Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Caroline G recommends this Wiki of TV Tropes and Idioms.

Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations. On the whole, tropes are not clichés. The word clichéd means "stereotyped and trite." In other words, dull and uninteresting. We are not looking for dull and uninteresting entries. We are here to recognize tropes and play with them, not to make fun of them.

The site includes articles on Motifs, Paratext, Crime and Punishment, Professional Wrestling, and Applied Phlebotinum:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a completely ad-hoc plot device"
-- David Langford, as a corollary to Arthur C. Clarke's third law

Phlebotinum is the magical substance that may be rubbed on almost anything to cause an effect needed by a plot. Some examples: nanotechnology, magic crystal emanations, pixie dust, a sonic screwdriver. Oh, and Green Rocks.

Wow, the Internet is just bustin' out all over with so many writer resources I can't keep track of them. Sure didn't have this when I was a kid. Why, in those days, forget computers. We didn't even have ink. Yes, we had to regularly open our veins with knives in order to be able to get any writing done. And before we figured out about goose quills, we were using porcupine quills. You kids have it lucky!

Labels: writing resources

11:06 AM

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