Tired Tropes

[vividlyyours]

Although I've only written one story in Incest/Taboo (the rest are found in LW, Romance, and EE), I love reading the category. That said, there are some repetitive themes that to me come close to ruining a story because they just don't fit.

Namely:

* The "I wasn't looking at you!" whine from a male character whose stunningly gorgeous sister who has been exposing herself to him. Social ineptness is one thing, but this ruins the character and the wimpiness would turn any woman off, even a hot sister.

* The hot mom who suddenly just has to have her son's cock, without any backstory of how she got there. In too many stories there are moms who suddenly walk into the room and are giving him a BJ in minutes.
* The supposedly loving relationship between a son and mom that for some reason has to include him calling her a slut or whore, and her agreeing. A love story, which is what most of the incest/taboo stories are, doesn't have to include that kind of disrespect.
* The "let me watch you masturbate" intro that comes out of nowhere.
* The sharing the bed with a sister (itself an overused trope) that invariably includes morning wood nestled between the cheeks of her ass, often with her pressing said ass against said morning wood.
* The virgin sister who can deep throat her brother's 9 inches the first time she blows him.

One final thing: If you're going to use British terms, set the story in Britain. Terms like "going to uni" are one hint, and trying to then set the story in the US when you're unfamiliar with the territory gets clumsy.

 

[StillStunned]

* The sharing the bed with a sister (itself an overused trope) that invariably includes morning wood nestled between the cheeks of her ass, often with her pressing said ass against said morning wood.

I've used this precise setup. You call it a tired trope, I call it the story that got me 165k views and a 4.56 rating from 2.8k votes.

 

[mildlyaroused]

Yep, I/T is full of tropes and unrealistic narratives. But then again, it's hard to craft an incestuous storyline without some suspension of disbelief. I understand plenty of readers just want a quick, simple story that gets them going in all the right places, so I can appreciate the simplicity of such stories without wanting to read them myself. This is a site for fantasies, after all.

What I will say frustrates me most about the category is that almost every story begins with our incestuous couple already attracted to one another. Even the slow-burns usually contain explicit sexually-charged narration right from the start. This is erotica, but not every thought you have towards your hot sister has to be sexual in nature. I wish more stories developed their characters in a slower, more natural way, progressing from platonicity to sex over time. It makes for a more engaging arc to the story, and (in my opinion) it's also just hotter to read about our characters grappling with this forbidden attraction.

But to each their own. There's a place for realism and a place for heightened fantasies. I've read and written incestuous stroke stories myself. Fair enough to all those who enjoy 'em!

 

[THBGato]

I don't read I/T. I mainline Lesbian Sex like a junkie that's just heard there's a fungus affecting poppy plants. I've read over a thousand stories in the last year.

And the thing is, tired tropes are what readers want. They want the awkward meet-cute, the friends-to-lovers, the only-one-bed, the abusive ex that one character needs to be rescued from, the slow-growing feelings, they want the tearjerking coming out moment. Sure, the very best writers in the genre (@onehitwanda @Jackie.Hikaru @bi_cathy @redgarters @HelenL @Pluna @Areala-chan ET al ) put their own twists on these tropes or can get away with excluding them entirely. But they are mostly still there.

Readers want these. They are the drug we crave. As @StillStunned 's stats suggest readers lap them up. Omit your category's tropes at your peril. Unless you are as good as the writers listed above.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

There's a difference between a trope and bad characterisation. Your complaints 2, 3 and 6 (and last, though I usually see that the other way round, Americans getting the UK wrong) are about implausibility, and I'd agree with them.

The first one is what I'd expect any defensive person to say if accused of eyeing up someone they shouldn't. How they get to admitting that they were, and would be willing to do something about it, is the story (though many readers don't care about that and just want to skip to the siblings/mum and son getting it on).

The 'can I watch you masturbate' and 'sharing a bed' are tropes, sure, but as with 'sitting on son's lap', there's a limited number of ways that a storyteller can get two characters past the barrier of 'incest is wrong' in a consensual way that doesn't take too long and doesn't upset the audience (x gets drunk and mistakes family member for deceased partner or doesn't care they aren't them - may be more plausible, but a bit of a downer.)

Tropes can be useful shortcuts - it's the storytelling round them that's important.

