#trope rating

[cha-melodius]

Trope ratings: Bodyswap, Accidental Marriage, aaaaaand Mutual Pining? xoxo MJ/kiwiana-writes

HELLOOOOOO.

Bodyswap: LMAO you're very clever sending me one I'm currently writing. I do love body swap fics of all kinds, so probably a solid A? I enjoy the awkwardness of characters having to inhabit someone else's body, and it often makes for some good physical comedy. Plus the moments of 'oh no, they're too hot how am I supposed to deal with this'.

Accidental marriage: I don't think I've actually read that many of these? I assume most of them are Vegas fics, which I can kind of take or leave, so I guess a C. They don't draw me in, but they can be fun.

Mutual pining: MY BELOVED. A+++ 105%. If pining is delicious, mutual pining is 10x as sweet. I once said almost all of my fics are mutual pining even if we only see one side pining, and I stand by that. It's mutual pining even if one of them doesn't know it. Sub-trope of mutual pining while fucking is also incredible. Mutual pining is the GOAT.

Send me a fic trope and I'll grade it

[wikiangela]

Trope Rating Tag game

tagged by @jesuisici33 @spotsandsocks @thewolvesof1998 @daffi-990 @fortheloveofbuddie

rules: How much do these tropes affect your decision to click on a fic? -10 -> very dissuaded  0 - don’t care either way  +10 -> very enticed  nope -> if it’s a hard no and you’d never click on a fic with that tag or or you even have the tag blocked or you’d insta click out of the fic if it wasn’t tagged.  Bonus points for explaining the rating and whether it’s conditional.

Age gap: -2

tbh I don't mind an age gap unless it's huge and/or the younger person is way too young when the relationship starts, that's icky

other than that I don't particularly care hah

Codependency: +4

depends - a bit is fine, but not like unhealthy levels haha

Obsession/Possessiveness, jealousy: +8

see above lol - if done right, amazing, love it (also, my buddie always ends up at least a little bit possessive, idk, i can't help it haha)

Opposites (grumpy/sunshine etc): +10

adore it

Enemies to lovers, Enemies with benefits: +8

used to be more into it, but still love it

Friends with benefits: +10

YES, and with mutual pining too? perfection

Sex to feelings: +10

Fake dating/relationship: +10

one of absolute faves, love it so much (even finally wrote one and it was so fun lol)

Friends to lovers: +10

used to be kinda meh about it, now it's my shit (I blame buddie)

Found Family: +10

one of faves

Hurt/Comfort: +5

I don't seek it out, but I'll read it if I'm in the mood

Love Triangle: -8

so sick of these, sns, just make them all date each other

Poly, open relationships: +6

haven't read that many, but I do like those haha

Mistaken/hidden identity: 0

just bc I don't think I've ready any? idk

Monsterfucking: +8

listen... after venom I went so into symbrock on Ao3 lol (pretty sure they're my only ship for this trope so far tho)

Pregnancy: 0

don't seek it out, and haven't read that many, it's whatever

Second Chance: +1

depends, don't actively seek it out

Slowburn: +9

the. best.

Soulmates: +6

really depends, but generally they're fun I guess

___

no pressure tagging: @thebravebitch @jeeyuns @eddiediaztho @forthewolves @giddyupbuck @alyxmastershipper @honestlydarkprincess @watchyourbuck @transbuck @andrewblur @diazass @ladydorian05 @theotherluciferr @911onabc @disasterbuckdiaz @hippolotamus @wildlife4life and whoever else wants to do it!

[teazerwashere]

Rivals to lovers trope?

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

PEACE AND LOVE ON PLANET EARTH OR WHEREVER THE STORY TAKES PLACE! ESPECIALLY WHEN THE RIVALS REALIZE THEY DON'T ACTUALLY HATE EACH OTHER!?!!??!?! OHM Y GOD JSUT THE. THE FUGIK SOFBGBJMR!??!?!

[iammistressofmyfate]

More tropes for the rating!! Enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, and kidfics 🙏🙏🙏

Thanks, friend!! I really love doing these lmao And literally just in time, my CEU starts now!

Enemies to Lovers - B - I like it. I'm not usually in the mood for it but I'll read it, especially if it's humorous, maybe some lite angst

Friends to Lovers - A+ - One of my favorite tropes. I love writing it, I will actively seek it out. A++ if it's CHILDHOOD friends to lovers. Cannot get enough. I love when characters have a whole history as they develop into a romantic relationship 🥺

Kidfics - A - I enjoy a good kidfic. I love exploring and reading about my favorites becoming parents and seeing what that would be like. Maybe some lite angst, but I mostly like how soft and tender these fics usually are.

