Omnipresent Tropes

There are some tropes that are so intrinsic to storytelling that they show up in all forms of media and appear in virtually every story. Even Finnegan's Wake, which may not have a plot, conflict, or theme, has a few of these ubiquitous tropes.

They are known as Omnipresent Tropes . They also include tropes that are not intrinsic, but seem to occur ALL the time. Such as Acceptable Breaks From Reality , which are tropes that are unrealistic on their face but are an inseparable part of the escapist appeal of fiction. A story can suffer terrible damage if these are averted. Then there are the timeless classics that everyone expects to see in some form, such as the Happy Ending. However, some Omnipresent Tropes are restricted to specific genres; that is, they are ubiquitous within one genre, but totally missing form all others. This special case is call the Necessary Weasel .

Ultimately, these tropes prove that Tropes Are Not Bad, because if these are cliches, that so are all stories throughout the history of fiction.

What follows is a list of the Omnipresent Tropes that appear in my stories, and how they are used.

The Anthropic Principle -- For any given story, there exist basic elements that are required for the story to happen. No matter how improbable or impossible their occurrence, they must exist, or there would be no story. This also includes mundane, everyday activities that occur behind the scenes. In other words, a story always happens within a larger defined universe.

***** Played straight in my stories for the most part, but occasionally subverted when I describe characters performing mundane activities that do not otherwise advance the plot.

The Law of Conservation of Detail -- The only elements that should be included in a story are those that advance the plot or develop the characters. Anything else is at best distracting, at worst hazardous to the narrative.

***** I play this pretty straight in my shorter works, but I tend to subvert it in longer works where I add more detail to my descriptions so as to paint vivid pictures. I also subvert it overall as I try to work in as much world-building detail as I can without bogging down the narrative.

Back Story -- A character's entire life before she appears in the story.

***** Played straight, in that all my characters have a back story, which I meticulously work out before I write the story. How much I reveal is dictated by the requirements of the plot.

The Protagonist -- The character whom the story is about. She doesn't need to be The Hero or even the story's POV.

***** Medb hErenn, Eile and Sunny of Team Girl, and Sir Differel Van Helsing, along with one-shot characters in other stories.

The Antagonist -- In any story with conflict, the character who opposes The Protagonist, even if that character is God, The Protagonist herself, or a force of nature.

***** Medb, Team Girl, and Sir Differel all face adversaries in their stories.

Villains Act, Heroes React -- The Antagonist initiates the story by executing a plan, and The Protagonist responds by thwarting it.

***** Mostly played straight, in that Medb, Team Girl, and Sir Differel are simply living their lives when crap happens. Downplayed with Differel in that she is proactive enough to plan for interventions, but she rarely initiates one without cause. However, inverted in the Dreamlands when Team Girl initiates an adventure and a specific antagonist reacts to oppose them for that instance.

The Good Guys Always Win -- The Protagonist always defeats the The Antagonist. It can be subverted, especially with a Downer Ending , but it's rarely done except when using a cynical theme.

***** Medb, Team Girl, and Sir Differel always beat whoever oppose them, though not necessarily in the most obvious way. This is especially true of Differel, since in her case defeat would equal death; that is, any villain that defeated her would most likely kill her.

Character Development -- A change in the nature of a character over the course of a story or a series of stories, for good or ill.

***** Though Medb, Team Girl, and Differel do not necessarily change in any one story, they grow and develop over the course of multiple stories, especially Differel.

Static Character -- A character that does not change significantly; that is, a character that undergoes little or no development.

***** Medb, Team Girl, and Sir Differel tend not to change within any one story, but mostly this applies to secondary characters who do not need to change.

Rounded Character -- A complex, three-dimensional character with hidden, often conflicting motivations, regardless of whether she changes or not.

***** I try to make Medb, Team Girl, and Sir Differel as complex as possible, while preserving certain basic traits that make them recognizable.

Distinctive Appearances -- Characters should have unique descriptions that easily and clearly distinguish them from all other characters, especially secondary or stock characters.

