![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nevannaI have loved hurt/comfort in fiction before I knew that the term existed (and I am far from alone; I took the subject line for this entry from a stranger’s tumblr post on the subject). Here are some of my favorite associated tropes, in no particular order.
1. Nightmares and the direct aftermath, whether a character is clinging to a friend or partner upon waking up, wandering around and brooding, having a late-night heart-to-heart with another character, or some combination of the three.
2. Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, which is an AO3 tag that currently contains almost 4,000 fanworks, and also an umbrella concept for so many sub-tropes that they could almost comprise a Top Five list in and of themselves. Let survivors of mind control, possession, or conditioning grapple with issues of guilt and personal responsibility! Let them remember being a helpless puppet, or remember thinking that their thoughts and actions were entirely reasonable, or remember nothing at all! Let their friends and allies relearn to trust them (or not)! Let the survivors hate the loss of control, or miss it, or some combination of both! If the canon allows for it, let the recovery include More Mind Stuff But In A Nice Way This Time!
3. Characters who slowly learn that they have agency and worth after being severely dehumanized, or who take a long time to realize that they’re truly safe and not dreaming or hallucinating, or who confuse their rescuers/comrades with their captors/tormentors. (This can also go hand in hand with the above.)
4. Touching or kissing someone’s scars.
5. Mutual comfort and solidarity between characters who have had the same or similar terrible experiences, especially if their coping strategies are different.
Do you like H/C fics? Which tropes (or trope subversions) to you enjoy the most?
1. Nightmares and the direct aftermath, whether a character is clinging to a friend or partner upon waking up, wandering around and brooding, having a late-night heart-to-heart with another character, or some combination of the three.
2. Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, which is an AO3 tag that currently contains almost 4,000 fanworks, and also an umbrella concept for so many sub-tropes that they could almost comprise a Top Five list in and of themselves. Let survivors of mind control, possession, or conditioning grapple with issues of guilt and personal responsibility! Let them remember being a helpless puppet, or remember thinking that their thoughts and actions were entirely reasonable, or remember nothing at all! Let their friends and allies relearn to trust them (or not)! Let the survivors hate the loss of control, or miss it, or some combination of both! If the canon allows for it, let the recovery include More Mind Stuff But In A Nice Way This Time!
3. Characters who slowly learn that they have agency and worth after being severely dehumanized, or who take a long time to realize that they’re truly safe and not dreaming or hallucinating, or who confuse their rescuers/comrades with their captors/tormentors. (This can also go hand in hand with the above.)
4. Touching or kissing someone’s scars.
5. Mutual comfort and solidarity between characters who have had the same or similar terrible experiences, especially if their coping strategies are different.
Do you like H/C fics? Which tropes (or trope subversions) to you enjoy the most?