[Trope Rating Ask]

[gadriezmannsgirl]

Trope rating: A classic enemies to lovers

With the lot of angsty stuffs? HELL YES!

[conjectureand-gloom]

FOR THE FANFICTION TROPE: FOUND FAMILY

A: Love it. Spend my time combing AO3 for it.

YES. I LOVE IT. IT’S EASY TO MESS UP, BUT IF IT’S DONE WELL, WHICH IT ALMOST ALWAYS IS, THEN YESSSS I LIVE FOR THIS TROPE

[astoldbycrimson]

For the trope rating game: enemies to lovers, rivals to lovers, and friends to lovers?

Heya, Jasper!

Trope Rating:

Enemies to Lovers:

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

Rivals to Lovers:

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

Friends to Lovers:

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

Thanks for the ask!

~Crimson

[ashyblondwaves]

Trope rating: there’s only one bed 👀

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

[weirdo-from-bonesborough]

i see your tim has narcolepsy headcanon and i offer you this: he falls asleep during the titans tower attack and jason's just like. "well now what"

bonus points if it's one of those aus where jason has a conscious or pit madness or whatever and convinces himself tim must be horribly mistreated to start snoring while getting beat up and tim's struggling to get him to understand no dude it's a medical condition my grandpa had it

[2nd2ndalto]

nothing's gonna stop me but divine intervention

Happy new year everyone! Here's the Solangelo sex pollen fic absolutely no one asked for!

Written for @snoelledarts for their birthday. See tags for more info, but this is definitely adult and despite being sex pollen-themed it is very consensual. Oh, AND everyone involved is over 18.

__

Chapter 1

“I can’t believe we’re twenty-two years old and still getting sent on fucking quests,” Nico mutters as they hurry out the service doors behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art. There aren’t any signs of pursuit yet, but that’s no reason to linger.

Will glances over, grinning. Complaints aside, Nico looks awfully pleased with the both of them for having completed this current quest.

“Aw, come on. You love it,” Will teases. “Getting to save the day. Showing off your grown-up shadow travel power-ups.”

Will’s eyes flick to the weapon at Nico’s hip. Nico’s swordplay has gotten better, too, and even hotter, Will thinks. Sure and precise. Devastating. Never mind the muscle that he’s built up in the last few years, the defined lines of his arms and chest. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s grown a couple of inches since they were eighteen.

But none of that matters, because Will’s still trying not to go there – not to sink right back into his teenage crush every single time he sees his friend. Because if that crush was reciprocated, Will would know by now. Besides, Nico’s friendship means so much to him; a comforting constant any time the rest of Will’s life threatens to spin out of control. He’d never do anything to jeopardize that.

When they’d bid each other farewell the August before Will left for college, Will had had a sinking feeling that their friendship would never really be the same. As close as they’d been at Camp, Will understood all too well how circumstances change, how people drift apart.

The reality had been a pleasant surprise, though. There had been visits, right from the start; Nico appearing out of the blue, standing like a shadow outside the health sciences building, a smile lighting up his face when he spotted Will descending the steps. Even then, Will had assumed the visits would taper off eventually as Nico became immersed in his new life. But instead, they’ve only grown closer over the last four years.

Nico’s gotten much more skilled at shadow travel, able to hop huge distances with barely any recovery required, and Will’s made time to accompany Nico on some of his safer Underworld errands, the ones that Nico refers to as recreational. There have been coffee and lunch visits, even Christmas or Thanksgiving with Will’s mom in Austin. Iris messages and phone calls stretching late into the night, Nico’s low laugh in Will’s ear in the dark.

And now a quest, apparently.

“You did pretty well yourself,” Nico says as they stroll down the street. His voice is warm with pride, and it makes Will’s heart swell.

“You’re getting really good with your light magic,” Nico continues, wiggling his fingers vaguely. “The way you zapped that Myrmeke was seriously impressive.”

Will shrugs, his face warming. “I’ve been practicing.”

Nico shoots him a smile so fond that Will feels a very sudden need to change the subject.

“So, let’s see this urn we repatriated,” Will says.

They’re nearly back at the hotel now – one very welcome benefit of carrying out these quests as adults is that there’s no need to sleep rough.

They pause at the edge of the sidewalk and Nico reaches into the pocket of his leather jacket, extracting the burnished gold urn. He hands it to Will.

“Huh.” Will turns the thing over in his hands. It’s small, a perfect fit into the curve of Will’s palm, a pleasing weight to it. He gives it a shake. “And it’s supposed to contain the tooth of a Calydonian boar?”

