Skip to main content

Story Lab: Week 4

Hi!
For this week, I chose to do a story lab looking at different plot divices from tvTropes instead of another story. I used the "Random Trope" button to suffle through pages, and found a few that I recognized or thought would be interesting to try using! So here we go!
The Big Guy: For this trope there was a picture of Chewbacca and Han Solo at the top of the page, and if you have ever seen the original trilogy you'll already understand a large portion of this trope. This character, The Big Guy, is really common in action movies, but I didn't realize how vercetile it could be. In particular, the article pointed out the different options for The Big Guy's characteristics other than just being "the muscle" or the "brute force". The accompanying characteristics included loyalty, gruffness, meanness, gentle giant, calming, wise, dumb, smart, loud, withdraw n, and many others. The secondary traits they have depends on what kind of "The Bug Guy" they are. The article names 5 distinct types Typical Touch Guy (gruff/mean/scarred/withdrawn), Gentle Giant (doesn't want to push too far/calming element outside battle/wise/experienced), Boisterous Bruiser (large presence/fun/hot-blooded/loud/short and stout), Genius Bruiser (smart guy/rare/intelligently uses muscle), and Pint-Sized Power house (small/unimposing/determination/commonly female/unusual power). I think that incorporating a character that is specifically tailored to one of these tropes would be good practice e for writing more purposefully.
Wanting is better than having: I recognize this trope not just in literature but also in life. I think most of us have put a lot of effort into something that hasn't  been all that great in the end. The article says that it is a "Stock Aesops" lesson, and I know that I have seen it in use particularly at the beginning of second seasons, sequal movies, and the second act of plays or musicals. I enjoy this trope a lot because I think it can introduce a very real and believeable layer to a story and keeps it from straying into a fairytale. I think that if I end up doing a story book it would be a good trope to use at the beginning to lead into the story or perhaps at the beginning of a story right after a great accomplishment in the last story.
Home Sweet Home: Again, this trope seems to be apparent in real life, wether it is yearning for home when we leave or finding a new home or found family when we do leave. This trope includes both of those along with just about any emotions you can think of in relation to any kind of home. This includes ideas like "you can't go home again," finding a new home, choosing to stay away from home or in a new home, or hating being famous because it takes them away from home. I have seen this in some of the classical stories I have read, as well as a lot adventure movies or books. This could possibly a good source of motivation for a character in a future story and could be used along side the "Wanting us better than having trope"
I am really looking forward to putting some of these tropes and others into practice in my future stories, and will likely be visiting tvTropes again to find story inspiration!

And because he is my favorite "Big Guy" here is a picture of Chewbacca

From Flickr by William Warby
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

Hello!  My name is Cat and although this will be a blog about mythology and folklore, today I want to tell you all a little bit about myself and my summer. So, to start off I am a civil engineering student here at the University of Oklahoma. I will be graduating in December, but I will be staying on for another year to complete my master’s degree, also in civil engineering but with a focus on structural engineering. Civil engineering includes the design of buildings, infrastructure, water supply systems, waste water treatment systems, and traffic control systems to name a few.  Over this summer I had the opportunity to work as an intern for a civil engineering company and learned a lot from the experience. I learned to design pump stations, outline drainage areas, how to do the runoff calculations for inlets, culverts and drainage ditches, and a bunch of stuff about low impact development, but most importantly I learned that I don’t like doing any of those things....
7 comments
Read more

Famous Last Words: Migraines

Hey there! As you may have guessed already because this is an extra credit post, I fell behind last week. This time partially due to procrastination and partially due to a migraine. It was great. Let me tell you about it.  I had been feeling really great all week, getting my work done, not too stressed, and like usual I was planning to do the three weekend assignments on Sunday. Yes, I know I shouldn't wait until the last day to do them. Yes, I know this whole thing could have been avoided by doing them early, but hey, hind sight, spilled milk, you know the drill. Plus, I didn't have any other homework due on Monday, unlike usual, so I thought I would have plenty of time. (Here is where the ominous music should play.) However, that afternoon I started having a migraine attack. This quickly spiraled into me sitting and staring at the wall until it stopped later that night. Sadly, I didn't get much work done, as you can imagine.  Luckily I am back on my feet today, alth...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 2 Story: The Stone Woman

Author's note: I wrote this story after reading Pygmalion and wanting to develop on the statues story. So this story gives the statue a back story, and rewrites some of the original tale, in the form of my character named Ivory. I hope you enjoy it.  In ancient Greece there was a woman named Ivory that had grown up in a village far from any city. Her family farmed the land around their home and raised livestock. When she was older, her father would take her with him on the long journey to the city when it was time to sell their crops at the market. One year at the market, Ivory met the most beautiful man she had ever seen. This man’s name was Deveron, and he was known widely for his charm and beauty. Soon after they met, Deveron and Ivory fell in love and were married.  They built a small home on the land Ivory’s family owned and continued to farm the land and live good lives that seemed to be blessed by the gods. They were so happy in their love and in their life th...
3 comments
Read more