Play devil's advocate for tropes you like.

VKnives

New member
Joined
Oct 2, 2025
Messages
9
Points
3
Evil/villain protagonist: I love and relate to ruthless characters because it's more believable and even educational when the characters "win" because of ruthless action. I like when they are shown as cunning and powerful because they do whatever is necessary, rather than because the plot rewards them for being the "good guys" and trying too hard to be likable to a wide audience.

Erotica, mixed in other genres like dark fantasy and martial arts: I'm only really interested in martial arts and sex, everything else is just boring or context for the next fight or sex scene. If you're going to have sexual themes, go all the way in full detail, don't bait people and then fade to black or censor it.

Loli : ?
Everyone loves cute girls, too many people just lie about it now.
 

expentio

Well-known member
Joined
May 8, 2019
Messages
349
Points
103
Ew. Just sounds like another angsty loser-type MC on the verge of succumbing to "bleeding heart syndrome." We have more than enough of these types of Human MC's without adding a monster equivalent. Those awful "You should never kill" types. Sounds nauseating.

Monsters imply well...monster-like behavior. Find me the Lion that feels bad about mauling that gazelle for food, and then perhaps.

Adding human morals to a monster just ruins the very thing it is: a monster. Giving something intelligence doesn't also somehow grant it a brand new moral framework. If a Lion suddenly grew smart enough that it could talk, I wouldn't then expect it to start negotiating and hanging out with zebras. I'd expect it to start making itself EVEN MORE efficient at hunting zebras now that it has a new tool to bring to bear.
Then don't add the human in the first place.
I was talking here specifically about transformation and reincarnation. If you want a monster MC, then write an original monster.
Why add a human into the mix if you don't want a human?
 

TASTYLEADPAINT

Resident Tech priest
Joined
Aug 10, 2020
Messages
596
Points
133
Then don't add the human in the first place.
I was talking here specifically about transformation and reincarnation. If you want a monster MC, then write an original monster.
Why add a human into the mix if you don't want a human?
A lot if this has to do with the isekai genre being popular and people doing it to get clicks and views

"I used to be a blue collar worker. Now im the demon dragon king of the murder/genocide kingdom."

Would this story have been any different if they had just skipped the blue collar bit. No. But here we are. I know this because I've done this very thing. (To be fair it was my 1st story and it was just a collection of cool ideas I had at the time)

Tldr. Its to get clicks and views.
 

NotaNuffian

This does spark joy.
Joined
Nov 26, 2019
Messages
5,285
Points
233
Then don't add the human in the first place.
I was talking here specifically about transformation and reincarnation. If you want a monster MC, then write an original monster.
Why add a human into the mix if you don't want a human?
Relatability.

Reader is human, I hope.
 

FlutterOfCrows

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 11, 2019
Messages
82
Points
123
Relatability.

Reader is human, I hope.
I'm the bird of the word.

My advocation is for:
Physically scarring your characters: Its a useful tool to genuinely show the progression of a char and adds a level of thought to the char, guy or girl chars. Where it is, what kind of scar it is, and how large it is, along with how many. They serve to tell a story depending on where they are.

Tattoos: Similar thought to above, but it also shows a chars preferences and interests in what they want on their body, and where it is, whether shown or not can also add to the character.
 

RepresentingWrath

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 7, 2020
Messages
13,552
Points
283
I'm the bird of the word.

My advocation is for:
Physically scarring your characters: Its a useful tool to genuinely show the progression of a char and adds a level of thought to the char, guy or girl chars. Where it is, what kind of scar it is, and how large it is, along with how many. They serve to tell a story depending on where they are.

Tattoos: Similar thought to above, but it also shows a chars preferences and interests in what they want on their body, and where it is, whether shown or not can also add to the character.
We got a sleeper agent in this thread, eh?
 

Eternauta86

New member
Joined
Oct 11, 2025
Messages
14
Points
3
Tropes are tropes for a reason. Maybe we could even get back to calling them with their real name: archetypes. If you want to only avoid and deconstruct them, good luck! But my approach is to add to the archetypes and flesh them out.

Am I scared of writing trope-y stories? Let's see what I have:

Cynical knight? ✅
Call to adventure starting with a tavern scene? ✅
An isolated frontier village under attack? ✅
Powerful, probably cursed artifacts? ✅
An ancient grumpy wizard? ✅
An ancient evil awakening? ✅
A young girl with a destiny linked to her mysterious origin? ✅
A mysterious Elf? ✅
A forgotten magic coming back? ✅
A grizzled veteran that makes inappropriate jokes but hides a heart of gold? ✅

I mean people have been reading these stories forever, and I like to write and read them too. Execution is everything.
 

Nekyo

Otaku Cat
Joined
Apr 4, 2025
Messages
80
Points
18
Fighting Series! I love fights so much, from Dragon Ball, to Yu Yu Hakusho, to Bleach, to Rurouni Kenshin, to even Kung Fu movies. The idea of one on one combat whose victor is determined by the skills and spirit is too awesome.

Ecchi! I am getting controversial, but I don't know!!! There's just something as having the help of the author to appreciate the beauty that the characters embody. Fairy Tail, Chained Soldier, Kenichi, I got reincarnated as the 7th Prince.

Enemies to lovers, I think the tension that can arrive from characters that seem to hate each other to find love in one another just has that potential of being too delicious.

Anti-hero I love the concept of characters that kind of do the thing that benefits the good guys/the main party, but tend to do it in the most villainy way possible. Specially when they are unhinged to a point of not really having a code of their own. Gabimaru from Hell's Paradise is one I loved like that, he kills with no hesitation but if he was refusing for a while is because Sagiri who was guarding him commanded him to obey. When its like Batman and have a no kill code it feels too illogical. And they simply allow for the same villains to do the same crimes over and over again.

Supernatural, I just love ghosts in general and spiritual powers.
 

SternenklarenRitter

Representing Scholarship
Joined
Jun 24, 2020
Messages
704
Points
133
Black Rain: Nothing says the end of the world like roiling clouds of malevolent darkness covering the sky to unleash an ink black rainstorm of possibly poisonous/cursed/radioactive precipitation. This trope is based on real life; the fallout from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were accompanied by black rain. Those victims who came into contact with this rain were delivered a dramatically increased degree of radioactive contamination, dying at higher rates and much more quickly from radiation poisoning than people who where inside shelter nearby.
 
Top