“It had better,” Nico says, “for all the trouble we went to.”

“We should probably open it and make sure,” Will says. If they somehow grabbed the wrong urn, it’s definitely better to find out now than later.

There’s a thick metal clasp on one side of the urn, and after some prodding and jiggling, it releases with a snap. Will pries the lid open, peering inside. Sure enough, there’s a tooth in there, curved and yellowing.

And then suddenly the world goes pink.

It’s a cloud of dust, or smoke, maybe. It encompasses them both, dense and fragrant. Will sputters, and he can hear Nico coughing. Then, just as quickly, the air clears.

“What the fuck,” Nico gasps. “What was that?” His eyes are wide and there’s kind of a… shimmer all over him. Almost like glitter. Will holds his own hands up in front of his face. There’s the same shimmer on his skin, but even as he’s inspecting it, trying to make sense of it, it fades to nothing.

“I – I don’t know,” Will says. The lingering scent of peonies is still strong in his nose, pulling at something in the depths of his memory that he can’t quite grasp.

“Do you feel okay?” he asks Nico.

“Yeah. Fine, I think.”

“Can I check?” Will holds a hand out to Nico, who obliges immediately, after years of such field assessments. Nico’s hand is warm in Will’s, and his energy is reassuringly Nico, but –

“What is it?” Nico’s gaze flicks over Will’s face, worried.

“It’s – I’m not sure,” Will says. “You feel fine. Your vitals are fine. Everything’s perfect –”

“But?”

“But there’s something… some heightened emotion, maybe?” Will grimaces, reaching out with his vitakinesis for another long moment before dropping Nico’s hand. “Fuck. I can’t quite get a handle on it.”

“Maybe anxiety? Adrenaline?” Nico suggests. “We did just have a fucking magical object blow up in our faces.”

“Yeah,” Will says slowly. “I – I feel like I should know what that was…” He takes another deep inhale. Peony. Something about… flowers. Maybe some class he took a couple of years ago? He just can’t quite put his finger on it. He realizes they’ve been stalled on the sidewalk for several minutes.

“You know what – let’s just go back to the hotel. Let me think about it. I don’t think there’s any immediate danger, though.” Will snaps the clasp on the urn shut again, handing it back to Nico.

They’re both quiet the rest of the way back to the hotel, and as the elevator rises to their floor. Will’s still wracking his brain for what he might ever have learned about glittery, peony-scented smoke.

“I guess I could just shadow travel us back home now,” Nico muses. “We don’t really need to stay in town any longer.”

Will’s heart sinks a little. He makes a noncommittal sound in response. It’s been really nice, spending a few days in a row together, and he’s honestly not in any rush for this trip to draw to a close.

“Or we could take one more day in Philly?” Nico says. “See the sights?” He looks almost embarrassed, not meeting Will’s gaze in the slightest.

“That sounds like fun,” Will says, warm and sure. “Let’s do it.”

Relief seems to encompass Nico’s entire body, his posture relaxing immediately. He unlocks their room and they both pull off their shoes, dropping onto their respective beds.

“What should we do tonight?” Nico asks. “You wanna go catch a movie? Or we could see what's on TV, order in.” His face suddenly lights up. “Remember that gardening show I was watching with your mom over Christmas? I wonder when that’s on.” Nico reaches for the remote.

Will laughs. “You thinking of starting a garden?”

Nico wrinkles his nose. “I dunno. Maybe? I’m getting better at not killing plants when I get pissed off. And my apartment in LA has a balcony. I thought I might try to get some things growing out there.”

Will grins. “That’s a great idea. Wait – you’re away a lot though, doing stuff for your dad. Just – plants need water. Like, regularly.”

Nico clears his throat. “Yeah, um. I’m actually planning on cutting back on that soon. The stuff for my dad. I – I was thinking about going to college. Next year.” Nico goes tense and still when he says this, and Will’s abruptly aware that he’s probably been anxiously waiting for the right moment to reveal this bit of information.

“Nico, that’s great,” Will says, sincere.

“Yeah?” Nico finally looks up, shy.

“Yeah,” Will beams. Impulsive, he jumps up, darts over to Nico’s bed and wraps his friend in a hug. The angle is awkward, and maybe the whole gesture was a little abrupt, but Nico laughs into Will’s chest and returns the embrace.

“Thanks,” Nico says, softer. “I was hoping you’d think so.”

Nico feels as if he’s radiating heat and gods, he smells so good. Will pulls back, a hand still lingering on Nico’s shoulder. “Of course I do, Nico that’s –”

Oh. Oh shit.

