A few years ago, these went around briefly as a meme on some corner of either Tumblr or Twitter, I don’t fully remember which. They never really caught on, but I really enjoyed the concept, so I’ve kept my personal bingo card of tropes hanging around since then. Years later, the original still holds pretty true. Last week I finally hit half a year of working on Brother Shadow daily, and posted the card for that story, with one bingo and five near misses so far—definitely one of mine. The card itself could use some explanation, though, so here’s a short breakdown of my personal calling cards as an author. Beware: all links lead to TV Tropes. EDIT: Nope, wrong, two of them are wikipedia and I forgot about them. My bad.
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Trapped Inside a House: exactly what it says—for some period of time, a character is or characters are trapped inside a house. The house is usually large and fancy, leaving room to explore while still limiting the total space available. Frequently, the characters are trapped inside with something hunting them, unable to escape for whatever reason. Occasionally it’s been a castle, but a historic mansion just speaks to me somehow. The Others and Crimson Peak are among my favorite examples of this trope. It has a very gothic flavor—the gothic concept of the house as both a sanctuary and a prison is very much part of the appeal here for me.
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Ecological Details: I like to bring the natural environment into stories. I put a lot of research into what kind of biome a setting exists within, and like to include environmentally appropriate background details. I don’t always enjoy symbolically expressive environments… unless there is an in-universe cause for it. I try to pay attention to what natural resources would exist in a given environment. While worldbuilding, geography is often the thing I start with.
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Huge Cast: What can I say…I love creating characters. This often comes down to how I develop the leads. If a character is important, chances are I know who their immediate family is in some detail even if the family never appears in the story. Whatever the backstory, it’s certain that there were significant relationships involved. Sometimes those characters end up being too cool to never mention…and then I have to cut them anyway, and then tell their story (or at least a similar one) elsewhere.
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Family From “Crack!”: This one takes a little more explanation. Way back in high school, a friend and I had these two characters that we used first in a forum RP (remember those? The good old days) and then subsequently used in a huge variety of both fan fiction and original stories. The name came from the term Crack Fic, and there was a huge multiverse of it by the time we lost interest. The original two characters, John and Luke, were brothers, and they, their immediate family, and sometimes their friends have appeared in the background of many unrelated settings since. We mutually agreed that either of us could use the characters we created together. I think the last appearance of John and Luke was as NPCs in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign that same friend DM’d a few years ago. They don’t appear in Brother Shadow, but a few of the bit players are planned to appear later in the series.
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Multiple Generations: Again, this is linked to my character creation process. Delving into a character’s family background often produces a cast—and a story—that spans multiple generations by the time it concludes. Generational trauma is something I like to explore, even when it’s not the main focus.
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Side Characters are Cooler: This is one I’m trying to get away from. If I get too far into the weeds with those tertiary characters I can end up focusing on them to the point where I kind of forget about whoever was supposed to be the protagonist. Sometimes this means I need a more interesting protagonist, but other times it just means I need to get out of the weeds. I realized while writing this that I actually never had this moment with Taezrad—despite getting characteristically seven layers deep into the secondary cast of Brother Shadow, Taezrad still has held my attention the whole way here. I feel like that’s a pretty good sign.
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Multiple POV: I like creating large worlds, and often the only way to see the whole picture is to see it from multiple perspectives. Showing the same events from the views of multiple characters also develops those characters further purely in the ways the accounts differ, and if I can manage to cast doubt upon what the full truth is, more’s the better.
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Slow, Lingering Setup: Okay no, stay with me for a second. I’ve had to put a lot of effort into avoiding the early chapter infodump or the infamous fantasy prologue, I try to keep it relevant, but you’ll almost never see me do a full on cold open. I sincerely enjoy establishing the normal before the plot throws it into disarray, and I hope that fascination makes it interesting to read as well as write. I love hanging out in The Shire at the beginning of the story. The setting is a character too, and sometimes it needs an establishing scene or two.
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Extreme Run-On Sentences: Guilty as charged. Pity my editors.
