#FantasyTropes

[ssleeping-in-a-coffin]

Hi! I want to talk about dark magic.

What do you usually imagine when you hear about dark magic? Spells and rituals that destroy the world or kill someone? Or maybe you think of a mage from some book or movie, like Voldemort or Sauron? In principle, both are correct, but I want to share my point of view (I know I'm not the first to talk about this).

So, what is dark magic, and why is it called that? Everyone's definition is different, but the common part is that it is used with evil intentions, unlike light magic. It is considered dark for several reasons:

Danger and unpredictability:

Magic associated with causing harm often carries risks and can have unpredictable consequences. People fear what they cannot control.

Ethical and moral norms:

In most cultures, causing harm is considered immoral. Magic associated with these actions automatically falls into the category of dark.

Historical cases of abuse:

In history, there have been mages and sorcerers who used their power for evil purposes. These examples have contributed to the formation of stereotypes about dark magic.

In my opinion, magic is not divided into "light" and "dark"; it is absolutely neutral. This division is only necessary to distinguish between positive and negative characters. You know the trope: "Dark" mage = evil mage and "Light" mage = good mage. In "Harry Potter," there was even a house from which dark wizards often came, characterized by cunning and resourcefulness.

As I mentioned, magic is neutral and is merely a tool for achieving a goal. It acquires moral significance depending on how it is used. For example, fire can warm and cook food, but it can also destroy and kill.

Thus, dark magic is not inherently evil but simply magic used for evil purposes. It all depends on the intentions and actions of the mage.

[archival-arrival]

FantasyTropic

a -tropic gender related to the general fantasy trope. be it a fantasy setting, character or trope of magic, this gender is a general umbrella for all fantasy tropes.

[headmates-for-you]

Hey! Can we request a Draco Malfoy fictive?? Feel free to go heavy on the TransIDs, CisIDs, and Paras and Xenos. Ty🙏🏻

-⚰️🍎 (If we can use this!)

Name(s): Draco, Draken, Raco/Rayco

Age(s): 15-19

Pronouns: he/him, HE/HIM, moon/moons, magic/magics, wand/wands, spell/spells, magi/magis, god/gods, snake/snakes, slith/slithers, ghoul/ghouls, wiz/wizs, orb/orbs, broom/brooms, gen/gens

Gender(s): cismale, moonmagigender, fantasytropic, magistellic, witchish, magicdiety, slythrinic, ghoulmedgender, wizorbic, magicgender

Orientation(s): gay

TransID(s): transafab, transwhitehair, transgreeneyes, transaustrian, transaccent, transbadguy, transantihero, therian (snake), transforkedtongue, transcurlyhair, transcrossdresser

CisID(s): blonde, amab, brown eyes, british, neutral antagonist, slytherin, slicked back hair, robes, wand, magic, masculine

Source(s): Harry Potter

Paras: zeusophilia, objectophilia, necrophilia, zoophilia, nyctophilia, teratophilia, thanatophilia, reptile zoophilia, autoimlaphilia, patrolagnia, autozoophilia, odaxelagnia, biastophilia, autobiastophilia, sadism, zoosadism, bibliophilia, autoaptophilia, hybristophilia, cratolagnia, sinefaciemphilia, transvestic fetishism

Emoji signoff: 🐍🪄

Positive trigger(s): snakes, online arguments

[adrianasunderworld]

@mangacupcake @marrondrawsalot @writing-heiress @the-weirdos-mind

If Isabelle returns home before she finishes school, she's going to have to deal with all the rumors that circulated about her while she was gone at her old school.

[storiesgoeveron]

Top 10 fantasy writing tropes

Top 10 fantasy writing tropes #writingtropes #tropes #fantasy #fantasytropes #chosenone #magicalcreatures #quest #medievalsetting #magic #prohecies #epicbattles #hiddenworlds #darklord #reluctanthero #writing #writer

In the vast realm of fantasy literature, certain tropes and themes have become iconic and beloved by readers around the world. These narrative devices and storytelling elements have shaped the genre and continue to captivate audiences with their timeless appeal. From the destined hero embarking on an epic quest to the mythical creatures that inhabit fantastical realms, these tropes serve as…

[shadowtriovibes]

i need other fic writers to appreciate how fucking funny this is

[cocktailsfairytales]

We're celebrating the release of The Wolf King by Lauren H. Salisbury! Make sure you get your copy if you love:

Enemies to lovers

Fable retelling (Three Little Pigs)

Evil male lead (think Darkling or Kylo Ren)

Forced marriage

Only one bed

Touch her and 💀

Siblings

Banter

The Wolf King

Publication Date: October 8, 2024

Genre: Fantasy Romance/Fairytale Retelling

She's captured the king... but can she capture his heart before it's too late?