“Will?” Nico’s immediately on alert. Which is fair, honestly, because Will’s gone completely silent, mouth agape, eyes fixed on the hand still resting on his friend. His friend. Fuck.

“It’s – um.” Will pulls his hand away. Is it harder than it should be? To move away? Or is he just imagining things? He suddenly feels weak-kneed, Shaky. Will backs up, lowers himself to the edge of his bed.

“Will? What’s wrong?” Nico’s up now, inches from Will’s face. He reaches out a hand to touch Will’s cheek, then makes a soft noise of surprise, pulling it back. He looks at his hand in confusion.

“Shit,” says Will. “Shit. The urn. The – smoke. That came out of it.” Will’s heart is racing, his pulse fluttering in his throat.

“Yeah? What about it?” Nico looks seriously worried now, but also… really fucking hot.

Will squeezes his eyes shut, then scrubs at them. He squints at Nico. Nico’s always hot, right? Will knows that, down to his soul. So how could it really be that now, suddenly, he’s about eight million times hotter?

Nico’s in the same leather jacket and jeans as earlier but now – every detail feels like a slap to the face – how the buttery leather would feel in Will’s gripped hand, the open line of it against Nico’s shirt, the pale of his throat fighting against the dark cut of the material. Will’s never wanted to get his hands on something – someone – more in his entire life.

Oh fuck, this is going to be so inconvenient.

There’s a tingling sort of sensation originating somewhere in Will’s chest and racing out to his fingers and toes. It feels like…buzzing? Vibrating? He holds up his hands in front of his face. They look normal enough.

“Will?” Nico’s voice is urgent. He sits next to Will, lays a hand on his knee.

Will nearly jumps out of his skin.

“Shit.” Nico pulls his hand back like he’s been burned. “Solace, you have about three seconds to tell me what’s wrong or I’m shadow-travelling us right back to New Rome,” he says, shaky. “What was the stuff that came out of the urn?”

“Okay.” Will glances at Nico, then away again. “I didn’t realize right away, but then I remembered because you were talking about gardening, and –” he shakes his head. “There’s this plant, related to peonies, and it has these – these spores.” Will stops. Swallows.

“Spores?”

Nico’s eyes are wide, pupils huge, Will realizes. And clearly Nico hasn’t quite made sense of the effects of it yet, but he absolutely will, and soon.

“Like – pollen,” Will says, hoarse. “It’s not – it’s not fatal. We’re not in danger, exactly, but…”

Gods, he doesn’t want to come right out and say it. Maybe – maybe if he just ignores it – but he’s sweating now, and he can feel himself flushing, not just his face, but his neck and his chest –

“We’re not in danger exactly?” Nico’s voice squeaks a little, and gods only know how that’s attractive, but Will suddenly needs to kiss him more than he’s ever wanted to kiss anyone. He closes his eyes, grits his teeth, fighting an overwhelming urge to turn, take Nico’s face in his hands, press their mouths together, feel Nico’s hot breath on his face, hear him gasp against Will’s skin –

“Will?” Nico says, thin. What kind of spores? Can you fix it? What do we need to do?”

“The spores, they’re like gametes. But – heightened. And they’re – interspecies,” Will stammers.

Nico gazes at him, intent. “I don’t know what any of that means.”

Will takes a deep breath. “More colloquially, it’s known as… sex pollen.”

(chapter 2)

__

Many, many thanks to @rosyredlipstick for the beta!

[bethanydelleman]

I think I figured out the problem with the Enemies to Lover's trope, it has a bimodal distribution. Let me explain!

Most tropes have a normal distribution:

I hypothesize that with EtoL, there is very little middle ground. This is a bimodal distribution:

You either do EtoL well and join the ranks of the immortals, or you crash and burn. I've discussed previously what makes EtoL work, but there seem to be a lot of traps for writers to fall into when it comes to this trope. For example:

the turn being based too heavily on lust (common JAFF trap)

never fully establishing the enemies phase

insufficient apology on one side (almost always the man's) which makes the other's acceptance unsatisfying

the pair have the communication skills of a newborn baby (ei: the misunderstanding could be fixed with a single sentence)

one side is a real asshole but it's excused because of TRAUMA

growth is ignored in favour of acceptance (can work, usually doesn't)

Relationship is clearly toxic, above and beyond the extenuating circumstances/magical premise (The problem isn't that Edward is a vampire, that's part of the premise. The problem is his disregard for Bella's autonomy)

One side gives in because the other is too obsessed with them

Once Upon a Time flew by having Hook feel meaningful remorse for his past actions (the scene with the Little Mermaid got me so good) and establishing begrudging respect between him and Emma, The Mindy Project crashed and burned by not showing sufficient growth in Danny (does he respect her career now or are they just horny?). Parks and Recreation got it by making the leads both good people who just got on each other's nerves because they had different valid approaches. I think Brooklyn 99 is one of those rare mediocre ones, because the enemy stage isn't fully established but the relationship is still satisfying. The Kdrama Alchemy of Souls got it right by having both main characters display an impressive amount of personal growth, while 100 Days My Prince burned because it relied too heavily on obsession and trauma excusing behaviour.

