book: [uses tropes]
reader: i cannot believe how lazy the author is, to use tropes
book: [doesnt use tropes]
reader: what is the avant garde bullshit
reader: i cannot believe how lazy the author is, to use tropes
book: [doesnt use tropes]
reader: what is the avant garde bullshit
May 30, 2024 at 1:36 PM
book: [uses tropes]
reader: i cannot believe how lazy the author is, to use tropes
book: [doesnt use tropes]
reader: what is the avant garde bullshit
reader: i cannot believe how lazy the author is, to use tropes
book: [doesnt use tropes]
reader: what is the avant garde bullshit
'Writing the book is half the job, next you have to market them by tropes'
Errrr no thanks with those tropes.
Errrr no thanks with those tropes.
September 24, 2026 at 10:48 AM
'Writing the book is half the job, next you have to market them by tropes'
Errrr no thanks with those tropes.
Errrr no thanks with those tropes.
If you would like to destroy your mental health, waste years of your life, and set fire to several million dollars, you should sue someone because they wrote a book that contains a large number of the same tropes that your book contains.
March 18, 2026 at 2:14 PM
If you would like to destroy your mental health, waste years of your life, and set fire to several million dollars, you should sue someone because they wrote a book that contains a large number of the same tropes that your book contains.
Would really love someone to name one (1) book that has no tropes. I dare you.
book: [uses tropes]
reader: i cannot believe how lazy the author is, to use tropes
book: [doesnt use tropes]
reader: what is the avant garde bullshit
reader: i cannot believe how lazy the author is, to use tropes
book: [doesnt use tropes]
reader: what is the avant garde bullshit
May 30, 2024 at 6:57 PM
Would really love someone to name one (1) book that has no tropes. I dare you.
I've just seen the word "unalive" used earnestly in a non-fiction book that is specifically written to deconstruct harmful tropes built in to modern romance novels.
Girl you explicitly talked about sexual violence not 20 pages ago what the fuck do you MEAN "unalive"?!?!?!?
Girl you explicitly talked about sexual violence not 20 pages ago what the fuck do you MEAN "unalive"?!?!?!?
February 4, 2026 at 11:59 PM
I've just seen the word "unalive" used earnestly in a non-fiction book that is specifically written to deconstruct harmful tropes built in to modern romance novels.
Girl you explicitly talked about sexual violence not 20 pages ago what the fuck do you MEAN "unalive"?!?!?!?
Girl you explicitly talked about sexual violence not 20 pages ago what the fuck do you MEAN "unalive"?!?!?!?
TOUCHING THE STOVE THOUGHT: If you have to advertise your book with a list of the tropes it uses, you are, by definition, writing formulaic fiction. The pleasure might be seeing how someone uses or subverts the tropes! Like the pleasure of a sonnet is seeing new words fit the formula of the sonnet!
October 1, 2026 at 6:53 PM
TOUCHING THE STOVE THOUGHT: If you have to advertise your book with a list of the tropes it uses, you are, by definition, writing formulaic fiction. The pleasure might be seeing how someone uses or subverts the tropes! Like the pleasure of a sonnet is seeing new words fit the formula of the sonnet!
just saw a book advertised with a list of tropes and at the top was “pet highland cow”
yeah okay that worked on me
yeah okay that worked on me
December 21, 2025 at 2:29 PM
just saw a book advertised with a list of tropes and at the top was “pet highland cow”
yeah okay that worked on me
yeah okay that worked on me
Man do you remember that SNES book where the guy was lifting stuff from Fandom wikis and citing TV Tropes
December 9, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Man do you remember that SNES book where the guy was lifting stuff from Fandom wikis and citing TV Tropes
The Independent and Sydney Morning Herald's coverage of my book being banned at a public library in Australia engaged in at least three of the tropes detailed in the book itself. I thought, as an object lesson, it would be useful to document them.
Coverage of My Book Being Banned Proves the Thesis of the Book
A library in Australia “removed” How to Sell A Genocide from its shelves, and the media’s coverage of it committed at least three of the tropes I document. Let us review them.
www.columnblog.com
August 25, 2026 at 2:26 AM
The Independent and Sydney Morning Herald's coverage of my book being banned at a public library in Australia engaged in at least three of the tropes detailed in the book itself. I thought, as an object lesson, it would be useful to document them.
"Blame the Jews, not us" is quite literally the oldest trick in the book
The Antisemitism Post (tm)
Gotta get the history to know where the tropes live in the discourse today.
