I know this is probably a common topic. For me, I’m not sure if it’s a “trope” or just totally misinformed writing, but it’s how many authors approach alcoholism. Some examples are Girl on the Train and The House Across the Lake, among HUNDREDS. If anyone else here has struggled with alcoholism, you know it’s not just “i woke up after downing an entire bottle of whiskey but was able to shower, down a cup of coffee, and solve a murder. “
by samistahpp
9 Comments
This gets me downvoted every time, but if a character smirks in a book, I know the rest of it will suck ass.
Pretending to do hard sci-fi when you’re really just making stuff up and throwing some science words at it.
A certain thing we desperately need to help our quest only happens every 100 years.
Luckily for us it’s happening tomorrow night
I think of those as No One Believes The Drunk Lady books and I hate them.
The super awkward girl who all the are guys fighting over.
“not like other girls”/”all other girls are bitches and enemies if they’re not 100% my cheer squad” and other “subtle” sexist tropes, especially in things that clearly think they’re being feminist because the MC is female. Sigh.
The seemingly innocuous detail in all detective books that turns out to be the linchpin of the whole mystery.
Same with a lot of Dickens stuff, something at the start a small detail, turns out to be the “thing”.
The main character/victim/estranged spouse (who was never physically present) was the culprit! Essentially when the culprit is anyone outside the range of the newly introduced cast of characters. I didnt mind these sort of twists the first time, but I got tired of suspects being introduced to us, only for every single one to be red herrings. Tiresome.
I guess it’s not really a trope, but dreams really burn my shit. They’re almost always a lazy excuse to convey something about a character that the author should have been able to do without resorting to cheap symbolism.