***** Medb is a "massive woman", with braids and a curtain of gold-tinted bronze hair; Eile has a long seal-brown ponytail and face-framing forelocks dyed a vivid fuchsia with nose and ear piercings, while Sunny has a great billowing mane of gamboge hair and granny glasses; and Differel has flat lifeless stringy gray hair that falls loose to the small of her back with large round glasses.

Character Death -- Exactly What It Says On the Tin: a character dies in story.

***** I have several stories where characters die. Usually it's the villain; sometimes it's Team Girl and/or Differel (in Alternative Reality tales). However, Medb is virtually immortal, and Team Girl and Differel will not die in the canonical tales until their appropriate times.

The Climax -- The point in the story when the conflict is resolved once and for all, one way or the other.

***** Since all my stories have some form of conflict, they have a climax that resolves that conflict.

Denouement -- The aftermath of the climax, when the mysteries are explained, the loose ends tied up, and the ultimate fate of the characters is revealed.

***** I am rather fond of denouements myself.

Rising Conflict -- The gradual increase in the level and severity of the conflict to the climax as a way to provide tension.

***** This is such an intrinsic part of storytelling I do it without thinking. Whether I do it successfully I leave to my readers to decide.

Consistency -- Readers expect a story to be consistent with the real world, consistent with other fictional works in the same genre, and consistent with itself.

***** Since consistency goes to the verisimilitude, I try to make my stories as consistent as possible, within certain limits and guidelines.

Fiction Never Lies -- The reader expects to be able to trust that the narrative is fairly straightforward and accurate, and the creator of the work will not deceive or mislead him.

***** This does not rule out the possibility of plot twists, red herrings, and unreliable narrators, but they work because the reader doesn't expect them. In any event, I am not writing surreal, dream-like stories or stream-of-consciousness tales, so I make every effort to construct narratives that a reader can accept at face value.

Reality is Unrealistic / Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic -- The tendency to believe a fictional account is more true than a factual account, because it reinforces "common knowledge"; that is, what everybody believes to be true. Hence, a realistic depiction based on fact can be derided for being fake if it contradicts "what everybody knows".

The latter trope is based more on the fact that fictional speech tends to be more polished and rehearsed than speech in Real Life. Part of this is due to editing to make it understandable, while part is due to the desire of the author/writer/actor/director to "get it perfect", and the rest is due to the fact that our brains edit and interpret Real Life speech to make it comprehensible. So fictional speech tends to try to reproduce what we hear rather than what we actually say.

***** I try to be as realistic as possible in my stories, but there are things I must bow to to avoid alienating readers. As for speech, except for reproducing accents, I polish my prose like everyone else.

Like Reality Unless Noted -- A reader assumes that all details and elements not otherwise described are identical to those in Real Life.

***** I use this trope as a way to emphasize what's different from Real Life.

Willing Suspension of Disbelief -- In exchange for a good story, the reader is willing to temporarily and conditionally accept that the plot is real and the narrative is accurate.

***** Like all writers, I depend on this as the basis for my hope that readers will enjoy my stories.

Evil Virtues -- For the villain to accomplish anything meaningful, he must have a few virtues normally reserved for heroes, or at least one or two that would complement his evil nature.

***** Whether my villains are truly evil or just misunderstood, at a minimum they have the ambition and drive to enact their nefarious schemes.

Fourth Wall -- The imaginary barrier between the characters and the reader, such that the characters do not realize they have an audience.

***** Goes without saying, but occasionally I Lean on the Fourth Wall or Break the Fourth Wall entirely.

Functional Genre Savvy -- Without necessarily thinking in terms of tropes in and of themselves, the characters nonetheless display knowledge of the conventions of the story’s genre and abide by the restrictions imposed by that genre. For example, detectives in mysteries assume murder rather than accidental death, and an innocent bystander in horror assumes monsters rather than more mundane explanations.

***** All my characters display an understanding of whatever genre they find themselves in, even if only subconsciously, but Sunny is the one most likely to Hang a Lampshade on an obvious trope.

Inciting Incident -- The event at the beginning of the story that gets the narrative started.

