fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2663 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2663 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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02.

[Stardust]

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03. [posted twice]

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04.

[Elementary]

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05.

[El Goonish Shive]

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07. http://i62.tinypic.com/29cxt2a.jpg
[Hadaka Shitsuji, censored porn]

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08. http://i.imgur.com/XGwxaCR.jpg
[cosplay; no sex but definitely nsfw]

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09.

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10.

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12. [ns]

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14.

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16.

[Art by: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Lets-Sing-Together-338248375]

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17. [SPOILERS for Soul Eater]

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18. [SPOILERS for captain america: the winter soldier]
[WARNING for rape]

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19. [WARNING for suicide]

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20. [WARNING for incest, possible non-con]

Notes:

Late at work again, sorry. Should be back to normal by next week!

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #380.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

To be perfectly, brutally honest, if I read a synopsis of your story I'd probably give it a pass, entirely because of the old "dead wife" trope. Doesn't matter how brilliant your writing is, or how clever otherwise, I'm just so sick to dead of dead (and captured) female relation being the driving motivator behind a male character's actions that I wouldn't bother.

But I'm not everyone. I'm just as sick of zombies, and that shit sure still sells hand over fist.

So, what can you do that would ameliorate it? Like people have been saying, don't make her sole purpose to be the object of his man pain. For example, back in the day I read X1999. There was a character who existed pretty much solely to be fridged. She was literally an innocent sacrificial virgin. She had no personality but sobbing and looking sweet and eventually dying.

That was in the manga. In the anime, they actually characterized her. They told us what her hopes and dreams were. She did things on her own that did not involve the main character. Showed her working towards her intended future profession. And I felt about 1000 times more moved when that character died than when the manga version did. What does his wife want to do with her life? What can she do that involves that rest of the plot other than dying? Who are her friends and the people who love her besides her husband? Who does he love, besides her?

Yeah, it's the fact of the trope that's made me question and want to rework things. My worry is that it will still come across as an iteration of the trope regardless how well I develop her.

I've got an alternative plan where she lives and winds up working with the other protagonist, but even then, someone still has to die. The nature of the world is such that death and madness go hand in hand.

As I said to someone above, I may just be overthinking things. If the character who dies is well-rounded, and there are strong female characters who live, then I've probably done as well as can be expected.

Well, like I said, I'm not everyone. Stories where that's the main motivation still sell, and I'm sure there are plenty of people who aren't tired of the trope at all - they may even like it, or find it compelling. But if you yourself don't want to be cliche...

Wracking my brains for a solution to your dilemma, since you say that this characters primary relationships are with women, just about the only female relation whose death/capture hasn't be absolutely done to death is probably a protagonist's mother. I've seen it before, but nowhere near as often as I have wife/girlfriend/daughter/sister (in order of descending banality). Especially an older protagonist (i.e. not a child or a teenager). I've literally never seen it with a man over 20. Which says problematic things in and of itself (that women aren't worth getting worked up over after a certain age, perhaps) so you could subvert the trope slightly if you tried that out.

I've been giving it a lot more thought, and particularly after reading darkmanifest's comment, I think I'm going to work on getting around my perceived need for someone close to him to die. I'd kind of boxed myself in a bit, and hadn't been able to see it.

Thank you for your feedback and your help! I really appreciate it!

[ SECRET POST #2663 ]

Re: Fridging, and how not to do it

Re: Fridging, and how not to do it

Re: Fridging, and how not to do it

Re: Fridging, and how not to do it