Latest Posts by collapsecomplex - Page 5

Tropes, Clichés, Themes, Archetypes

A writer’s guide to tropes, clichés, themes, archetypes, and stereotypes.

Trope, Theme, Cliché, Motif, Archetype A post that provides detailed definitions of each of these terms.

Stereotypes, Archetypes, Tropes, Clichés A lengthy guide that provides detailed explanations of these terms, along with examples. Also offers advice and suggestions for how to use them in your writing, and suggests things to consider when using them. Many of the additional resources are broken links. Only about half of the referenced links work.

Tropes vs. Clichés Explains the difference between tropes and clichés. Explains why using a trope that has been used before doesn’t matter, but rather how you use it.

All Stories Have Themes Briefly explains what a theme is, and how every story has themes in it.

Reusing an Idea Too Much A tumblr thread that explains why you don’t have to worry about using the same themes or ideas in your story that have been used before.

How You Tell the Story Matters Explains that different people can do different things with the same basic plot, concept, or trope by using their own voice and style choices.

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I’m a writer, poet, and editor. I share writing resources that I’ve collected over the years and found helpful for my own writing. If you like my blog, follow me for more resources! ♡

When Your Characters Feel Flat....

1. Give Them Contradictions

Nobody is consistent 24/7, and your characters shouldn’t be either.

“She was always kind, always helpful, always smiling.” what is she, Jesus? “She was kind, but she had a sharp tongue when someone pushed her limits.” not perfect but we can fork with this

Contradictions add dimension. A character who is kind and irritable when tired, is more human than one who’s perpetually pleasant.

2. Give them flaws and shit

“He was brave, but his impulsiveness often made things worse before they got better.”

3. Add habits or what they say, umm....quirks

Quirks make your characters memorable without needing an info dump.

“She was shy.” or maybe.... “She tugged at her sleeves whenever someone asked her a direct question, her gaze darting across the room like she was searching for an escape route.”

4. Their interactions with people, animals, objects

“He was a loner.” that's it? or...“He kept his coworkers at arm’s length — just a guy in the background, clocking his hours, counting down the minutes until he could go home to Dusty, his dog, his favorite being in the world.”

5. Their habits/traits/quirks could be explained by their backstories

Why are they the way they are?

“She never trusted anyone.” Or...“She never trusted anyone—not after her best friend turned on her in high school, a betrayal that still stung ten years later.”

6. Add some form of "Internal Conflict"

“He didn’t want to leave.” Or...“He didn’t want to leave, but staying meant admitting he cared—and caring always led to heartbreak.”

7. You could make them perfect if you want but please for the love of God, don't.

Just don't. It's a major turn-off.

“She was confident in her abilities.” or....“She was confident in her abilities—until she stood on stage and realized she couldn’t remember the first line.”

8. Allow them a character arc. Evolution.

Because simply put, Stagnant characters are flat characters.

Let's say there's a girl who sees asking for help as weakness — she hides her bruises, builds her walls, endures alone. But over time, not through grand speeches but through small seemingly unsignificant moments she learns that letting people in isn’t weak. She realizes relying on others, and letting others rely on her gives her strength and hope.

why do i even type like this lol i doubt its normal but its fun whenever i try to write rants they end up formatted like poems though

its frustrating but fun idk man

^^ dont take this as 100% true or take it as a time limit or anything its just how long people would take to write a book

most published authors would actually take their time to write, i'd assume. theres more to writing than just writing out words.

don't forget that writing at your own pace is normal and if you force yourself to write you'll feel burnt out, which is what you are probably feeling right now you'll feel like you do want to write, but you just can't bring yourself to for no reason at all, and it feels so wrong to just stare at what you've already written and add nothing to it, am i right? its also completely normal to get random bursts of inspiration i'm going to be honest, thats completely the reason why I've only written short oneshots and have been avoiding long projects

i think motivation is a key feature, and its not your fault i think you should take a break from thinking about it too much, it'll only bring you more stress

dont take this to heart but if you feel like its right for you please listen to my advice

Does anyone else experience this?

I know what happens in this chapter. It’s all in my head. I have an outline. I just need to write it out. But it’s been weeks since I’ve written a single word.

I started this project out strong. I wrote an average of 2-3k words a day over the course of 9 days. I ended up writing a total of 15k words. But now I have to fill in the blanks in between the initial scenes I was so passionately writing. So I’ve lost all that motivation and inspiration that initially kept me going.