Pride & Prejudice and Much Ado About Nothing show that the beginning dynamic can be completely different, old antagonists vs. first impressions, but the trope can still work if it's done right. The problem is that it's so often done wrong.

So when it's good, it's SO GOOD, when it's bad, it sucks.

[cha-melodius]

Magic AUs! And high school AU too

Oooh ok, let's do this!

Magic AU: We'll go with A-. I don't seek them out specially, but I do enjoy them quite a bit whether it's modern with magic or a fantasy AU. I feel like my appreciation for this genre has grown over the last few years, too.

High school AU: I'm gonna be honest, high school was a terrible part of my life and one I'd like to forget, so I have to rate these a D, only because I've read a FEW but only under specific circumstances. @orchidscript's '50s AU The Way You Seemed is one I adore. But for the most part they are sadly not my jam.

Send me a fic trope and I'll grade it

[alacants]

Me discovering that juanki and Carlos signed for ten years which means that their beautiful and deep relationship coach/player will end up someday: *to myself* noo, don't invest your time and emotions in them so you will be eternally sad if they even go on different ways, you're so sexy *tears start to fall in the phone screen*

yeah, i mean, that's THE question isn't it. god if i could look into a crystal ball that is one of the first things i would ask. do they stick to this or. not.

like, so far juanki has done his best to give carlos the exact same training environment he had, only better. a leveled up version. meanwhile he's gone on the record, repeatedly, to extol the irreplaceable value of having the same coach from childhood through his entire career. so do we really think if push comes to shove HE'S going to be the one to cut the cord?? (especially since in 10 years his oldest kid will be 20! like, what, NOW you decide to break it off?) i'm not saying i think he's aware he's kidding himself. just, i'll believe it when i see it.

now. the flipside of this is. is it in fact better to have the same coach for your entire career.¹ goes without saying that it's different for different players and that the personal relationship is immensely important to carlos. so obviously what i'm immediately fascinated by is the hypothetical of like. what's gonna happen if it DOES hit a wall?

like, if we look juanki's career, WAS it in his best interest to have the same coach from cradle to grave. sure maybe 2009 was five years of patience rewarded. or maybe it shouldn't have taken five years in the first place, u know. but it was obviously a foundational personal relationship and maybe that was more important anyway! maybe a coach switch would have made things even worse! it's just, like. a question you can't really avoid. (at the very least idk what his physios thought they were doing but after the DOZENTH INJURY...)

so if carlos hit a slump—like, a BIG slump, indeed a juan carlos ferrero-sized slump—and juanki couldn't help him out of it, and it kept going and going, and it didn't get better. like. what WOULD happen. would juanki encourage him to try working with someone else. would carlos refuse. would carlos think he had no choice but to make a change. would he risk his own career—and carlos already has a LOT more to lose than juanki did—for the relationship. there are so, so many tasty possibilities here that i have to, like, add a disclaimer that i am not actually hoping that carlos will hit a catastrophic two-year slump, ok, i'm just. SO CURIOUS....

¹darren cahill's thoughts: "I think there’s a three- or four-year lifespan to help a player, when the same message is coming from the same person."

[teazerwashere]

soulmate au trope?

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

Soulmate implies monogamy. I'm not about that life. >:(

[iammistressofmyfate]

For the fandom trope ask, how do you feel about Fake Dating?

Rachel asked me about this one, too!

I give Fake Dating a B-

I go back and forth about it. I think a good fic writer could catch my attention and interest but it's not something I actively seek out. There's a lot of angst potential and I'm a giant weenie but if it was written with more humor and had a happy ending, I could be enticed!

Thank you for asking, friend! <33

[Trope Rating]

[poison-scene]

Thinking about how the romance between Maki and Kaito was written by TDR and the possibility they implied Kokichi's interest in Shuichi during the FTEs + Love hotel.

Like, what if TDR intended for Kokichi to take Shuichi's hand by the end of his last FTE but Kokichi didn't bc of the circumstances™?

And just how much influence does the writing have on the character's feelings anyway? Do they just restrict that to romance or does that impact other dynamics? 🤔