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{{meta-trope}}{{Mechanics of Writing}}
{{quote|''"One does not necessarily have to cluck in disapproval to admit that entertainment is all the things its detractors say it is: fun, effortless, sensational, mindless, formulaic, predictable and subversive. In fact, one might argue that those are the very reasons so many people love it."''|'''Neal Gabler''', ''Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality''}}
Tropes are just tools. Writers understand tropes and
Human beings are natural pattern seekers and story tellers. We use stories to convey truths, examine ideas, speculate on the future and discuss consequences. To do this, we must have a basis for our discussion, a new language to show us what we are looking at today. So our storytellers use tropes to let us know what things about reality we should put aside and what parts of fiction we should take up.
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When editing the wiki, then, remember these two mantras:
There is one thing that you must keep in mind to retain your sanity here, and that is that including a trope in a particular work does not make it "''[[Ruined FOREVER|ruined]]''." Not even ''[[Bad Writing Index|those]]'' tropes.
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'''There is nothing new under the sun.''' Including that very statement. And the [[The Bible|book]] from which it comes. Completely ignoring the possibility that one's favorite show just might ''not'' be hewn from the very essence of the universe by Thor himself and placed in the periodic table under '''Or''' for "Originalium" doesn't change the fact that it ''wasn't''. And acknowledging that it isn't should not lessen its appeal, either.
Every story is influenced by what came before
[[The Tropeless Tale|It's impossible to write something completely and utterly without tropes, anyway, so stop trying.]]
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'''Fiction isn't necessarily supposed to be realistic.''' When your reader wants to escape from the tired drudgery of reality, you shouldn't be trying to indexically recreate it. Much fiction seeks to show not what is, but what could be, or what should be. A trope being unrealistic isn't necessarily a flaw, and is often covered by [[Rule of Cool]], [[Rule of Funny]], or [[Rule of Scary]]. Indeed, a trope, however unrealistic, can be a convenient shorthand when played straight; setting up aversions or subversions for it can be more wordy than is needed to get on with story.
[[Tropes Are Not Bad]] covers the bad half of this, but there are good reasons to remember [[Tropes Are Not Good]], too:
'''All tropes can be written badly.''' This includes tropes that everyone thinks are good, like [[Magnificent Bastard]]. A badly written [[Magnificent Bastard]] may be done in such a way that everyone else in the story are [[Idiot Ball|idiots]] and generally gives less of an impression of intelligence and more of an impression of [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|cheating]] or changing the [[
'''All tropes can be overused.''' Too many [[Xanatos Gambit
'''Just because a trope is realistic doesn't mean it's good.''' There is a reason why we have an entire category devoted to [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality]]. That category only applies to video games, but there are some good non-video game examples as well. For example, [[The Hero]] gets shot in the shoulder and dies.
'''A good show doesn't need "good" tropes.''' People often search for an ideal recipe for a hit show, as if entertainment was some sort of alchemical process, and are surprised when their stitched-together creation lurches three steps before disappearing into critical oblivion. A well written show won't be any worse if it doesn't have a [[Magnificent Bastard]]. A good show doesn't get worse if the main five characters don't form a [[Five-Man Band]]. Heck, a good show doesn't even need basic tropes like [[The Hero]] or [[Big Bad]].
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[[Category:Trope Tropes]]
[[Category:Wiki Tropes]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Mechanics of Writing]]
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