topaz119: (ready to write)
topaz119 ([personal profile] topaz119) wrote2015-01-13 02:09 pm

tropes & me

What tropes/situations do I love to put my favorite characters in, and/or read about them being placed in? (for [personal profile] cathalin)

 

Well. I'm sure this will come as no surprise to a lot of y'all, but I LOVE me some friends-to-lovers. Write it, read it... It is total catnip to me, to watch as a solid, good, sustaining relationship takes a turn for the romantic. I write it all. the. time. I have to actually stop and think about how people might go about putting together a romantic relationship with a stranger, because I love having that solid ground underneath first. Then, of course, there can be uncertainty and insecurities and all that, especially if everyone is afraid of losing the excellent thing they already have going and they already know that the other person knows their tells and how they might BS their way out of the hard part of relationship-building.  (I thought about linking to fic that I'd written with that trope, but then decided it'd be easier to pick out the few that don't include it. And then I realized I didn't really have any of those, either. So, yeah, that's my trope. :D)

Trope #2 is found families. Oh, my god, give me people putting together their own families-of-choice, even (or especially) when they don't realize that's what they're doing, and I will follow you anywhere. I think that was how I fell so easily into writing Hawaii Five-0 – it was just delicious, the way that team coalesced into a family. And that's my hot button in the MCU, too – I am more than happy to borrow the Mansion from the comics-verse and play house.

Honorable mention goes to food – people feeding each other or bonding over eating together or actually cooking for each other (I mean, I still have about 20 menus I never got to use in Kisses Sweeter Than Wine that I can't bear to delete, because they are just *perfect* for the characters. And my favorite headcanon for Clint Barton is that he's a pretty damn good cook—nothing fancy, but give him a couple of hours and he can blow your mind.) 

I should probably also mention my thing for finding houses for characters when I write… Jensen's condo in Silver Star, Phil's converted townhouse in doesn't matter if I bleed, all the houses in Caught Inside, Lady Frances's London mews house in Long Way Home, and it's probably best if we don't talk about the map of London circa 1800 that I printed out and used for reference for all the houses and gambling hells in An Uncommon Season. ::shrugs:: Some people make playlists—I googlemap everyone's houses and stalk the real estate listings for inspiration.
st_aurafina: Rainbow DNA (Default)

[personal profile] st_aurafina 2015-01-14 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
I googlemap everyone's houses and stalk the real estate listings for inspiration.

ME TOO! I love it - I need to know what their streetscape is, and where the nearest park is and what kind of door they have and all of that stuff. It's so important for the way I build characterisation.
sperrywink: (Default)

[personal profile] sperrywink 2015-01-18 08:57 am (UTC)(link)
Ahahaha, I totally had a real estate listing in mind for my The Losers story from last year. It was critical research, I am sure. *g*
geckoholic: (Avengers AOS team)

[personal profile] geckoholic 2015-01-13 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahh, those are two of my faves too. It is total catnip to me, to watch as a solid, good, sustaining relationship takes a turn for the romantic. THIS EXACTLY.

[identity profile] topaz119.livejournal.com 2015-01-26 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
Hah, I'm working my way through the Dresden books and there's a technical girlfriend, and lots of things happen with her, but for my money, the relationship I love is the one Harry has with his sometimes police partner, which isn't at all romantic (at least not yet, I'm only 5 books in.) That's the one that gets me every time.

[identity profile] brandywine28.livejournal.com 2015-01-14 10:02 am (UTC)(link)
it's probably best of we don't talk about the map of London circa 1800 that I printed out and used for reference for all the houses and gambling hells in An Uncommon Season

No, I definitely want to talk about it! Can we? :)

Fake house-hunting is an excellent way to spend one's time, but historical fake house-hunting? Is the absolute height of awesome!

[identity profile] topaz119.livejournal.com 2015-01-26 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, we totally can! This site (http://mapco.net/london.htm) has the best maps ever. I think I used the 1817 map when I wrote An Uncommon Season. I could go street by street and pick out where everyone lived. I think the Dowager lived at Grosvenor Square and the Rosses at Berkeley Square. I had a spreadsheet that I used to keep track of everyone's butlers and ladies' maids and valets, and another one for the townhouses and country homes (the Dowager made free with her son's houses because of course she wasn't just going to live at the Dowager House) and where they were/what they were named.