Everyone has their own trope bugbears which have more to do with personal taste than anything else, and that's fine. The dragons are no different. However there are some tropes which just fundamentally don't work - at least not if you're going to cut corners. Either they result in shoddy worldbuilding or poor story structure or they're just so ick that they knock the reader out of the story. That's not to say that they can never work but you do have to be careful how you handle them. This week, Jules and Madeleine take a look at some of the worst offenders and best examples of the same trope done right, in sci-fi and fantasy. On the slab this week - Star Trek Discovery, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Virtual Sexuality and many more.
Title Music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 218: Plotting, Pantsing, Middling and Snowflaking - Creating Outlines for Books and Series...or Not!
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 217: You Are Cordially Invited - Costume Dramas, 19th Century Literature & Dragons
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 216: Sugar & Spice - Nuance and the Nice-washing of Female Characters in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 215: The Book was Better than the Film, or When it Wasn't - Adaptations, Revamps and Sequels
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 214: Something Sweet & Deadly - Easter Eggs and the Problems with Fan Service
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 213: That's Just Not Literature - the Myths of Fantasy Writing
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 212: I'm the Bad Guy (or am I?) - Morally Grey Characters in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 211: Write What You Know & Other Pearls of Wisdom - the Worst Publishing and Writing Advice
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 210: Toss a Coin to Your Fantasy Author - When Epic Fantasy Hits the Screen
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 209: Bring On the Heartbreak - When Romantic Subplots go Wrong in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 208: Welcome to the Multiverse - Alternate Realities, Evil Twins and Unmade Choices in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 207: Nervous Timid Goth Boys vs Manic Pixie Dream Girls - How a Single Trope can Shift Narrative Preference
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 206: Devilish Dogs and Last Unicorns - Traumatic Moments in Children's Animated Feature Films
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 205: Guardians of Knowledge - Magical Libraries in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 204: Good Hearted Rogues to Xenomorphs - the Dragons' Formative Films
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 203: For the Dead Travel Fast - Monster Hunters in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 202: 2019 - Marvels and Oddities
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 201: It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas - Our Favourite Festive Scenes
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 200: The F-word Revisited - Faeries in Urban Fantasy
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 199: Troubled, Dead or MIA - Parent-child Relationships in Speculative Fiction
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