Madeline Dalbot rules the peaceful kingdom of Tyrrath on her ailing father's behalf. When their borders are attacked and her guards capture the notorious Wolf King, she is left with an impossible decision.

Unable either to release him or keep him prisoner without risking a full-scale war, she agrees to marry him instead, allowing his army access to her lands in exchange for the freedom to rule as she sees fit. But he ignores their bargain. His army strips Tyrrath’s resources, and her people go missing.

With the Wolf King intent on destroying everything and everyone Madeline loves, she must break through to his cold heart before her entire kingdom is enslaved. But the only way may be to risk everything she has.

The Wolf King is a fantasy romance inspired by The Three Little Pigs.

GET IT ON AMAZON https://www.amazon.com/Wolf-King-Lauren-H-Salisbury-ebook/dp/B0DC5C2Z3Q/ref

Organized by R&R Book Tours

IG: @laurenhsalisbury @rrbooktours

Tags:

#rrbooktours #rrbtTheWolfKing #fantasyromance #fantasybooks #booktropes #romantasy #newadultfantasy #fantasyromancebooks #romantasybooks #fantasytropes #tropes #nospicebooks #bookteaser #booktropes #touchheranddie #onebedtrope #enemiestolovers #fantasyretelling #bookboyfriend

[northernlights63]

Hey!! This is the beginning of a story based on this prompt from the wonderful creator <3

*ITS UNFINISHED*

The beat was infectious.

That's what I'd blame when everything went to shit.

The beat was infectious, it must have been sung by a siren.

It's the only explanation, really, for why I can't bring myself to stop dancing, my hands clasped in cold hands. A selkies hands- for now. So cold, and dusted with silver sheen and green freckles.

And then before I know it, at the next drop of the tempo, I'm spun into awaiting arms. The next partner in this dance- the one I was trying to get to. With warmer hands than the selkie, my frozen fingers already feel better, tightly entwined with his. Unlike dancing with the selkie, my feet don't have to worry about a long dress to trip over, I can see his dress shoes and mine stepping in almost perfect harmony. I don't dare look up, knowing that his eyes have been on me all night. It's a wonderful thing, what a nice suit and jacket and white stars along silver cheeks can do when everyone around you is looking for the next batch of prey.

And that's all I am. All I'm supposed to be, just for tonight.

I blow my hair out of my face- I can't let go or it'll break the rhythm of the dance, and even though I'm supposed to be a distraction, I can't make myself do something to end the beauties twirling around me.

I feel more than hear the next drop, the next change- but I don't get handed off. I continue the dance with the same man. It throws a break in the pattern, though it's not long before everyone forms another, where we're cleary outside of the dancing happening, even though neither of our feet have faltered.

I do dare look up.

I told myself I wouldn't, for so many reasons.

There's no point.

It'll add an air of mystery to me, all to keep him entranced a little longer.

The rumors I've heard- they say he can ensnare you with a single glancs into his eyes, or the minute you give him your name. They say that about all the fae, really.

But that's what he is. One of the fae.

Surrounding me are monsters, even if I'm no different than the grey skinned selkies spinning around us, or the wendigo lurking in corners, or the wild fae dancing with forest nymphs. All sorts of creatures and monsters and myths are here tonight.

And despite my better judgment, I look up.

The first thing I notice is the way his eyes shine. Not maliciously, like I thought they'd be.

Warm, and dark, and beautiful.

They're dark brown, with light flecks of a lighter color, and they're the kind I could fall into for a thousand years.

And he stares back into me, and smiles.

Now I know why they say the fae can steal with a gaze.

Though I am moving, I feel paralyzed, like I'm rigidly locked into the steps of the waltz.

I can feel my mouth freeze- pinned back into a sharp, fake smile- and my inability to speak hits me then. I didn't realize I couldn't before, I didn't think of how silent the ballroom is until now, how I haven't spoke since I parted with my team and walked through the ornate doors on the other side of the room.

I glance at my-... watch. Which was just on my wrist. The band is still around my wrist, tight enough to not fall off, but the numbers on the face look distorted, and the hands look like they've melted.

I can't remember what time I came in.

Oh my gods. I can't remember what time I came in, I don’t even know what time it is, let alone when my team is going to finish the job.

"Why are you so worried about the time, pretty one?"

I go to answer, before I remember that I can't answer. And by his laugh, I know he knew that.

"It can't be because of your little plan, can it?"