Disclaimer: my only attempt at I/T, being totally not into it, is called Only One Bed, Again! and starts with a warning, 'It leans heavily on the "only one bed" cliché, with help from the "oops, I saw him naked in the shower" trope, because I'm not paid enough to produce an original plot.'. Readers didn't complain about those at all.

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

One final thing: If you're going to use British terms, set the story in Britain. Terms like "going to uni" are one hint, and trying to then set the story in the US when you're unfamiliar with the territory gets clumsy.

I co-wrote a story set in the US and my co-writer was the one filletting my British'isms, although setting Word's spell check to US English helped a lot. Getting the scenery right is essential.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Not my category of preference, but AFAICT most I/T readers want the excitement of a taboo relationship without having to acknowledge the ugly reasons why those relationships are taboo. That makes "realism" pretty hard to achieve.

 

[StillStunned]

Not my category of preference, but AFAICT most I/T readers want the excitement of a taboo relationship without having to acknowledge the ugly reasons why those relationships are taboo. That makes "realism" pretty hard to achieve.

Yes. I have a story that leans into that realism, and it's never broken the 4* barrier.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Well, incest stories, more than any other type of story here, are overflowing with repeating tropes and require more suspension of disbelief than Non-Human, SciFi&Fantasy, and Erotic Horror put together. The backseat mom and son trope already has like 30+ iterations, judging by what some readers of the category say.
But that's exactly how the category works; that's what the readers want from it. The numbers tell the truth more clearly than I ever could. So yeah, I don't see much sense in complaining about some specific tropes and themes in a category that is practically intended to work in such a way. Readers clearly like the I&T category just the way it is.

 

[SimonDoom]

To me, it's all in how you do it. This is an erotic story site, and it's inevitable, especially with a category like incest, that authors are going to mine and re-mine the same veins of plot ideas. Doesn't bother me. If the author writes well, and can add a few new wrinkles or twists to the familiar idea, I'm fine with it.

P.S. I'm about to publish yet another "mom and son in the backseat" story, so I'm laying the groundwork. Get ready, trope lovers.

 

[alohadave]

The supposedly loving relationship between a son and mom that for some reason has to include him calling her a slut or whore, and her agreeing. A love story, which is what most of the incest/taboo stories are, doesn't have to include that kind of disrespect.

Sex talk isn't necessarily demeaning or disrespectful if both parties enjoy it.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'll say an extra word or two in defense of "tropes." I get what the OP is saying, and I agree it's often boring to read a story that retreads old ground without doing anything new or creative. But on the other hand, I can enjoy a story that does something just a teeny, tiny bit new with old, familiar material. And I think in an erotic story, the oft-cited tropes serve a useful purpose of creating the right sort of dramatic/erotic tension that makes erotic stories so fun (for me, anyway), quickly and easily, without requiring an excess of exposition. It's the great thing about incest: the tension is built in without further explanation.

As an author, I've tried my hand on several occasions at giving a new twist to an old theme, whether it's mom and son on a sofa, or mailgirls, or hucows, or whatnot. I enjoy the exercise, and most of the readers seem to enjoy it, too.

I wouldn't recommend that an author ONLY confine themselves to familiar tropes, and I certainly haven't done that, but I also wouldn't caution them against including such stories in their body of work. Have fun and don't overthink it.

 

[TheLobster]

Not my category of preference, but AFAICT most I/T readers want the excitement of a taboo relationship without having to acknowledge the ugly reasons why those relationships are taboo. That makes "realism" pretty hard to achieve.

The reasons can be brought up, and may even enhance the taboo aspect to a certain degree, like a proper quantity of hops added to a beer.

But one has to do it quite carefully. The common and probably easiest way to accomplish this is to highlight the improbable, idiosyncratic reasons why those ugly realities are not supposed to apply in the particular case of these two characters.

Parent/child incest involves exploitation of power dynamics? Reverse them. Make the mom lonely and vulnerable, reeling from a bad divorce and failing to find a partner who could appreciate the wonderful woman that she is. Make the son mature and independent, thus able to handle the tricky nature of their unfolding relationship.

Siblings? Make them similar age, typically young and still living under their parents roof. Their romance can then be little more than an affair between roommates that has a little bit of an extra spice.

These are all intensely trodden paths, of course, which is part of the reason why the genre is so riddled with well-worn tropes.