www.lifeisasacredtext.com
July 31, 2025 at 4:34 PM
"Blame the Jews, not us" is quite literally the oldest trick in the book
I wonder who started the thing where romance books list all the tropes found within the book up front as a way to market the book
January 15, 2025 at 6:26 AM
I wonder who started the thing where romance books list all the tropes found within the book up front as a way to market the book
It's still Trans Awareness Week so I'd like to make you aware of MY BOOK
November 18, 2024 at 1:29 AM
It's still Trans Awareness Week so I'd like to make you aware of MY BOOK
Me hearing about other comic book writers and artists on Comic Tropes:
February 10, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Me hearing about other comic book writers and artists on Comic Tropes:
im not breaking my book down into tropes, i love tropes, but you'll find them out the way god intended, by being ambushed around chapter 10 at 3am, shortly before you throw the book at the wall screaming NO. WHAT. BULLSHIT. NO. BÜLLSHIT as I collect your salty tears in a vial
January 18, 2025 at 10:50 AM
im not breaking my book down into tropes, i love tropes, but you'll find them out the way god intended, by being ambushed around chapter 10 at 3am, shortly before you throw the book at the wall screaming NO. WHAT. BULLSHIT. NO. BÜLLSHIT as I collect your salty tears in a vial
When I see a book ad with lists of tropes and character intros, I feel like I'm being focus grouped at. It's so corporate, it's so flat. No vision, nothing specific or idiosyncratic, just repeated overtures to how relatable and familiar the work is.
May 17, 2025 at 4:28 PM
When I see a book ad with lists of tropes and character intros, I feel like I'm being focus grouped at. It's so corporate, it's so flat. No vision, nothing specific or idiosyncratic, just repeated overtures to how relatable and familiar the work is.
Just saw the official summary for a book that listed all the different tropes the book contained. Like ... what's the point in reading the book? Just to check the tropes off a list? I don't get it. I guess if you like zero tension while reading.
May 14, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Just saw the official summary for a book that listed all the different tropes the book contained. Like ... what's the point in reading the book? Just to check the tropes off a list? I don't get it. I guess if you like zero tension while reading.
June 17, 2026 at 10:39 PM
it’s a chicken/egg thing
did you write a book and then market it by listing the tropes it contains, or did you take a list of popular tropes and kind of stick them in a blender expecting a popular book to magically come out
did you write a book and then market it by listing the tropes it contains, or did you take a list of popular tropes and kind of stick them in a blender expecting a popular book to magically come out
November 14, 2025 at 8:36 PM
it’s a chicken/egg thing
did you write a book and then market it by listing the tropes it contains, or did you take a list of popular tropes and kind of stick them in a blender expecting a popular book to magically come out
did you write a book and then market it by listing the tropes it contains, or did you take a list of popular tropes and kind of stick them in a blender expecting a popular book to magically come out
YES YES YES ALL OF THIS. *Especially* this closing paragraph.
March 5, 2025 at 7:29 PM
YES YES YES ALL OF THIS. *Especially* this closing paragraph.
Someone on threads asked authors to describe their books without tropes or genres.
It was a really good exercise! How about it? How would you describe your book?
It was a really good exercise! How about it? How would you describe your book?
April 12, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Someone on threads asked authors to describe their books without tropes or genres.
It was a really good exercise! How about it? How would you describe your book?
It was a really good exercise! How about it? How would you describe your book?
Every book I create a marketing kit. A google doc that has:
- Blurb
- Alt Text
- Short Sales Copy
- Long Sales Copy
- Tropes
- Tagline
-Buy Links.
- Tropes
- Hashtags.
And every time I need to market my book. I got to this doc. It's has been so useful &such a great hack!
- Blurb
- Alt Text
- Short Sales Copy
- Long Sales Copy
- Tropes
- Tagline
-Buy Links.
- Tropes
- Hashtags.
And every time I need to market my book. I got to this doc. It's has been so useful &such a great hack!
October 23, 2024 at 1:28 PM
Every book I create a marketing kit. A google doc that has:
- Blurb
- Alt Text
- Short Sales Copy
- Long Sales Copy
- Tropes
- Tagline
-Buy Links.
- Tropes
- Hashtags.
And every time I need to market my book. I got to this doc. It's has been so useful &such a great hack!
- Blurb
- Alt Text
- Short Sales Copy
- Long Sales Copy
- Tropes
- Tagline
-Buy Links.
- Tropes
- Hashtags.
And every time I need to market my book. I got to this doc. It's has been so useful &such a great hack!
We’re gonna find out REAL QUICK that a lot of people who say they support trans and nonbinary and asexual people drop that when a book with their favorite tropes in it comes out.
April 27, 2025 at 8:04 PM
We’re gonna find out REAL QUICK that a lot of people who say they support trans and nonbinary and asexual people drop that when a book with their favorite tropes in it comes out.
Not being funny but this new way that people have begun querying literature by listing off "tropes and themes" in their book is fucked up and one more sign to indicate the end of civilisation.
January 17, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Not being funny but this new way that people have begun querying literature by listing off "tropes and themes" in their book is fucked up and one more sign to indicate the end of civilisation.
This is one of the most annoying tropes for historians. 'What, you need to go to the archives? Hasn't everything been digitized.'
Honey, not even every book FROM THE 19TH CENTURY has been digitized.
Honey, not even every book FROM THE 19TH CENTURY has been digitized.
February 11, 2026 at 8:50 PM
This is one of the most annoying tropes for historians. 'What, you need to go to the archives? Hasn't everything been digitized.'
Honey, not even every book FROM THE 19TH CENTURY has been digitized.
Honey, not even every book FROM THE 19TH CENTURY has been digitized.