure being her boyfriend anymore, for whatever reason that is. he's felt insecure too, and that's valid and it matters.

they are their own people and are steadily growing and changing every day. they need time to figure out who those people are, and it's become clear (at least in my opinion) that those people aren't meant to be a couple at this stage.

they deserve freedom. they deserve to grow up and be authentic to themselves and not feel like they need to lie for the sake of a relationship. they deserve to move on from this version of their relationship that isn't making them happy and rekindle the best part of their bond: their strong, beautiful friendship. they don't have to be a couple if it doesn't make them stronger and better and happier people.

i think it would be healthy and wonderful for a show, especially one consumed frequently by young adults, to show a relationship starting, progressing, and ending on good terms in this way. sometimes things don't work out, and that is okay.

[mermaidsirennikita]

sometimes it drives me literally insane to see romance requests that are like

--I want a romance wherein it's basically the happy epilogue throughout the book

--I want a romance that has great communication and they never withhold anything from each other ever

--no "miscommunication trope"

The last thing is just a general gripe about how so many of the things people say are tropes are not tropes, and it's pedantic and snobby but like. Miscommunication is so broad. It's not a trope. People are miscommunicating. WHAT are they miscommunicating about? Is one of them keeping a secret identity from their partner? Because a secret identity romance iS a trope. Is one of them withholding their feelings out of fear of rejection?

Because people DO miscommunicate. Often writers do write it clumsily. If people miscommunicate for no reason, sure, whatever. But if they miscommunicate BECAUSE of a REASON--like, often it's not even miscommunication lol. It's the hero keeping his dire supernatural secret from his wife because she'll die if she finds out (honestly, valid to me, but whatever). It's the heroine finding it difficult to trust the hero with her heart because her dad left when she was young (maybe cliche in theory, but actually a very real thing that happens).

If all you want is plotless nothing wherein everyone is happy and nobody makes mistakes, I personally have a hard time thinking of it as a book, because there is no story. It's just vibes. And essentially EVERY time, people have to mess up and make mistakes in order for there to be a plot.

I just don't understand the point.

[the-everqueen]

fandom will turn itself inside out to avoid giving Black female characters romantic stories, huh

[airbenderedacted]

IF I WERE WOY CREW I WOULD ALSO FIGHT FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING THE LESBIAN FLAG SOMEWHERE ON OR NEAR DOMINATOR IN JUST ONE WHOLE SCENE IN THE SHOW  SEND TWEET

[littleragondin]

i wanna hear your wheel spins

PLEASE

OMG 🙈 well, thank you for asking and sorry in advance for the potential word cascade... the wheel spins are done using the wonderful tool made by @lovesickfolly (thank you for this 💜💜)

I have NO self control so I ran the wheel with three different actors lol

First I picked Pawin because he is my favorite plus he's pretty versatile and I want him in everything. The wheel picked Pepper. Both are 27 so I would love an out of school setting for them please. Pawin I'm confident could make it work with anybody (still salty about his aborted crumbs with Satang). I think I'd like something a little more serious/dark for those two, something about grief or guilt maybe? Very "two person who shouldered heartbreak and trauma and responsibilities too early find each other and, in the midst of it all, find comfort in the other and, perhaps, get a chance to start healing" kind of story you know? It would probably need an ensemble cast (at least one of them needs a family with siblings - mostly bc I'm a sucker for siblings and the emotional weight they can bring). There would be a lot of crying. A lot of warmth, too. Specifically I would like a hopeful but not fairytale end. I think I'd really like to see them get a shot at two very hurt, very scarred people trying to build something together.

And then I picked Pod because I saw him get the 2nd lead treatment in the Wandee Goodday's trailer this morning and thought he deserved to get the boy somewhere today xd. For him, the wheel gave me Ford. Was a little unsure at first, but you know what? they could give me a nice age-gap romance. Not necessarily something groundbreaking, but Ford has such a soft and charming presence he would do great in a very classic tropey romance. Maybe something about a slightly jaded and over worked Pod (who works from home) learning to love again (maybe he's out of a bad divorce, or he's just generally disappointed by love) with the adorable new neighbor (they meet because Ford has lost his cat (a grumpy thing as old as he is) and tries to see if the neighbors saw him. The beast has been hanging on Pod's sofa for the last week and a half). Something cute and fluffy, a little comedic (while I have my reservations about his character, Pod was very funny in Tonhon Chonlatee). There will be a "taking care of the other when he gets sick" scene. Ford has to sing somehow. And wear an apron (he wants to cook something to thank Pod for taking care of the cat. It fails catastrophically. Maybe Pod could teach him next time? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

Finally, I picked Mike (like you kfdsaj;kla) because. I just always find him delightful in everything I see him in. The wheel gave me Phuwin - because apparently the wheel said it's an age-gap day lol. And while they are not that far apart in age, my mind immediately jumped to Beyond Evil for some reason. So while I don't think I'd want something as dark for them, I think it could be fun to see them in some sort of thriller with Mike as a competent but a bit 'out there' detective (the leather jacket and bike are a must, I make the rules here) having to work with a straight laced, brilliant and young ... either detective or lawyer or SOMETHING for Phuwin (who has to wear glasses, again my game, my rules) and see them learn to tolerate then appreciate then love each other, including a climax involving one of them almost dying in the other's arms. Who nearly dies I leave to chance, throw the dices about it. There would be so much bickering. Some wound tending, obviously. Phuwin's character clinging to Mike's for dear life the first time he takes him on the bike. Protecting each other. Yeah I would love to see that actually.

