Happy Tuesday! Or as my brain likes to say: Happy Three More Days Until Friday! (This is why I don't make jokes. I don't know how to funny or who allowed me to try.) It's that time again! Top Ten Tuesday! And this weeks topic? Favourite tropes. Buckle up, kiddos. It's time to discuss.



It took me a minute to warm up to this weeks topic because I SUCK WITH TROPES. I really do. It's not that I don't know what tropes are. I do. It's that it's one of those topics that, if you ask me it, I'll totally blank out and forget what I like. No joke. I'm lucky I walk away from that conversation with even the slightest memory of my name. Which is OBVIOUSLY Rayanne Marcus Dorota (?) Jessica.

It's Jessica. I checked my license and it's Jessica.

That wasn't so bad. See? I always get there in the end. Have a little faith in me, guys. It's fine. We're fine.

Real talk, though, I was struggling a bit with this one. I was like, can I just post about what fictional characters would look like if they were a cat? But then I realized... that's actually a lot more difficult than picking tropes. AND I SWEAR, I AM CAPABLE OF DOING THIS TOPIC. I am.

As for trope use in this post, the terms are not always going to be the straight up term. It's going to be more of a me describing them-thing.

Let's do this!


Whether they were thrown into the CHOSEN ONE ring on sheer dumb/bad luck or were a part of a prophecy, or sacrificed themselves for someone they love, there are some characters who are just chosen and they have to wear the bloody cape the rest of their life. Needless to say, YER A WIZARD, HARRY. Enough said. ENOUGH. SAID. The Chosen One always has a purpose and sometimes things go very... uh... ?

I have this theory that being the chosen one is kind of like stumbling around in the dark for hours after your flashlight goes out. You're doing your best and sometimes you might run into that wax figure of Abraham Lincoln (!fun fact: in high school one of my friends parents had weird life size statues of famous people and I'm not making this up I stayed the night one time and nope never again) but eventually you'll get out okay-ish maybe hopefully IDK.

Look, if your narrator isn't unreliable, I'm probably not going to read it. (Kidding.) I love being a bit messed with psychologically when it comes to thrillers. Or horror. Or... well, in most forms of fiction. I love plot-twists. I love surprises. I love not being certain who to trust in stories. The more unreliable the narrator, the better. Whether this be for genuine, non-villainous reasons or they are the villain, I'm down for my head to get messed with.

I mean, this isn't a go ahead and jump scare me with a clown mask in person or anything (because then I might kick you) but like, woo, bring on the shock!

♪♫♬ Hello, rich bitch, my old friend. ♪♫♬ I'm a fan of the shallow. Give me the shallow. It's best just to admit that now, right? BUT, YOU GUYS KNOW THAT ALREADY. If you know me, that is. I repeat: give me all the shallow. I don't actually know why I love this style of fiction (I blame Cecily von Ziegesar or maybe even Beverly Hills, 90210), but I do and there's really no going around it.

Feel free to drag, just let me freshen up my makeup so I can feel pretty while the dragging takes place? 

Lurlene McDaniel, this is YOUR FAULT. You made me the emo that I am today. We all read to feel something, right? I used to joke about how I so rarely feel things on time in real life (seriously, I've got emotional delayed reactions, it's a thing) but with literature, and the way I process it, it's faster and easier. Plus, a lot of the topics that novels like these tackle are super relevant and important and actually help me with coping mechanisms and grasping my own emotions a little faster.

They obviously have to be portrayed properly and sometimes, fiction doesn't get it right, but for the most part this is something I love.

I've grown really attached to this trope as of lately and I'm not sure why or when it actually happened but here we are. It's always been around. But, for me, it's hopefully here to stay and give me some good old fashioned emotional whiplash. Which is always fun! Can this trope be a bit generic and overdone? Totally. Am I trash for it, regardless? I don't know, you tell me. (Yes. The answer is yes.)

I haven't actually read American Royals yet but I have a good feeling about it. It's Katharine McGee and I loved The Thousandth Floor. She's basically to this generation what Cecily von Ziegesar was to mine and I AM LIVING FOR IT. Oops, rambling!

Fame is a tricky little topic to tackle. Sometimes, it sounds overly cheesy. Sometimes, it feels like nothing at all. Sometimes, there are those authors who make you believe in their fiction. And you know the story is good when it convinces you it may actually be non-fiction. I don't always have this type of reaction to characters or books, but there have been quite a few that make me want to just go ahead and Google the character as if they were real.

(I'm looking at you, Calloway Sisters and their men, Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones. Why are they FICTION? Sad.)

I blame this one 100% on Fan Fiction. It is probably the oldest on my list. I spent a good deal of my downtime in my teens reading FF. Probably of the Twilight, Gossip Girl or Harry Potter variety from way, way, WAY back in the day. My old friend and I even used to write some ourselves. (In all three of those, plus the Gossip Girl spin-off The It-Girl!) I feel like I don't read enough of it in fiction now but when I do come across it, I'm making grabby hands.

It is SUCH a weak spot for me. It feels nostalgic and I just don't grow tired of it.