 

[NotWise]

You don't have to use common tropes to make a story popular. It's just the easiest way to do it. Ignore the tropes if you want, and write a good story. The readers won't ignore you.

 

[StillStunned]

You don't have to use common tropes to make a story popular. It's just the easiest way to do it. Ignore the tropes if you want, and write a good story. The readers won't ignore you.

By the same token, using a common trope doesn't mean the story is bad. There's a reason why some elements become tropes: they resonate with the readers. By definition that means they're doing their job. What sets your story apart is *how* you use the trope.

 

[NotWise]

By the same token, using a common trope doesn't mean the story is bad. There's a reason why some elements become tropes: they resonate with the readers. By definition that means they're doing their job. What sets your story apart is *how* you use the trope.

That is true, but from my reading of I/T, if the common tropes play a prominent role in a story, then the author probably didn't put much effort into other aspects of the story.

 

[StillStunned]

That is true, but from my reading of I/T, if the common tropes play a prominent role in a story, then the author probably didn't put much effort into other aspects of the story.

Lazy writing is lazy writing, regardless of category or trope.

 

[Euphony]

Lazy writing is lazy writing, regardless of category or trope.

THIS.

Tropes fail not because they are inherently flawed but b/c authors cookie cutter and do nothing with it.

Some of the best stories here don't avoid the tropes by lean into them, custom tailoring them to their characters for bespoke fit.

It's impressive.

 

[AG31]

Although I've only written one story in Incest/Taboo (the rest are found in LW, Romance, and EE), I love reading the category. That said, there are some repetitive themes that to me come close to ruining a story because they just don't fit.

Namely:

* The "I wasn't looking at you!" whine from a male character whose stunningly gorgeous sister who has been exposing herself to him. Social ineptness is one thing, but this ruins the character and the wimpiness would turn any woman off, even a hot sister.

* The hot mom who suddenly just has to have her son's cock, without any backstory of how she got there. In too many stories there are moms who suddenly walk into the room and are giving him a BJ in minutes.
* The supposedly loving relationship between a son and mom that for some reason has to include him calling her a slut or whore, and her agreeing. A love story, which is what most of the incest/taboo stories are, doesn't have to include that kind of disrespect.
* The "let me watch you masturbate" intro that comes out of nowhere.
* The sharing the bed with a sister (itself an overused trope) that invariably includes morning wood nestled between the cheeks of her ass, often with her pressing said ass against said morning wood.
* The virgin sister who can deep throat her brother's 9 inches the first time she blows him.

One final thing: If you're going to use British terms, set the story in Britain. Terms like "going to uni" are one hint, and trying to then set the story in the US when you're unfamiliar with the territory gets clumsy.

I can imagine every one of these lines working in a story with the right setup.

 

[AG31]

I agree with all these things.

I understand plenty of readers just want a quick, simple story that gets them going in all the right places, so I can appreciate the simplicity of such stories without wanting to read them myself. This is a site for fantasies, after all.

If the author writes well, and can add a few new wrinkles or twists to the familiar idea, I'm fine with it.

And I think in an erotic story, the oft-cited tropes serve a useful purpose of creating the right sort of dramatic/erotic tension that makes erotic stories so fun (for me, anyway), quickly and easily, without requiring an excess of exposition. It's the great thing about incest: the tension is built in without further explanation.

By the same token, using a common trope doesn't mean the story is bad. There's a reason why some elements become tropes: they resonate with the readers. By definition that means they're doing their job. What sets your story apart is *how* you use the trope.

 

[NotWise]

One effective use of the common tropes is pretty clear. Using a title and/or short description that evokes a common trope might generate a lot of views.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Every category has tropes. They are not tired if people are reading and enjoying the stories.

 

[AG31]

Every category has tropes. They are not tired if people are reading and enjoying the stories.

Yes, since stories here are, by definition, about sex, there are just so many ways you can deal with it.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yes, since stories here are, by definition, about sex, there are just so many ways you can deal with it.

I have one piece of fiction and several non-fiction essays here that are not about sex. I write them as a change of pace, for one thing. Most of them have done fairly well with the readers. Except for hard-core politics and religion and a few other things, the site will let you do whatever you wish.

 

[lovecraft68]

Another tired trope

People coming here and telling people what not to write because it annoys them.