Monthly Archives: December 2012

TV Tropes

I recently stumbled across an awesome wiki resource for writers.

The site is named TV Tropes because it started out with a TV series focus, but now includes many different forms of fiction. It describes tropes as patterns in storytelling. Each one is given a descriptive and usually humorous name. For example there is a trope about love triangles named “Betty and Veronica” after the characters in the Archie comics.

It is entertaining to browse this site aimlessly, by following any links you find appealing or clicking the Random button, but here are some suggestions on how to use this site specifically as a resource while writing a story:

  1. Find entries for tropes that you are planning to use in your story to see how it has been done before. You can use this tactic to ensure you don’t include an overused trope or to take note of pitfalls to avoid when using one.
  2. Find your favourite movie, book or TV show and take a look at some of the tropes it includes. Read about the ones that resonate with you and consider including some of them in your story.
  3. When you hit a brainstorming wall for an element in your story, browse through examples on the site. For example use the “Villains” section to help create an antagonist.
  4. If you know the genre you want to write, but not much else about the plot, check out the Genre Tropes section for lots of overall plot concepts.

Be warned: This site is extremely addictive. Betcha can’t read just one!

Here are a few tropes I like to get you started:

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Walk Off The Earth

walk-off-the-earthI love discovering new favourite songs and bands.

A friend recently introduced me to Walk off the Earth, a Canadian band from Burlington, Ontario and they kind of blew my mind.

They became YouTube-famous for their cover of “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye. The video features all five band members playing one guitar at the same time.

Their channel is full of well-produced videos of covers and original songs. The best part is that they also have a lot of talent. I love their voices and harmonies. The somewhat creepy beard-guy is also a nice touch.

Here’s another very creative video for the theme song to Weeds: “Little Boxes” where everything is made of cardboard, including most of the instruments!

So far my favourite of their original songs is “Summer Vibe”.

That should be enough to get you started. There are lots more great songs to check out.

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The Elephant in the Blog

elephant-from-plasticineSo…

It’s been several weeks since my last post about my writing progress. I was hoping to be able to put it off until I had something more satisfying to report, but the truth is, I am still mulling over the plot. I wish I could give you my word count or at least tell you I started an outline, but I am not there yet.

I haven’t been spending as much time on writing as I had hoped to since I went back to work, but I am still chipping away at it. I have over 55 notebook pages filled with thoughts about this story. While it’s true not every one of those ideas fit into the same story, I really have been more focused than ever before.

Here is some of the progress I have made:

  1. Identified 4 fairly solid characters. I still have to flesh them out, but 2 have names!
  2. Considered about 5 other characters that may or may not belong in the story in one form or another
  3. Came up with a romantic sub-plot involving 3 characters
  4. Brainstormed a few decent antagonist ideas that also need fleshing out
  5. Came up with a few conflict ideas, but none gel perfectly with the other elements I have so far
  6. Changed my mind about the starting point and setting of the story more times than I care to count

Okay, so maybe #6 doesn’t count as progress exactly, but I’ve put a lot of effort into it so it’s staying in the list.

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Uno! > Dos!

I went to high school in the nineties so it should be no surprise that Green Day is one of my favourite bands. Back then, their albums were in that small pile of CD’s I could play without skipping any songs. My favourite Green Day album of all time is American Idiot. It is a masterpiece full of catchy and satisfying music.

I was nervous when I heard the band was releasing 3 albums in succession this year. It’s hard to get something like that right. I am reminded of The Smashing Pumpkins two disk album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Neither disk was in my play without skipping pile. There were actually quite a few great songs – at least 4, but overall I felt disappointed because that was only 4 out of 28 songs.

Green_Day_-_Uno!_coverI was cautiously optimistic when I heard the first two singles off the album ¡Uno! and really liked them: “Oh Love” and “Kill the DJ”. I snatched up the album as soon as it came out. The final verdict: it’s not on the same level as American Idiot, but it is a good album. I can play it through without skipping songs. I even found a few more favourites: “Carpe Diem” and especially “Fell For You”.

Green_Day_-_Dos!_coverWhen the next album ¡Dos! came out I figured it was a no-brainer. I bought it without having heard any of the songs. This time I was sorely disappointed. I don’t have any favourite songs off this album. In fact, I don’t think I really like any of them. Some songs actually bother me and the rest are bland, like they are missing a hook.

I am still looking forward to the third album that should be released soon. It looks like ¡Tré! will be the tie-breaker for me.

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