Whoa, thanks! And my name is Jesse, so I was always picked on for aligning with the female Team Rocket member
lol sorry my anime is not strong. had mostly to do with the parting of the hair and the smile... *slinks back to editing cave/dungeon*
I've considered an augmented reality story, but the idea I have in mind requires a virtual space. I'll save AR for later, I suppose. To make this relevant to the thread, while I haven't ready much LitRPG, the concepts that appeal to me include: A Joe Everyman (or Jane Everywoman) main character. Plausible reasons why people would stay in a virtual environment for long periods of time. An overarching plot goal that isn't an in-game quest. A party of heroes whose abilities and attitudes compliment each other. Good guys who are actually good at heart despite the complications born of their flaws. A variety of bad guys, some with complex motives who believe they're doing what's best for the world and others who are just mustache-twirling villains. A well thought out game system that doesn't get in the way of the story. Glitches and other exploits. A combination of gradual advancement and power leveling.
And we were talking about tropes. Bunnies - some do it better than others @Dave Willmarth OP MC - in an OP world that's fine but super op better have a hell of a story behind it. Sentient AI - a favorite of mine but can be horribly dissatisfying if done wrong. Shadow or evil power - Most MC have some type of dark power that allows them to be antagonistic to a large group just by existing. makes for fun battles though. ..stupid paladins... Real world money - I really want this to happen. except for the whole mining thing for the poor base wage laborers.
Who me or dave? I think everyone here can be described as strange but nice. Glad you're enjoying the book.
Sheesh, I think I'm pretty guilty of quite a few of those tropes. Especially my MC in my third book, she is a bit overpowered to say the least. Heck she has a damn magic bag that often is there to give solutions to problems. Personally while I think it's cool and all, I think I may have just gotten a tad bit lazy writing her. Granted she is sort of a divine avatar of a god, so massive power is expected. I still prefer my original MC from my first two books. He may be quite powerful, but he knows next to nothing about how to actually use his power, and much of those two books also take place in the "real world" which I have just as much fun writing about as my fantasy side of my books. Tropes I hate: Constantly explaining levels, etc: This was why I started writing my own books. I wanted to try to see what I could do when working around this trope. Once in a while is fine, and to be expected if a world calls for it, but I tend to get annoyed with the authors who do it every dang chapter. Some authors doe it even more often than that. Then again, I mostly listen to audio books, so that is probably part of my annoyance. The stealthy, sneaky guy is the MC: I'm also guilty of that, and quickly shifted away from that sort of character. I do tend to find the all powerful lord of the shadows, etc thing a bit overused but it can be fun to read if it's done right. Harem, love triangle, etc: Nuff said, but yea I don't mind it if it's used well, as part of the storytelling, but when the whole story becomes about the harem, etc it just drives me nuts. The hero steals the show: I get it, often the books are about the main character, and that's to be expected. I tend to like good story telling over drama, and angst stuff even if it does have it's place and I use MC centered drama as part of my work. The problem is when that sort of thing kind of becomes the story, and it seems the author is just trying to generate events to create that sort of drama, etc. My own take is that storytelling, and the world should also drive events, and the MC should be moving through your world, not be the center of everything. The hero can't lose: Yep, I could mention a few choice offenders. Personally its difficult as a writer to figure out ways to make your main character lose when he or she needs to, or encounters something that just was too tough initially. My favorite reads, and I think my own best writing was when my character was kicked in the balls and had to stand back up.
I honestly couldn't say what tropes I'm guilty of. I know they're there, but what they are I'm not sure.
Meh, I have my annoying tropes that I try to avoid, but they still often end up in my work along with what are often considered good tropes. Some are also part of the genre and will alienate readers who are looking for them and don't find them in your work. Just consider the Hero's Journey, it could be considered a collection of tropes that go in a common order, and most writers follow the journey without even really realizing it.
I wouldn't argue I follow some elements, though my main critique of the hero's journey is it often assumes a certain degree of scope and linearity. JRPGs generally don't have that problem, but feature a lot of the elements of mythic structure. I often say my work follows the mythic structure in reverse.