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Monster Person Cultures: Arguably the whole point of Brother Shadow. This is one of my favorite things to work on—and one of the only times I get to break out my sociology degree. Figuring out how drow or orcs or goblins or dwarves actually work outside of the stereotypes associated with them is basically the most fun thing. Hands down, this is my favorite part of worldbuilding—I enjoy building human cultures as well, but tossing in some distinctly inhuman traits and seeing how they change things is The Business.
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Massive Timeline: For many of the same reasons that make the cast massive, the timeline also tends to be. I frequently know a lot about the history of a world even if it never comes up, and will toss it into the background periodically the same way I do with the ecological details. I feel like this sort of thing adds a richness to the world. I love those moments in Lord of the Rings where they pass by ruins and you get the sense that the world goes on forever no matter what direction you go. You don’t need to read the Silmarillion to read Lord of the Rings, but the fact that Tolkien wrote it matters to the experience.
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Fantasy Map: My biggest worldbuilding time waster. I like trying to avoid the left justified map, just as a challenge to myself. I keep trying to zero in on a body of water so that there are lands on all sides. I haven’t finalized this, but the map for Brother Shadow looks like this so far:
GAY: For reasons of who I am as a person, queer characters and queer themes abound. A story of mine is rarely without at least a hint of it.
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A Whole Damn Town: Character creation process again. I avoided this in Brother Shadow, mostly because Dendograath is so large, but it comes up a lot. I think of these as Stephen King towns—Derry and Castle Rock are very much the prototypes here. History coming to the surface and the many dramas of small-town politics appeal, once again, to my inner sociologist.
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High CHA Chaotic Neutral: My favorite type of character. Competent, capable of both good and bad, and consummately clever—what’s not to love? Taezrad is definitely a high point for me.
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Based on a Dream: Not this time, but it’s on the blog elsewhere.
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Simultaneous Actions: Same as Multiple POV—I like to add those perspectives non-sequentially sometimes so that there are several things happening at once. I really like the idea of having an explosion happen at the beginning of one scene, and being able to see it on the horizon in the the middle of the next. The characters have no idea what just happened, but we do.
