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Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025

8:58pm EST

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Writing Blog Number 2

by S 🤦

Rated: 18+ · Book · Personal · #2311764

This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC

This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. If it falls this year (2024), then I may stop the whole blogging thing, but that's all a "wait and see" scenario.

An index of topics can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"

Feel free to comment and interact.

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Kåre เลียม Enga

Jan 23, 2025 at 1:02am
In response to "20250122 Romance Tropes That Annoy Me"

As Quilli ☕ said, "we've seen it all before". It becomes boring.

The Thai BL industry overdid 'enemies to friends' except perhaps "Bad Buddy" where the parents were the true enemies and the two main characters struggled with their childhood secretive friendship becoming much closer. Personally, I've had friendships that had rocky starts, and that's common.

The 6 you mention may exist in reality... as do unicorns and dragons...

Quilli ☕

Jan 22, 2025 at 7:17am
In response to "20250122 Romance Tropes That Annoy Me"

Great entry! Most of these annoy the hell outta me, too. I think some tropes, regardless of genre, bug folks who do a lot of reading, like us. Often while watching a movie with my husband, I goran and tell him that it's too predictable and then tell him how things will go down - because we've seen it all before.

Adherennium - Maybe Writing?

Jan 20, 2025 at 2:52am
In response to "20250120 Utilising Peter's Evil Overlord List"

What if Sceleratus exercised his royal prerogative with some Palace maid, who on discovering her pregnancy has a fair idea what will happen to her if Sceleratus finds out, disappears. Son grows up, overthrows the father. If the mother dies in childbirth without revealing the father, you can avoid the more obvious plot lines.

Adherennium - Maybe Writing?

Jan 17, 2025 at 5:56am
In response to "20250117 My Most Hated Tropes"

Trope 2 above is a staple of all British soap operas. The thread weaves its tedious way to the inevitable line, "We've got to talk." Whereupon the misunderstanding that has spawned fire, murder, theft, adultery and more is explained and resolved. Till next time. I'd personally rate this my least favourite of the three, but they are all terrible.

4 Like

Kåre เลียม Enga

Jan 13, 2025 at 2:17am
In response to "20250113 Vocabulary Matters"

Hmm... Thai:

ใจดี heart-good 'kind-hearted'
ดีใจ good-heart 'happy' translates as 'delighted'

I use these two words to make the contrast between heart-good and good-heart.

But:

ความสุข 'happiness'
มีความสุข have happiness 'be happy'

ความ changes a verb into a noun. รัก 'love' is a verb. ความรัก is the noun.

The structure of the language is different and it's very easy to mistranslate as so much is contextual. On top of 5 or 6 tones there's 'tone' (attitude) as how it is said and to whom can change the meaning. Body language and knowing what is the proper exchange is also a key to what is going on. Loses so much in translation!

Audio-visual media is a delight though as Thais are expressive.

Subtitles work if the translator is fluent in both languages and culture. Yet, even then, both make distinctions that the other language does not.

So... in using a word or two a knowledgeable writer might get away with it; but, everything should be checked with a native speaker.

Same with English dialects and slang by-the-way. Street language has it's own vocabulary and grammar. And then there's jargon... which is why so many PhDs and Powerful-People can't hold a conversation. They literally do not know the common language.

As an aside: why do I think you should write in Australian? Because that's authentic. Maybe provide a translation into English, Irish or American... Or submit the translation as "translated from Australian". Always keep an Australian original copy. Your voice matters.

[Visit the entry for more...]

Elisa: Snowman Stik

Jan 10, 2025 at 9:32am
In response to "20250110 The 'Of' Naming Trope"

Would you consider City of God to be a Thing of Thing example? (Note: this movie is a far cry from sci-fi/fantasy.)

Cubby~On the Road Again-Monday

Jan 8, 2025 at 8:32am
In response to "20250108 Naming Characters"

That's a great idea, keeping a list of all previously used names.

I also try to avoid using names that sound similar in the same story, like Mary and Marie, Mark and Marty, etc. It can get confusing to the reader (me, included!)

Character names are important. Thank you for posting this!

Kåre เลียม Enga

Jan 8, 2025 at 4:55am
In response to "20250108 Naming Characters"

The choice between James, Jim, Jimmy, Jimmie... contrasts with James Edward the 3rd (a.k.a. Third-Wheel or less flattering... Da Turd).

Attitude matters!

