Hi everyone! I hope you’re all well! It’s time for the twelfth(!) post in the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge hosted by Long and Short Reviews. If you want to join in the challenge, you can find this year’s list of topics here, and if you’d like to read other people’s responses to this week’s topic, you can do that here.
A Book Trope I Wish Wouldn’t Happen IRL
Wow. This one’s a toughie. There are so many tropes I wouldn’t want to happen in real life.
Unresolved Endings
I am a person who does not like loose ends. In life, as in stories, any conflict I have needs to be all tied up in a nice little bow. Otherwise, I will think of nothing else; I enjoy sleeping (when I can), and in my experience, conflict is the enemy of sleep.
Tropes that Feature Abuse of Any Kind
While it may be necessary to depict scenes of abuse in fiction for dramatic purposes, I think we all would agree that given the option, in an ideal world, we’d get rid of all abuse. I reckon the world is harsh enough without human beings inflicting harm and damage on one another.
Alien Abductions
As someone who experiences sleep paralysis regularly, I’d hate for it to turn out I was really being abducted by aliens. I feel like I’ve already got enough going on without needing that little trope to become a reality. On the other hand, if they’re kind, friendly aliens, then I’d have an open mind.
Minority Characters Getting Killed Off
Well, this trope would be utterly barbaric if it were real. It is, however, still prevalent in fiction, although it’s becoming less so. Can we all agree that all human packaging comes in a great assortment of sizes, shapes, colours, genders, and myriad other things. Imagine if we were all the same? Who would want that? It’s being so different that makes each and every one of us unique and special. There will only ever be one You.
Well, that’s my twelfth post done. I’m curious to read which tropes you all wish to keep in the realms of fiction.
As always, thanks so much for spending your time with me today!
Until next time,
George
© 2024 GLT
Categories: life, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge
GEORGE L THOMAS 
These are all good answers!
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Thanks, Lydia 🙂
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I agree. With aliens, the word “probes “immediately came to mind as a reason why one would not wish it to come true.
Thinking of stories as neat little packages with a bow on top makes me think of discussions. I’ve had with others about why are such and such characters so stupid that they miss X sign. Of course we as viewers know that all the little things that pop up in a story are probably significant (thanks, Chekov’s gun) whereas in real life, they’re not. So characters ignoring the little “signs” are actually pretty realistic, given that most of life are just loose threads.
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That’s such a great point about the loose threads, Greta. We don’t always get all the answers to everything. It would be nice, though. 🙂
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I fully agree about needing resolution. There have been some exceptions to this in the literary world – sometimes it’s done in a way that the lack of resolution kind of *is* resolution. But it’s incredibly rare that I’ll enjoy it. In life? Not so much. I’ve gotten a bit better at it because I find that it’s not always possible for all the little things in life. Communication is sometimes hard, people are very different, and sometimes the relationship is more important than resolution you can’t reach. Would be nice, though.
I agree on abuse, of course. Aliens… I mean I think if aliens showed up on our planet it likely wouldn’t just be to say hi. That said, I really don’t get the whole probe thing. If aliens managed to travel all that way to get to us, why would probing us be their first order of business? But I wouldn’t want to be suddenly abducted by anyone, much less another race I couldn’t communicate with. How do you get resolutions when you literally can’t communicate?
Ugh the whole minority characters being killed off thing. I don’t even know where to start with this one. It’s bad on so many different levels. I always have a problem with characters being killed off like it’s nothing – cardboard cut-out characters who are there to support the main characters’ story don’t work for me. They’re all real people, even if that isn’t shown to you, so it’s hard to just be like whatever. I find it particularly hard when it’s a minority character because that’s literally how many people who were BIPOC were treated throughout history. It’s not a plot device. It’s real life, being used in fiction, which makes it extra bad. So yeah, I’d be happy for this one to stop.
As always, great ideas and lots to think about! 🙂
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Thanks so much for your reply! I think that’s a great point about people being different often making resolution difficult. I’m just one of those people who find those little loose threads, either fictional or otherwise, irritating. 🙂🙂
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Oh, totally. Only thing worse is an itchy tag in your shirt!
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Oof absolutely! 🙂
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Hmm…what would it be like if real life stories came to a complete end? Even when one character dies, in real life the others’ lives go on.
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The ‘bury your gays’ trope has always really annoyed me in tv/movies, or where their entire character/personality is that they are ‘the gay one’, but luckily I seem to be reading the right books because I’m finding it much less prevalent than even 10 years ago.
Now if only it was happening less in real life, that would be great.
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Agreed, Samantha! 🙂🙂
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