This makes me realize, once again, how branding pairs robs me (yes, me, personally) of so. many. options. (even if the only branded pair actor in my selection is Phuwin, my comment still stand xd)

[mejomonster]

FYI that Hikaru No Go cdrama adaptation Qi Hun is so bl subtext-almost-text it's worth the watch as a rivals to lovers slow burn tbh

Also of course worth the watch as a childhood enemies to friends to partners which it literally is, and for the moral of people doing things they love and connecting to people along the way in life even if they fail or aren't perfect or the best. It's one of my favorite competitive thing stories I've ever seen for that reason. And there's a Go super talent Ghost!!! A ghost and the little boy he makes friends with and grows up with!

[limelocked]

Things I’m currently working on against my better judgement

- dcxdp fanfic where I don’t know any of the components only the crossover fandom

- isekai erased now in round 5 of revisions to the structure/planning that’s gotten to the point that I’ve forsaken the spreadsheet I’ve been working in and am writing in a zine-like booklet instead

- volleyvolleyball, don’t worry about it

- straight up legitimately new norse myths

Backburner;

- like 4 different gay isekai stories in the same universe (solen and his duke, accidentally married the archduke and duchess, I was reincarnated into another world as the northern duke in an adoption story, and a 4th one that’s just kinda brewing)

[snowthornes]

@yuuugay tagged me to do a Thing 🦖 thank you for the tag, it was fun!!! As usual, I spent way too much time on this shdgjsd

Tagging @hampsdesu @amyreads and @snail-of-fire — I'm curious about your trope preferences, but no need to do it if you'd prefer not to 🥰💐

[ploncc]

this is entirely subjective but

enemies to lovers: our dislike is part practical given the situation, part loathing given our prejudices. there is no softness between us. there is no glimmer of tension simmering below the surface. we have hurt one another before and we will hurt one another again. when we fall together it is a necessarily slow affair of humanizing the other long before it is love. and by the time it reaches that, part of you has already nested in my rib cage.

rivals to lovers: i hate you i hate you i hate you i hate you. i cannot stand you. you irk me. i want to be you. i want to destroy you. i want to be better than you in every way. i want to tear your heart out with my teeth. i cannot stand that you and i are alike or could get along better than peas in a pod. there's nothing "simmering just below the surface", that shit's at a full boil and if it doesn't explode soon, then i will.

forbidden romance: our curse is to be as social a creature as humans are. does it matter whether the expectations are legal, familial, cultural, from our friends, from our peers, from a situation? external forces keep us apart. we must choose: which keeps ourselves truest, to leave behind romance for the sake of home, or to leave behind home for the sake of romance?

forbidden romance with rivals to lovers: we hate one another with fits of sexual tension and everyone around us thinks we'd be horrible together, aka what half of you monkeys mean when you say "enemies to lovers"

[romulanfucker]

its late and everyones asleep so im just gonna say. like everything about kira is so good in theory and i should like her so much and i Do think shes fantastic when im just thinking about her and spinning her around in my mindcrowave. but then the secon i actually watch her in the show its just so obvious that the people writing and designing her were huge misogynists and no matter how many “girly” tropes they try to avoid they pick up another to replace it and its so obnoxious

[themthistles]

watching kairos can't stop thinking about that star wars post it would be so good if it was good

[theskeletoninthegarden]

A part of me really wants to take one of my fics and turn it into a published work

[tenrose]

Every team needs the sarcastic one that don't want to be part of the drama but still follow the others nonetheless.

[reachexceedinggrasp]

I've been wanting to ask this question for a long time, but haven't been able to since I've never truly been aware of it till now and you can maybe provide some eloquent insight on this subject. I've been watching lots of dramas,movies,and even reading fanfics and something that truly baffles me is how most of these authors treat One True Love romance trope. They always make the main character yearn,pine,and even internally devote her/his whole heart to this one character they love. Set it up as if the main character couldn't and wouldn't have been able to fall in love again if they never manage to get together in the end. That it is NOT that the main character can't move on, it's just that they CHOOSES not to because their love is just simply too great. Some writer even go as far as making the main character be content with being ALONE and just having the other guy/girl inside their heart forever even if they're never officially together because the devotion and memory they have of that one person is enough to keep them going. ONLY TO TURN THE WHEEL right before the Ending by making the main character act like they never even think of all those stuff in the first place and Authors playing it off as "Even though the MC loves this guy/girl so much, they still themselves as a person first and foremost. They shouldn't and don't need to depend on some memories/feelings for another person to survive. They're perfectly capable of MOVING ON." 🤪 The fun and SUSPICIOUS fact is this : Usually this kind of things happen MORE OFTEN in stories where the MC is a woman🙃 Like you just know the writer's gonna backtrack right before it ends🤡 Why bother writing all those sappy romance stuff then,if you're just gonna slap your reader in the face for expecting unwavering loyalty that you set up in the first place from your MC?!