I stop moving. I freeze, gripping his hands tight enough that I'm sure there will be marks, practically tripping over his feet before he forces me to regain balance and continue the dance.

"Struck a nerve, huh? That's right- I know about the four people who, three minutes ago, tried to steal from my boss. I know about how you're a distraction, I know how you're all reporting to your sister and how much money you were trying to gain," he pauses to release on of my hands so he can tilt my chin up, "I know every single little detail of your plan- and you and your mixed up group failed."

[archangelbelletti]

My favorite tropes

Tropes I costantly die for

One thing happens to the mc and looks like it has overwhelmed them, leaving them hopeless. Then something even worse happens. (Berserk, Avengers series, I guess?)

The antagonist is a far better person than the mc. (Death Note).

The best fighter of the group is a girl, and she’s also insanely pretty. (Tokyo Ghoul? not sure where I saw this).

The villain is somehow scared of violence. (... my novel?)

At the end of the story, nobody has got what they wanted, but ended up with something else, maybe better, maybe worse. Bittersweet and powerful.

Oc is kind to everyone, listens to everyone, but nobody can get intimately close to them. There’s always a distance, and they never fall in love. Everybody’s best friend but has no best friends.

Coward oc is forced to find courage because otherwise they’d just die. (Game of Thrones)

Magic that comes with a very high price. (The Witcher)

A villian that knows sweetness and violence and mixes them. (Killing Stalking)

Characters that are way too young for the things they have to face. (Riverdale season 1, Harry Potter series, Shadowhunter series)

Very strong characters with that one (1) awful weakness that makes you cry. (Six of Crows, Kaz Brekker).

[kelsieengen]

I had to jump on Pinterest for this #NaNoThatWriMo character aesthetic challenge of Day 8. (Flip to second photo.) I'm on Pinterest as @KEngenAuthor in case you want to follow me. -- I mean, I know what my Snow White looks like in my head, but didn't have an image ready. This is a good likeness for her, sort of. -- Of course my SW looks a little bit more battered, not quite as photo-ready. Of course she's still gotta be pretty, because that's part of what motivates the Queen's hatred of her, but that's far from her determining characteristic. She's bold, she's broken, she's stubborn. She's no weak female waiting for a man to rescue her--but she's also far from an inexplicable warrior princess. And, despite all that, she's still Snow White. (I mean, why throw the tropes in there if you can't break them, right?) -- Do you use tropes in your writing? Love them or hate them? Drop me a comment below and let me know! I'm super interested in what people think about tropes in the books they read. -- #amwriting #nanowrimo #nano2018 #amwritingfantasy #momswhowrite #writing #instagramauthors #indieauthors #authors #novel #shortstory #50kin30days #amwritingfantasy #fairytaleretelling #fairytale #SnowWhite #FogAndMist #tropes #fantasytropes #fairytaletropes Link to second photo: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/188025353173049744/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BqDX21qnFJ_/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=7c14iqu5r7cd

[academiablogs]

The Magic of Cliches

If you ever find yourself in the unfortunate position of submitting stories to a fantasy or science fiction magazine (especially the bigger ones), you’ll inevitably come across their” do not submit if you have...” lists. It’s surprising how long these lists are, and I suspect they grow by the year, if not the month. A sampling from Clarkesworld Magazine includes:

* zombies, or zombie wannabes

* stories where “thou” or “thine” appear

* talking swords or cats

* stories about young kids playing in a field and finding something—ANTYHING

* stories about your RPG character’s adventures

* stories in which a milquetoast civilian government is depicted as the sole obstacle to either catching some depraved criminal or to an uncomplicated military victory

* stories were FTL travel or time travel is as easy as it appears on TV or in film

Those are just a few of the many warnings of what not to submit, though they claim that “no theme, setting, or plot is anathema to us”! However, all of these themes can be found in dozens if not hundreds of successful works. After all, Star Trek and Star Wars takes FTL travel as a given, and though much conversation is spilled about “warp core breaches” by various Starfleet engineers, it’s only a plot point—not a scientific conundrum. Not to mention that a talking cat is the essence of Alice in Wonderland! So if these have worked, and people love them, why are they absolutely banned by Clarkesworld Magazine?

Okay, I guess I answered my own question: because they’re too familiar. They’re cliches. Once one zombie story becomes popular, everyone writes a zombie story; and for every dystopian fiction with a weak, lunk-headed government preventing the coming utopia, there are a hundred others on an identical theme (only the names change). The problem with fiction is that writers read other writers; we’re inspired by their example; we borrow and steal; and sometimes, we simply write something to live vicariously through another writer’s ideas. Is there any way to write in a vacuum, or to be truly, divinely, original? Even a groundbreaking work like The Hobbit or Neuromancer has many predecessors, even to the point that Tolkein can read like Lord Dunsany or George MacDonald fan-fiction.