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The Eldritch: T̵̨́͛͑̒͂̇ ̶̡͔̬̻̩̗̩͇͇̯̖̪̇H̷̰̻̲̯͖̰̥̘̪̗̻̓̋͜ͅ ̷̭͐̽̏̀́́͆̕E̶͔̥̠̥̥̜͔̺͖͗̒̈͂̊͜ ̴̛̣͍͂͒ ̷͉̙͔̬̱̞̋̎̓̃̐̕͝E̴̫̙͔͝ ̸̧̈̽̑̿̑̀̉̕L̶̡͖͓̘̠̩̔̌͋̀̂̀̀͆̀̄͌̚͜͠ ̶̧̨̨̛̳͕͎͉̖̮̗̞͕͐̊͛͗̌͌̓̉͊͊̊̕͘ͅD̶̨̛̳̠̘͍̙͓̝̰̟̣̭̺̒͑̾̈̐̾̓̐̈ ̴̨̛̩̳̥̻͓̲̤̳̣̖̙̹̙̗̌͗̂̐͋͂͘͝Ë̸͔̬̮́͐͌̓́̑̓̒̊̓̋͊̕̕ ̷̢͚̟̝̰͖̺̲͚̞̭͍̜̼̥̆͋̌͂́R̵̡̯͔͎̳̬̳̃͆̈̂̃̈͛́̈̾̕ ̴̟̯͛̎͜͝ ̷̬̪͚͉͑͒͝G̶̡̡͈̪͍̠̹͙̖͙͕̥͇̣̃̓̕͝ ̸̡̨̡̗̥͇̓̍̐̆̌̀̇̏́͆̌͠O̸̧͕̘̣̝̿̿̍̾̄̇̿̃̆̀̐̕̚ ̵̨̲̤̪͆D̶̡̯̙̭̠̮̬̄̅͌̌̽̈̂̿̍ͅͅ ̸̡̲̥͖͊̽͛̂̾̍̃̒͗͌̆͝͝͠͝Š̶̙̣̈̈́̽̈ ̴̨̛̪͎̜͉̳̇̇́̓̈́͐͛́̑͋̀͊̎͠ͅ ̴̬͖͍̞̇̊͑͆̀̇̽͒̌͘̚͜͝ͅS̶̺̓͊͛̈́͆͌́͛͜ ̷̨̡͇̤̼̞̱̞̩͇̝̲̯̊̌̈́̄̈́̾̏̓̍̕ͅÅ̷̢̧̳͓̬̞̮̥̥̗̳̖͐̀͌͒̒̓̾̅̀̓̊͠ ̷͉̀͂̕Ý̴̨̢̲̘̝͓̥̝͍͚̤̒͌̆̚ ̴̧̘̪͈̪̳̤͔͎̺̻̲̪̀̾͆̅͒̅̏̿̀͘ ̷̜͚̪̹̤̞͖̀̈́͆͊́͝T̷̢̫͕̪̫͈̪̗͛̓̒ͅ ̸͚̻̮̻̘̹͈̇̂̂͘ͅͅR̵͔̦̼̐̋̀̓̈́̿͠ ̴̡̨͚͇͇̼̺̙̰̲͉̼̲͉̀̋͌Ḁ̸̢̤̻̮͕̝͚̜̔̀͛̈́̀̅͘͜ ̸̻̭̯͔͕̠̀͒̄͗́N̶̥͙͚̉͂̂́̽̔̕͠͝ ̶̨̙̞̳̫̘̘͙̞̰̱͌̿̽̂̃̆̍̄͗̈́̕͝S̵̳̞̤͛́̈́̌͛̀̑̇̾̃̋̃̔̕̚ ̷̢̝̮̣̭͚̫͉̖̫̫̤̣̑̊͗͌̀͜ ̵̡̛͎̼̫̦̟̟̘̭̹̣̃̎̈́̄͊͊̎̅̐̅̈́̒͌R̶͎͕̺͚̈́ ̵̛̛̻̙͓̖͆̄̈́́͆̓Ì̶̹͉̳̮̭̯̻̦͎̮̪ ̸̨̧̗͔̐̋̋́̌̂G̶͕̺͙̙͌̊̆́͛̃͜͜ ̴̡͇̟̙̠̯̟̃̆̋͑͌̏̋͛̃̾̾́̾͜͜͝Ȟ̵͍̙̰̖̼̰͎̺̲̲͈͓̻̫̫̌͆͌̃̀́̕͠ ̵̨̲̫̘̩̩̲̪͈͓̹͇͐T̵̢̪̳͚̪̦̪̦̼̄̉̍ ̸̭́̂͂͆̽̐̈́͐̓̓͐̐̑̚S̸̛̮͚̬̀̓̎͆̒̑̈͊̕
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Fairytale Character: I’ve been doing these less in recent years, but I love to reference fairy tales. I think this is related a little bit to Monster Person Cultures. I like to take something fantastical and go “so how would this WORK in context?”
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Intense Worldbuilding: By god I will use that degree for SOMETHING.
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Sense of Awe and Sublimity: I love a gothic, and that’s a vibe I try to capture as much as I can.
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Amicable Exes: I really like the idea of depicting characters still getting along after the end of their romantic relationship. Maybe I’ve just reading the wrong books, but I feel like I haven’t seen it all that often. If these people were important to each other for a long time, something of that should still exist even when the relationship becomes drastically different. The whole “I don’t want to ruin our friendship” song and dance is very frustrating to me, knowing that this is also a possible outcome.
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Internal Monologue: Limited third person, my beloved. I have never mastered the art of keeping it to external action only, I need to be in a character’s head. Balancing this and the background details is a perpetual challenge. I think I phrased this weirdly on the bingo card.
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Teeth: I like using distinctive teeth in character descriptions. Pointy ones, gnarly ones, missing ones, it’s a detail that appeals to me.
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Woman Filled With Rage: Exactly what it sounds like. Also related to my enjoyment of gothic tropes. Also related to the various things I have to say about gender more generally, though from different directions depending on what she’s so mad at.
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Dramatic Pause 