The choice between Jaime, Jamie, Jamal, Jan, Jan-Anders... also makes a slight difference imho. Both Jaime and Jan can be non-gender.

I don't want a story longer than 300 words with names that sound the same. In novels it's easier if none of the names start with the sane letter: Angie, Max, Xenobia (shorter, longer, different sounds) is better than Mick, Mack, Mork.

But... I've also dispensed with names altogether. In conversation the characters know who they are talking to.

— Didja see how Third-Wheel butted in when Xenobia was batting her eyes at Angie?
— Rude. Da Turd still think he hot shit. Ain't true. His crap be old.

Even without names the reader gleans some insight into speaker 1 vs 2.

Robert Waltz

Jan 4, 2025 at 12:32am
In response to "20250104 Balance between too much and not enough"

As a reader, my brain just skips over descriptions. They're like ads to me: obstacles that get in the way of what I'm there for. Occasionally, I'll come across a description that speaks to me, but it's rare, and I don't recall any that used "all the senses" (and I agree there are many more than five) without seeming contrived.

Quilli ☕

Jan 3, 2025 at 7:55am
In response to "20250103 External Writerings XII"

Clicked and read them all. They were all great and I am most thankful for the list of horrible holiday movies. I found a couple I can recommend to my brother as payback for making me watch "The Lobster".

1 Like

January 24, 2025 at 12:05am

#1082735

20250124 Three Character Trope Issues

Three Character Trope Issues

More trope dumping! Because I can!
These are three character tropes that just annoy me. More in visual media than books (they rarely occur in what I read), these characters tell me that I am probably not going to enjoy the work in question. I mean, they appear often and so there are clearly fans. I just ain’t one o’ ‘em.
I could do 6, but have already mentioned the chosen one, the know-it-all kid, and the evil for the sake of being evil bad guy in other posts. These are three new ones… for this blog.

1) The Reluctant Hero
I blame Tolkien for this one, and I know Campbell’s Hero’s Journey is based on this trope. But that does not mean it hasn’t become tedious. Nowadays, it seems every second hero is reluctant to save the world, either because of selfishness, fear, or some other convenient excuse. But then something happens, and the reluctance disappears, and they set about heroing as they were destined to.
Blergh. It is all the same, and it has become boring. Not every hero needs to be reluctant at first! No, really – some people will just go into things, or do things before they realise they are actually being the hero, and by then it is too late. Or they take on the mantle without questioning it.
Bonnie Tyler was right, maybe we don’t need another hero, especially a reluctant one.

2) The Grumpy Smart-arse
Some will say this was Sherlock Holmes or Batman, but I disagree. Holmes was not grumpy, but confident; Batman was not grumpy, but cautious (he had a secret identity, after all). No, this is House the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock, most lead detectives in CSI orNCIS shows… and so on.
Most are detectives, though some are doctors, and some are teachers/professors. But they are smart, they know everything, they can work things out in a one-hour episode (plus commercials) and they are grumpy as anything and often just plain rude.
I know a lot of smart-arses. I am a smart-arse. And if you’re grumpy, people don’t listen to you. You need to have at least a little bit of interpersonal skill or else you will be ignored. No matter how smart you are, you will not be taken seriously or at face value if you are just a grumpy old man. I would also add “quirky” here (see Monk); still annoying, still diminishing your gravitas.

3) The Ugly Duckling
You know, the one who will turn out to be beautiful in the end. This is o-o-old! The original fairy-tale dates back to ancient Greece. But it has persisted. Beauty And the Beast is the most obvious example. But there are others. How many films have the “dork” girl take off her glasses, get anew hairstyle and suddenly, she’s a prom queen? Or have the boy take off his glasses, get a new hairstyle and have some “cool” clothes, and suddenly, he’s the prom king?
It is not only unrealistic, but also plays to stereotypes… the main one being beauty is everything. Beautiful women are wonderful people, not the bitches who treat everyone like crap. Handsome guys are wonderful people, not douchebags who treat women like objects. Or is that just many of the people I’ve met and seen in real life?
And, truth be told, many modern standards of beauty I find about as attractive as a pus-filled boil. And I know I’m not the only one. This surface level trope about beauty being the be-all and end-all just annoys me.

There we are, three (well, 6, including the others already whinged about) character tropes that just tell me your story is going to be crap before I’ve finished it. And if you like them, wonderful! I mean, those TV shows and films have audiences. But, to me, these suck.

1 Like • Comment

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