***** Because Medb, Team Girl, and Sir Differel follow Villains Act, Heroes React, or otherwise have normal lives to lead, all my stories have an opening scene that sets them up to become involved in the plot.

Men Are Tough / Women Are Delicate -- The default stereotypes that readers subconsciously assume. Many other tropes are based on playing these tropes straight or subverting them, but even an aversion assumes that these tropes are expected and accepted as natural. There is some justification for them based on biology and social convention, yet what changes are being made in general attitudes are noteworthy because they go against these general expectations.

***** Medb is a female Conan; Eile and Sunny are girly-girls who can kick ass like Jean-Claude Van Damme; Sir Differel is a woman who stands toe-to-toe with ravenous monsters and beats them into the dirt. Note that in each case, despite these ladies being strong, rounded, complex characters (I hope!), they stand out because they defy the Women Are Delicate trope.

Most Writers Are Adults / Most Writers Are Human / Most Writers Are Men -- The reason animal and alien characters tend to act and sound like humans, children tend to act and sound like adults, and stories either have only male characters or the female characters tend to be stereotypes (The Damsel in Distress or the Action Girl).

***** I try to Defy these tropes as much as I can, but being an adult male human it can be rather difficult.

Nobody Poops / No Dead Body Poops -- In fiction, no one goes to the bathroom, and no one defecates when they die. (Death is often quite messy, including the involuntary evacuation of bowels and bladder.)

***** Following The Law of Conservation of Detail, there is normally no need to narrate a character going to the bathroom. Plus, many readers may find it disgusting. However, I subverted this in one story, because it was while Differel relieved herself that a mole stole a gun she had hidden. As for messy deaths, so far I have had no reason to describe one in gory detail, so I play this trope straight.

Perfect Health -- In fiction, no one gets sick or injured, unless the plot calls for it.

***** This is justified in my stories, in that Medb has physical and magical immunity to injury and disease, and Team Girl and Differel are health and fitness freaks. However, the only reason I so far have not depicted any of them getting the sniffles or a cough is because the prevalence of this trope would mislead a reader into believing there is something seriously wrong with them.

No Periods, Period / All Periods Are PMS -- In fiction, no women menstruate, or if they do, it is always accompanied by full-blown PMS.

***** Again, I tend to play the first trope fairly straight, since normally there is no reason to even mention that a character is having her period. Though I suppose that if men suffered from something similar each month, it would show up in fiction quite often. However, I avert it in two stories in which Differel is concerned about menstruation, either her own or another’s. As for the second trope, I have ignored or averted it so far, but in fact Sunny is prone to rather insane bouts of PMS at times.

Plot Device -- Any character or object that drives the Plot and/or resolves a situation in the narrative.

***** The MacGuffin is the most common Plot Device I use in my stories.

Plot Point -- Any event, appearance, or revelation within the narrative that drives the Plot.

***** As with some other Omnipresent Tropes, I wasn’t even aware I was using it until I learned about it.

Point of View -- Every story is told from someone’s perspective, even if that someone is God, the unidentified, unseen, disembodied Narrator, or the Camera.

***** I tend to use third-person limited POV; I get into a character’s head and describe everything from her perspective. For long stories I will switch to a new character for a period of time before going to another or switching back. The only time I use third-person omniscient is when I need to describe large-scale action too big for one character to take in. I have occasionally used first-person as well.

Think In Text (Italics) -- In prose fiction, thoughts must be written down as well as speech. Writers use one of numerous methods to indicate when a character is thinking rather than speaking.

***** I use italics, with the first thought of the story appended with “she thought”. I also place Vlad’s telepathic speech inside scrolls -- { } -- to differentiate his words from Differel’s thoughts.

Third Person Flashback --The tendency to depict flashbacks like a movie, outside the character’s head, so that the character is seen as part of the action as if witnessed by another person altogether.

***** I tend to ignore this trope. I don’t use flashbacks too often, but when I do I usually stay inside the head of the character having the flashback.

Next week I will discuss Universal Tropes.