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Clichéd Tropes Game
Anna wrote: "Navigator wrote: "Okay, I smell like rain and seasalt."Rain is the last thing you ate? :D"
Lol, swallowed a couple of raindrops by an accident - I went out to get some fresh air and then lo and behold XD
But if we take the last normal things I ate that would be apples and aspirine.
I would love to smell like rain! I always sniff any perfume that claims to smell like rain, but they never do :(Or rocks.
Or rocks after rain.
Or right after it rains in the desert 🏜
I haven't experienced rain in the desert, but I can imagine it is (and smells) lovely!
I love the smell of rain on rocks! I thought it was just me and that I was strange or something :)
The fact that I love something doesn't make it not strange! We'll be strange together! ^_^There used to be a cafe in Helsinki that had really good Italian gelato, but it's now closed for good because of covid. They had a pink grapefruit flavor that I really liked. The first time I tried it I was still standing next to the cashier, waiting for my coffee. Spoon in my mouth, my eyes go wide, I swear my ears perked up and the barista asked "How is it? :)" and I exclaimed "IT'S LIKE I'M LICKING A ROCK!!!!" After an uncomfortable silence, I realized my mistake and clarified "That's a good thing! I like it! :D" Lime and grapefruit scented things also sometimes smell like rocks, and when that happens, whatever that thing is, I buy it!
For anyone wanting to know what chemicals produce the smell of rain exactly: it's a mix of ozone, petrichor and geosmin. There, now can mix yourself a rain perfume! 😁
It's not really a trope but I just read a book where the main character "shook herself" 24 times. In the next book in the trilogy it was 28 with an additional 3 "shook herself awake".
Anna wrote: "Is she a dog?"You'd think so, right? But no, ordinary human who gets scared a lot and has to shake herself to snap out of it.
Maybe there's a surprise twist later in the series and she's a werewolf!
A character let out a breath they didn't know they were holding, on the second page! That's gotta be a land speed record. (It's A Song for a New Day, which I am enjoying).
If I got a brain implant today, the first tweak I'd implement would be to ignore any breath holding related information trying to penetrate my consciousness.(And then a lethal gas leak would occur and I wouldn't be able to hear instructions to hold my breath and would die happily oblivious.)
I have become hyper-sensitive to that particular trope.
I think this thread really brought our collective attention to breath-holding and smells! I mean, I had noticed the smells thing, but I was able to gloss over it before. Now these two tropes have the subtlety of a klaxon when I come across them!
Michelle, yeah, the more we talk about it, the more we notice it, and the more it annoys us :/ At this point when someone breathes normally my teeth start grinding.
I also started recognizing the cousin of breath-holding, that is when someone hears a weird, loud noise (often a shrieking or screaming) and then realizes they are the one making the noise. I read a short story where the MC did both the breath-holding and the noise-making things. Sigh.
Meredith wrote: "I also started recognizing the cousin of breath-holding, that is when someone hears a weird, loud noise (often a shrieking or screaming) and then realizes they are the one making the noise. I read ..."At the same time?
A dog barking in an otherwise silent night is another good one.
Meredith- I just read that trope about 20 minutes ago! And I hadn't really noticed it until you just pointed it out. Oh no, another one...
Meredith/Michelle, I also read that today! XD It hasn't annoyed me before, but I bet it will now :P
Leonie wrote: "Meredith wrote: "I also started recognizing the cousin of breath-holding, that is when someone hears a weird, loud noise (often a shrieking or screaming) ...At the same time? "
No, but it was a short story, so the one was pretty close on the heels of the other.
Michelle wrote: "Meredith- I just read that trope about 20 minutes ago! And I hadn't really noticed it until you just pointed it out. Oh no, another one..."Sorry! Welcome to my world. ;)
Beth wrote: "A dog barking in an otherwise silent night is another good one."Ooh, yes.
Aaaand there it is again- the trope Meredith just had to point out to us 😭 This makes me wonder how often I had seen it but it hadn't registered!
How about taste/flavor to describe someone? Also from Soulless, mid-smoochies:...she could definitely learn to love the taste of him, like one of those expensive French soups, dark and rich...Now that I think about it this is probably quite common in erotic scenes, so uh maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it
We'll just pretend that you didn't, Beth :)
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That's exactly the soup I was thinking of! 😆
This made me laugh: "[They] let out the breath they’d held for several years"Strange Beasts of China
At least they knew they were holding it!
Are the authors in this group and reading this thread?!
Michelle wrote: "Are the authors in this group and reading this thread?!"Yes, but I'm holding my breath to see how it ends - without realizing that I'm doing it . . .
I need to find a tavern, an ale and some bread so I can properly ponder.
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Faces in the Crowd"Novels need a sustained breath. That's what novelists want. No one knows exactly what it means but they all say: a sustained breath. I have a baby and a boy. They don't let me breathe. Everything I write is - has to be - in short bursts. I'm short of breath."
Michelle wrote: "Are the authors in this group and reading this thread?!"*Shy hand raise* At least one.
Tomas wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Are the authors in this group and reading this thread?!"*Shy hand raise* At least one."
LOL!
Well, I think that learning what not to do by exaggerated examples is a good thing + I've seen a couple of such cases myself. I think I mentioned some as well, though I'm not going to scroll through all the 240-ish previous posts to check :)
🙋🏽♀️Also reading, and hoping frantically that no tropes have been used...but...not completely certain. 🤦🏽♀️
From next month's "Bouquet of Roses" selection, Fever Dream (bolded text mine. no spoilers):"I think I'd stopped breathing for that entire time. When I started again..."This is by no means a haphazardly written book, and Schweblin does put a more creative twist on these.
"The sound of the trees, the cars on the road every once in a while, and the barking of a dog confirmed that the country spread out immensely to either side..."
Caillen wrote: "It's not really a trope but I just read a book where the main character "shook herself" 24 times. In the next book in the trilogy it was 28 with an additional 3 "shook herself awake"."This reminds me of Tom Hanks in Turner and Hooch where they are doing a stakes out and he shake himself lol.
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Legend of Eli Monpress (other topics)The Apocalypse Codex (other topics)
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen (other topics)
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen (other topics)
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Angie Thomas (other topics)Cat Sebastian (other topics)
Rain is the last thing you ate? :D