Relationship Writing Fumble/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Word of God says the two aren't a couple, but the writing clearly says something different.

  • Straight: Alice and Bob are a Brother-Sister Team, but they act more like a couple.
  • Exaggerated: Axel and Bob are straight males that hate homosexual stuff. They are the only two men in a Bara story.
  • Justified: Alice and Bob are siblings separated at birth and are fighting against their complete lack of a Westermark effect.
  • Inverted: Alice and Bob are supposed to be a couple, but act much more Like Brother and Sister.
  • Subverted: The author is lying to increase the effect of the coming reveal that Alice and Bob really are married, and are only posing as brother and sister.
  • Double Subverted: ... but then it turns out that they ARE brother and sister.
  • Parodied: After Alice and Bob had a particularly steamy sex scene the author was asked if they were an official couple now. The author claimed they were Like Brother and Sister and continues to insist this is true even when they get married.
  • Deconstructed: Since the author fails at writing Alice and Bob as siblings, the fans think that they are a really cute couple. So, the author tweaks the storyline and ends up with much better work than their original plan.
  • Reconstructed: Still, the author feels that the early chapters were not his or her best.
  • Zig Zagged: At first, it appears that they are brother and sister, but then it comes out that they are merely faking it. Then they both get paternity tests and discover that their parents are the same, but then it turns out that her parents are clones of his ...
  • Averted: Alice and Bob act exactly how a brother and sister would act in real life.
    • Alternatively, Alice and Bob aren't related, the relationship is exactly as planned and no Squick is involved.
  • Enforced: The writers make a deliberate decision to mess with the fans' minds.
  • Lampshaded: Charlie: "Yeah, and you're totally not paired with Alice." Bob: "I'm not!"
  • Invoked: The writer intentionally sets up oddities in relationships for the fans to notice just so he can messily shoot them down, just to screw with the fans.
  • Defied: The writer is perfectly aware of fandom tendencies, and carefully examines every relationship she or he has written into the series to make absolutely certain there's nothing to misinterpret.
  • Discussed: Alice: "It's like our writers have forgotten we're related!"
  • Conversed: Writer: "OK, I admit, Alice and Bob's relationship took turns I never intended."
  • Plotted A Good Waste: A case of Blatant Lies; the writers know exactly what they're doing with Alice and Bob, but the series will be over before they'll admit.
    • The story is a Mind Screw, so the trope needs to be played for true mindfuckiness.
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