I don’t understand why I’m like this. It’s infuriating.

AAAAAA YES MMJ KAILEN

MY BABIES. THEY KISS AND FALL IN LOVE IN ALL UNIVERSES FOR ME :3

and by the proship part i meant the actual story part but i think. theyre very cute i have a lot of kailen AUs based off of project sekai cards

hi its the uh emu6 kaito x nene5 len anon im just out of anon so i could send you an image idk if you'd consider this a proship (atypical age gap but physically/mentally len is 21 kaito is also 21) so sorry if you do, i wouldn't consider it a proship personally but to each their own

its by nyxia_rose but im planning to write for them... im just sending this because i swear the cards are so cute together

IS THIS MMJ KAILEN OMGEEEEEEEEEE

i agree they look very good together. i wouldnt consider it pr0ship so no worries :)

youre an you love an

Reblog if you want your followers to tell you which fictional character you remind them of.

Missing them...

maybe i should be braver about the things i like

if your first instinct is to be hostile and accusatory towards someone for having an interest you don't like, then you are the problem, not them.

sebastian to the servants every day:

my guilty pleasure 🙏

another nightmare

ciel tries to treat sebastian's wounds and loses his composure a little

a century later, he still remembers his face

how do you do, fellow Creatives™

you SHOULD believe it but also real

*gets complimented* THANK YOU SM I DONT BELIEVE A WORD THAT YOU SAID BUT THANK YOU

*gets insulted* my life is over

WAIT. HOLD ON. STOP EVERYTHING.

AAAAAAHHHHHH

you're going to be fine its normal at least for me (lol)

i also had this phase with one of my still WIPs, where i just wrote out everything and i felt so proud

it was meant to be for a character's birthday its been 5 months.

for me personally i just wait until i feel like it theres nothing stopping me from completely stopping other than myself

just take your time. i've experienced it too at worst you'll blank out on the project forever until you remember and have good ideas at best you'll find motivation

i hope the best option happens to you because ignoring a project can make you feel really guilty but remember you're doing it with your own free will

or maybe i misinterpreted all of that in that case my bad

Does anyone else experience this?

I know what happens in this chapter. It’s all in my head. I have an outline. I just need to write it out. But it’s been weeks since I’ve written a single word.

I started this project out strong. I wrote an average of 2-3k words a day over the course of 9 days. I ended up writing a total of 15k words. But now I have to fill in the blanks in between the initial scenes I was so passionately writing. So I’ve lost all that motivation and inspiration that initially kept me going.

I don’t understand why I’m like this. It’s infuriating.

some of my favorite project diva modules,,

hyperfixation please stay with me long enough to complete the project. hyperfixation do not fade. hyperfixation finish what you started for the love of god

now that i think about it

its chinese fics

i understand enough chinese to be able to read and understand things so i usually just read them anyway

but this thing definitely applies to chinese fics

maybe this is just me idk

so cutieful

Was feeling sad so I did a cute Len doodle to cheer me up

my dream as a fanfic writer is for one day, one of my fics to be someones comfort fic. like the fic that they reread when they don't feel good and want to be happy. i want my words to comfort someone one day

take off his clothes and use his butt if hes already flat on the face

KAWASAKI H2R - FOR A SCHOOL PROJECT 🔥🔥🔥

WE LOVE BOB AND BALDY THE ERASER ALTHOUGH HE HAS NO FACE 🔥🔥🔥🔥🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

I THINK I FORGOT SO HAVE DAY 9

crystals: 24k (probably not gonna get any more bc of time and shit. but it's ok i can do 80 pulls and probably 100 by the time the event ends)

for any new people this is part of my summoning ritual for rekka an (posting her every day)

what she doing bringing yaoi to school

it's her own fault 🙄

(lighthearted joke)

student council found the yaoi

Dear video essay creators. A video analysis is when you analyze a piece of media. No no look at me. A summary, no matter how thorough, is not an analysis. An analysis requires you to draw conclusions about the media such as authorial intent, real-world parallels, discussion about themes/worldbuilding/character motivation, and so much more. You have to stop summarizing something and saying that’s analysis. The Gaylors are doing more critical analysis than you. Is that who you want to lose to? The gaylors?

I honestly forget whether it’s canon or not, but I always liked the idea of Saki being very loud in her own right but she’s just overshadowed by tsukasa, who is as loud as an airplane engine on a daily base