Like do you think this kind of thinking/interpretation and writing of a story is thematically right? Or is it simply the case of the writer being a coward,afraid of fully committing to that heart wrenching love and devotion THEY set up in the first place?

It's probably a combination of being wishy-washy in general because you haven't thought through your story or what it's saying, wanting the big flowery devotion and the romantic cliches but not really wanting to commit to them, and people just chickening out.

If it's a theme or intended message, then the story should actually deal with that and have the character coming to a realisation that undying devotion is a destructive ideal or something that they don't actually believe in or whatever. That would be fine. Some books do have that as a theme they're exploring.

But switching gears tonally without any justification of that or having a character randomly completely change their attitude for no reason is bad writing. And sort of yanking the rug of romanticism out from under the reader without setting that up as the point is going to frustrate and alienate them. We as the audience don't need the author to turn to us and remind us to drink water and get enough sleep. You are not our mum. It's not a guide for life, it's a story. Don't lecture me about how the main character don't need no man, I'm not reading a romance because I want to be told romance isn't important. I want them to give the cat a name and realise people do belong to each other, that's why I'm here.

Of course, people are undercutting their own drama left and right, so maybe it's just fear of being dramatic at all. God forbid we have any heightened poetic emotions, I guess.

[pepsiwriteswords]

Favorite Tropes Tag!

And another one @emelkae tagged me in, but more recently this time. XP

Thanks for the tag!

Favorite Big Dramatic Fight Trope:

Wait, like . . . physical fight or verbal fight? If I even have an answer for this one. XP

I’m trying to think of fights I’ve read/seen on TV/in movies & got invested in/agreed with & that weren’t just . . . incredibly manufactured bc the characters had to have their third-act-break-up thing.

I think, like . . . when a character lashes out bc Trauma, or when the fight/argument mirrors something that has Happened Before, or the current dynamic is just so similar to one they’ve been in, so the character essentially flashes back without actually having a flashback? (Like the Jesper/Kaz argument in Crooked Kingdom, where Kaz calls Jesper by his brother’s name?)

It doesn’t always hit right, but when it does . . . oof.

Favorite Backstory Reveal Trope

I’m not sure I can choose just one. It might depend on just what the backstory is.

Scar reveal/question backstory reveals are great. Backstory revealed during an argument/after an argument is great. Any reveal happening just bc the characters are being good at communicating with one another are great. Backstory reveals where earlier in the piece the character said a thing real casually so it got brushed off just to reveal later it was actually hella serious is great. Accidentally getting pieces of someone’s backstory bc of mind-reading is great. Vague allusions to the Thing hurt a lot & I love it. (AKA, AFTG, pretty sure it’s the last book, Andrew telling Neil ‘I was six, I believed him’? Ouch, & I have read smaller allusions to different backstory things in other books, & I think I’ve seen it done well a few times in shows or movies I’ve watched, & most of my favorite fics have little one-line allusions to smth & have all but caused tears & it’s fantastic.)

Favorite Parent/Parenting/Child Interaction Trope

This will be the shortest answer, I think:

Character that is usually grumpy/rude/just a straight-up dickhead to the other adult characters is fucking great with kids.

& depending on the character, the ‘adopts every child they come across’ is usually great, too.

Favorite Romance Trope

Hmmm. Not the ‘because I love you!’ during an argument trope. XP

I think . . .  god, I dunno. Do I have to pick one? Can I just say like, ‘everything Aziraphale & Crowley have going on’? Bc like, I know I’ve seen & reblogged a post that’s like ‘they have just about every possible romance trope they could have‘ & just. Yes. Bc ultimately it’s all in how the trope is written & I’m probably pickier about romance tropes than anything, so I could love this trope in this book/movie/fic & absolutely despise it in this other thing & I really don’t know that I have a favorite.

Favorite Character Archetype

. . . Ummm . . . generally ‘the most traumatized bastard in the cast’. XD I am also very susceptible to fanon (for TV shows/movies tbh) bc roughly 50-90% of the time I don’t actually watch the source material & learn about a thing & get attached to it just bc a couple people on my dash are super into it.

(Like, I got into the Untamed very late & have never actually played or watched any LPs for undertale & am very attached to Klaus Hargreeves despite only watching like one episode of season one a couple years ago . . . etc.) XD

This should make it pretty obvious who of my OCs makes it onto my favorite list xP just look for the poor kid with 10x more trauma than anyone else. (Or watch me try to make it more equal between a couple bc I can’t pick in that given WIP)

Annd umm open tag bc it’s been a minute since I’ve done any of these tag games & I’m bad at interacting with y’all anyway lol. If you see this, assume you’re invited to play along! ^^

[megarywrites]

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