Snowflake Challenge #9

[evandar]

Challenge #9

Talk about your favorite tropes in media or transformative works. (Feel free to substitute in theme/motif/cliche if "trope" doesn't resonate with you.)



I'm going to very lazily post a link to my response to the same prompt on last year's challenge.

In that challenge, I wrote about soulmates and my preference for obsessive, singular love - especially when it leans hard into codependency and uncomfortable dynamics. A year later, my preferences haven't changed. So, I'm not going to talk about that. I'm going to talk about the trope that I mention at the very end of that post instead: Outsider PoV.

I love a good Outsider PoV, particularly when they're the outsider to something major like a soulbond or hell, time travel. It can turn twisted so easily: anything from small misconceptions that start to snowball, to complete incomprehension and horror. It can be funny, or heartbreaking, or scary. It's something that I really enjoy exploring in my own fic, regardless of fandom, and I love to read it.

I usually don't really like reading about misunderstandings that would be easily resolved with a conversation, but there's something very entertaining about someone who has no idea what is happening encountering a very weird situation that they're excluded from.

Comments

[athaia]

I like how the outsider POV can reveal new sides of a familiar character, especially to me, the writer! And how it can also shake loose the habitual perception of that character for the readers. It's a really cool technique, apart from resulting in really interesting scenes or stories.