Hi! Bit of a random question, but what are your favourite tropes for lightcannon (e.g. enemies to lovers, soulmates, childhood marriage pact, ect.) as in for AUs? Sorry if this doesn't make any sense I'm not really sure if I worded it right lol
I don't really set out to write tropes in that way. I'm sure there are plenty of tropes in my fics, but I'm not really trying to check the trope boxes when I sit down to write something.
I'll be thinking a lot more about themes, settings, character dynamics, particular plot moments I want to get to like a specific piece of action or a heartfelt moment between two characters or a gut punch twist or something that I have an idea for.
The exception is when it's for a prompt, Lightcannon Week etc, where you've kinda got to do the trope because that's the assignment. But I still wanna have fun twisting the prompts and doing something a little out of the box, because that's how you get FroYo bar meet cute, Jinx playing Cluedo detective and "Flower Language" but it's a gory, intense prison break.
Tropes are fine, but I find this whole AO3-BookTok culture thing of expecting everything you read to check off the same 20 tropes in advance to be very hmmm...stifling, to be polite. To the point of creative strangulation, at times, some of the works that come out of this, even published ones, are twisting themselves into pretzels trying to live up to the trope, and it shows.
Tropes are a tool in your toolbox, they can be a fun jumping off point. If you want to use them, great, but don't let them become a limitation or an expectation. That's when they're no longer working for you.
A great story is always about people, the spaces they inhabit, and their bonds with each other and themselves.
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