So what do we do with the cliches that the gatekeepers are sick of reading, but the readers aren’t? To be honest, I would gladly read a novel about a talking sword or a “milquetoast civilian government” since I enjoy those tropes, so long as the novel adds up to more than a tired rehearsal of those themes. What makes a work seem new isn’t novelty, per se. Instead, I think it’s a way of rearranging the puzzle so that we see the familiar pieces, but it takes us longer to put them back into shape. We “think” it’s a new puzzle, but only after a few hours of reading do we start to see the picture falling into place. It’s not a new picture, which is exactly the point: otherwise we might not know what to make of it (did I put it together correctly?). Art is in the illusion, and not the final product.

For this reason, I think it can be dangerous to outlaw cliches since a cliche is not the idea but the execution. Of course, that’s what Clarkesworld is getting at: an inferior writer won’t know what to do with a cliche other than give the reader the familiar puzzle with numbered pieces so we don’t even have to think. The danger of a well-worn path is that we simply take it because we enjoy the ride; that’s fine for a reader, but a writer has to be bold and experimental, even when employing the familiar cliches. If a writer makes life easy for him or herself, then we’re all cheated—and we don’t even need to read the book! One way of testing this is to summarize your story into a single paragraph: if something vital to the novel escapes your summary, something you can’t begin to put into words, you may have escaped the trap of cliche. Your story is more than the sum of its parts.

The most inventive writer can take a tired cliche (vampires invade a sleepy little town) and make it sound like vampires have never existed before this novel. Do you think vampire novels weren’t old hat before Steven King tried his hand at one in ‘Salem’s Lot? Or better yet, that Tolkein was the first to write about magic rings and elves and fairies (check out Wagner, which Tolkein more or less borrowed wholesale!). Of course, borrowing and inspiration is to be expected, and if Tolkein had simply rehashed the plot of Twilight of the Gods no one would have read it except a few stoned undergraduates.

Tolkein used familiar material ground in myth and legend to expound his own ideas about history and about the present; he collected raw materials to fashion into something familiar that was lost—the mythology of the British isles—which survives merely in scraps of this or that book. So when we read his books, we figure out it’s the old puzzle we all love (rings, dragons, heroes, villains) but it feels like something else—a world we’ve never seen before. And one we never want to depart from.

I would encourage writers to boldly embrace cliches while thinking about what made them new and fresh to begin with. Perhaps it’s best to start with cliches in language: consider a phrase like “she cast a spell on me,” or “life is a roll of the dice.” Boring, conventional phrases that are completely drained of poetry. But once, many moons ago, they were poetry, as each one is a metaphor—a way of translating one experience in terms of something unrelated, but as it turns out, quite similar.

What is love? Love is like casting a spell on someone, and when it hits you, you feel like the object of your affection has, indeed, concocted a nasty spell. It’s fun to think about all the ways that love functions as spellcraft, since one moment you’re fine and the next...life no longer works the same way or follows the same rules. It’s simply different. The same is true for approaching life as a game of chance, where each roll could increase your stakes—or ruin you completely. It’s a poetic perspective, a way of answering the question, “how should I live my life?” Why not like this? Roll the dice and see where it takes you. After all, anywhere is better than staying put and fretting about the road you didn’t take...

So in writing, remember why we coined a phrase, or created a character, or rehearsed a specific plot. Don’t take it for granted—look deep beneath the layers to find the fundamental human idea that makes it “go.” Cliches aren’t moribund; on the contrary, they’re familiar for a reason. It’s the job of the writer to make us forget how familiar they are until the last piece of the puzzle...and then familiarity becomes delight. As well as a successful work of art.

[leafworthy]

🍠💨#Gorgon #Trail: yesterday I learned the difference between a #wagon and a #carriage and I think my concept of wagon is a combination of the two (what we call a car). Next, I'll be skinning it onto the other wagon's #animation in #Spine2D. This is part of my #gamedevelopment journey making The Gorgon Trail, a mix between #TheOregonTrail and #witchmagic with #fantasytropes like #dragons. #oldcar (at El Cerrito) https://www.instagram.com/p/CD44K1LDNy3/?igshid=1ki2zv3izwzxm

[jabarucomic]

#terrypratchett #quote #GNUTerryPratchett #discworld #death #reaperman #author #novel #ankhmorpork #fantasy #parody #fantasytropes #pratchett

[clipartpartyhat]

A guy told me to draw an owl giving advice. Was it you #grouchomarxism??????