Tropes Showdown

[anarfea]

So I was inspired byout_there to do the Tropes Showdown thing. I had to do it twice because the first time I think I said "no opinion" and "I like both" too much and it gave me really weird results, so the second time I was like "gun to my head pick one" unless I really really couldn't decide and then I got better results:

Rank	Name
1	Hurt/Comfort
1	A/B/O
3	Seemingly Unrequited Pining
3	Actually Unrequited Pining
3	Daemons
3	'Groundhog Day'/Karmic Time Loop
7	Fairy Tale/Mythology AU
7	They Break Up (but then They Get Back Together)
7	Enemies to Friends to Lovers
7	Fake Dating/Fake Marriage Accidentally Turns Into Feelings
7	Friends to Lovers
12	Royals/Political Marriage Turns Into Feelings
12	'Everyone is Evil'/Mirrorverse AU
12	Selfcest (possibly due to time travel)
15	Amnesia Fic
15	Pride and Prejudice AU
17	'Falling For A Coworker/Teammate Is A Bad Idea' Except This Is Fiction So It Works Out
17	Vampires/Werewolves AU
17	Supernatural Creature/Human Romance
20	Loyalty Kink
21	Found Families
22	Accidentally Fell In Love With The Mission Target
22	Snowed-In Cabin/Isolated Together For Extended Period of Time
24	Polyamory
24	Magical Connection (Telepathy, etc)
26	Reincarnation/'25 Lives' AU
27	Body Swapping
28	Characters Swap Roles AU (I don't mean in the bedroom)
28	And They Were Roommates!
30	Hogwarts AU
30	Hot Single Parent(s)
32	Adopting/Raising a Baby
32	Coffee House AU/Food Service AU
32	'They All Work In An Office' AU
32	High School/University AU
32	Unusually Specific Occupation AU, Like, The Author Clearly Has The Same Job
32	Soulmate Identifying Marks (Tattoo, Red Thread of Fate, etc)

I love both Hurt/Comfort and A/B/O and I hate soulmate AUs, baby-centric fics, and coffee shop Aus, so the top and bottom are right at least. I'm surprised "Groundhog Day/Karmic Time Loop" is ranked so high? Maybe it's because I recently read the Mystrade fic Time Slips and it's been on the brain. But if I ranked them manually I'd probably say more "normal" tropes like "fake dating" and "break up/make up" fics rank higher.

I find it amusing that "actually unrequited pining" and "seemingly unrequited pining" share the same rank, as do "friends to lovers" and "enemies to friends to lovers." I'm big fans of both.

Now if only there were one for kinks!

Comments

[donut_donut]

haha yes I am also surprised by that. I mean, I know a/b/o divisive, but I have seen a LOT of people putting it at the very very bottom. Makes me wonder if they've read much... I was originally totally weirded out by the concept, but I read some really good ones that won me over.

[anarfea]

I suspect that the mpreg aspect is what puts a lot of people off. It definitely is a little weird, but of course not all A/B/O has mpreg. My fic does, though. In for a penny, in for a pound.

[donut_donut]

yeah, I guess I usually read omegaverse without mpreg, though I'm not dead set against it. Just have to be in the right mood.

It's funny that you wrote a fic with mpreg, even though you ranked "raising a baby" at the very bottom of your list! I counted pregnancy fics in the "raising a baby" category, including mpreg.

[anarfea]

The thing about me writing a fic with mpreg is that while Mycroft's pregnancy is very central to the plot of that fic, the actual baby doesn't get a whole lot of story time. Mycroft carries a kid for Sherlock and John, basically, and they whisk him away after he's born, which traumatizes Mycroft more than he expected even though he had no desire to raise a kid. That fic is more about adoption and loss than parenting.

[donut_donut]

yeah, I guess it really depends on your perspective, how you divide these things. for me, a lot of what draws me to (what I call) parentlock is seeing people struggle with ambivalent feelings about every step of the process, in all kinds of scenarios. So for *me*, your fic totally counts as parentlock. But I can understand why it feels like a different animal to you.

Are you familiar with Baker's Yeast? I would classify that as parentlock, even though the baby hardly appears.

[anarfea]

I guess I should have anticipated that you would do parentlock differently than everyone else, just like you do everything else differently than everyone else. I guess my idea of parentlock comes from my tumblr dash, which is mostly just very fluffy ficlet snippets and rosie-centric fanart. I'm sure AO3 has a wealth of fic with more nuance, as I'm sure there are lots of IRL parents with ambivalent takes on parenting.

I haven't read Baker's Yeast. Will mark for later.

Edit: Oh wait I totally have read this fic. Yes, I remember liking it a lot. Mostly because I adore Sally Donovan and fic that centers on her. I didn't particularly think of it as parentlock, though I suppose it is.

[fangirl_says]

I remember when I first saw people discussing mpreg -- specifically, using the admittedly hilarious term, 'ass babies.' I was completely put off by that. But now I think fanfic is the perfect way to explore the 'what if' factors, so why not? Now I find myself almost a little bit disappointed if there's no pregnancy involved. Sherlock pregnant? Or Mr. Straightlaced himself, John H Watson dealing with swollen ankles? I MEAN COME ON.

[anarfea]

I personally kind of hand waive the biology? I mean, a lot can be hinted at, and then the rest just sort of left to the imagination re how the mpreg thing is supposed to actually work. I'm much more interested in the psychological aspects.

[fangirl_says]

Same for me. I thought it was a bit too 'out there' for me, and even now it sometimes doesn't really work for me, but it can be so fascinating.

[anarfea]

I find that like with all tropes, it depends on how it's written. There are good omegaverse fics and terrible omegaverse fics.