Brush Up on Your Tropes

One of my favorite websites is TVTropes.org. First off, a warning: if you have things to do later, don't go on this site. According to the authors, a trope is:...a storytelling device or convention, a shortcut for describing situations the storyteller can reasonably assume the audience will recognize. Tropes are the means by which a story is told by anyone who has a story to tell. We collect them, for the fun involved.The wiki contains more than just TV. For example, the Harry Potter page contains an absorbing litany of tropes. Neville Longbottom "Took A Level in Badass." The secret wizarding world is an example of a "Wainscot Society." Peter Pettigrew's existence as the rat Scabbers is one of many instances of "Chekov's Gun."One of my favorite parts of the site is its list of settings (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Settings). If you can't think of what setting would best play on the themes or message you have in mind, take a look at the list. Maybe "The Apunkalypse" is where your character lives. Or maybe the "Good Guy" bar, where heroes and villains hang out and have a drink. Or maybe your hero needs to get to work cleaning out that "Urban Hellscape."Today, pick a setting from the tropes list and write a short piece about it.***When Arthur awoke, he struggled to remember the dream he had been having. There had been cloudy shapes surrounding him, and he wanted desperately to know what they were saying, and he didn't know why. It had made sense in the dream. There had been a light. And the light had gone out. And the shapes had appeared. He summoned the images back to him, but the cool morning air broke the spell, and he sat upright, awake.Rays of sunlight streamed through the window like bands of diaphanous glass. One ray caught itself on the gilded frame of the mirror that he had bought just the day before. He stood, stretched, and watched himself stride across the room. The mirror was oblong and sensually curved, tall and broad, with hinges that allowed him to change its angle. In it, he saw his wife, still asleep in the bed."Time to get up, sleepy," he said.When he turned back, the bed was empty. He looked to the mirror. There she was. Her chestnut hair lay on the pillowcase, and the blankets rose and fell. Again he looked to the bed. She was not there. The ground felt like jello beneath his feet. Where was he? He looked around the room. His pants lay on the back of the chair, just as he had left them. He was searching for more clues when a shadow passed over the mirror.The shadow was humanoid. Its darkness seemed to come from more than blocking out light. It seemed to absorb light. It hungered for light. He watched it pulse and darken the room in the mirror as it climbed into bed next to his wife.He sat on the bed, so that his reflection sat by the shadow's feet. He reached out a hand behind him, still watching the mirror. His hand felt a draining cold, and he ran from the room.***My trope was "Mirror World."Getting Started: 5Character: 5Point of View and Tone: 5Plot and Narrative: 5Dialogue and Voice: 5Descriptive Language and Setting: 5Revision: 4Overall: 4*Level 4*