This years trope vote is now open for everyone to vote on their favourite tropes - including additions from your honourable mentions!
Following feedback from last year, we will be creating a playlist for the event again, though this time with a twist! Instead of using Lyrics as part of the list, we will use the songs to fit the overall theme/trope of the day. For example, if day one has a theme of 'redemption', then a song like Start Again by the Lottery Winners would fit - and this year we want your suggestions!
The vote will be open until the 29th of July.
If you want to chat about your favourite tropes, the [DISCORD SERVER] is always active for our fabulous community of whumpers.
Similarly, if you're looking for a comprehensive list of the tropes, then under the cut are links to the A-Z lists that Surro put together a few months ago.
We can't wait to get the WT ball rolling this year!
-Mods Surro, Yenn, Vanne and Kitty <3
[Question Summary + Trope List Links under the cut]
The Trope Vote is back! Choose as many or as few from the list below - this helps us greatly when deciding on the tropes for this year. If w
TROPE LISTS:
[A-H]
[I-Q]
[R-Z]
QUESTIONS:
Question 1: 'Which tropes would you like to see for Whumptober 2024?' - Here, there is an A-Z list of tropes with checkboxes next to them. Simply choose your favourites!
Question 2: 'Honourable Mentions' - Here you can list any tropes we have forgotten.
Question 3: 'The Music Round' - If you have a song that you attribute to a trope/theme, let us know! This is entirely optional but we would love to hear the songs that put you in a whumping mood. Please format each one as SONG - ARTIST - TROPE
The year is 2042. Your daughter is awkwardly silent as she eats her dinner. “Something wrong sweetie?” She sighs and puts down her fork. “I was digging really deep in AO3 last night…Why didn’t you finish that coffee shop au?” It happened. Your past has come back to haunt you. Nay, it never truly left.
OKAY BUT WAIT. This has happened to me. Recently. Because I am old and I have things out there from previous fandoms with previous pseuds and one day my teenager begins a rant at me about people never finishing any WIPs on the pit of voles (which he does not call the pit of voles because he has No Knowledge of such a thing but yet he still reads on which I didn’t think anyone did any longer) and he points out an example to me of something I WROTE AND LEFT WIPing for ages and he has NO IDEA #1 that his mom wrote this and #2 How much it still haunts me to this day that it will. sit. there. for. eternity. because I am too lazy to pull it down.
Is it just me, or are there less comments being written on fics nowadays? I get to a fic on AO3 that was posted weeks ago, and it has like 30 kudos but no comments yet. It happens more and more now. Why is that?
I don't know how to comment without giving feedback and apparently loads of people don't want that. Yes, I know, I could just say sth like "loved it" (and I know first hand the warm and fuzzy feeling that gives the receiver). But that doesn't express what I'm thinking because what I'm thinking is "I thought this bit was very good because reason, I thought this other bit was maybe too long, this third bit confused me, and that twist was really well prepared". And it seems that many people don't want to hear that which is very VERY confusing to me. So the only thing to do is leave kudos.
Actually I think that is a good place to start, when writing a comment, maybe just skip the not-so-positive stuff? So "this bit was good because reason" and "this twist was really well prepared" are good things to put in a comment. Just skip the things you DIDN'T like so much - keep them to yourself. And then you have a good comment.
When it comes to comments, always concentrate on the positive (unless someone has outright stated that they're looking for constructive feedback).
Agreed. In my early fandom days people would outright state "concrit welcome," which I would say is the only time it's appropriate to offer criticism on the technical aspects of the story. Rarely do I see authors looking for that kind of thing currently.
Fandom is not a creative writing class. This is not a workshop. Fics can be posted in varying degrees of polished/finished draft, from "no beta we die like x" to fics that have been painstakingly edited before posting. Some fics are written to completion before posting, some are posted bit by bit as the author figures the story out.
The role of commenter is far more fan and cheerleader than critic. Positive comments on the technical aspects of a story are always welcome, obviously, but once a fic is posted, it's generally more discouraging and even hurtful to have someone point out what didn't work for them. If what doesn't work grated enough that you feel the urge to comment on it, better to just stop reading.
One exception I can think of is if there's an easily fixed factual error or glaring typo? And even then, I usually state clearly in the notes that I'm open to corrections on that kind of thing (ex: I got the name of the frontman wrong when writing about characters attending a concert, and I was SUPER grateful to have that pointed out).
In general, unless the author has made it clear that they want constructive criticism or corrections, stick to the positive. Asking about an author's thought process behind certain choices is fine, so long as it comes from a place of curiosity rather than complaint.
I'm sure there are authors out there who don't mind critical comments, but in my experience, they're in the minority. If you are one of those authors, make that clear in the notes or tags of your story. Otherwise, readers should assume the default preference is positive/encouraging comments.
Don't you hate it when you read a story and the characters do a bunch of legally and morally questionable things and they just live life as it were with no consequences? Your character is not perfect and should not get away scot-free with whatever adventure they just went through. Make there be stakes for going on with their adventure and your character accepts those stakes anyway. It gives depth to your story and helps your reader see what your character values.
WARNING: WARCROSS SPOILERS AHEAD
A great example of this was at the end of the Warcross series by Marie Lu. Now I may be remembering wrong because I did read it a while ago but to my understanding, the main characters did go through a lot of repercussions as, even though they saved the world, they still broke the law and some people made the technology that was capable of taking over people's brains in the first place. (cough cough Hideo cough cough)
So in conclusion, think of yourself as your character's parent. If they don't get home by curfew, they need punishment.
dededos
theartofmadeline
origamiaround
tangentwithtanner
germansingergirl
baratheonpilled
annaxmalina
