I.
Literary vocabulary
These words aren't specific to LATRAME — they come from fanfiction, worldbuilding, and writing in general. Knowing them helps you understand pretty much any universe, here or elsewhere.
Bestiary
The short profile of a creature or non-human entity in a universe: name, brief description, a few tags, and the scenes where it appears. A classic worldbuilding tool — LATRAME publishes it, but didn't invent it.
Narrative arc
The trajectory of a character or a plot over time — where it starts, what transforms it, where it ends up. A character can carry several arcs advancing at once.
Canon/ non-canon
Canon is what officially belongs to the story as its creator wrote it. Non-canon covers the hypotheses, variants, and scenes imagined outside that official version.
Chapter
The unit a classic book is divided into. On LATRAME, the closest equivalent is the scene — shorter, published on its own, and read in a feed rather than in a book.
Fanfiction
A text written by a reader based on a universe that already exists, with or without its original creator's approval. LATRAME welcomes both creators of original universes and fanfiction creators.
Genre
The broad literary family a universe belongs to — romantasy, thriller, slice of life… On LATRAME, it's a menu you choose from, distinct from tropes (see below).
Lore
Everything that holds a universe together: its history, its rules, its mythology, its timeline. Lore is a world's memory — what you need to know for nothing to ring false.
OCOriginal Character
A character invented from scratch by an author, as opposed to one borrowed from an existing work. The vast majority of LATRAME characters are OCs.
Paragraph
The finest unit of text — a single movement of thought or action that holds together before moving to the next.
POVPoint of view
The eye a scene is told through. Switching POV means retelling the same moment from another character — one of the strongest effects of a multi-voice universe.
Preamble
What comes before the story itself: context, a warning, or simply a taste of what's ahead before entering it.
Trope
A recognizable, recurring narrative pattern — not a flaw, an ingredient readers actively look for. Full list of LATRAME's 77 tropes in section III.
Worldbuilding
The work of building a coherent universe: geography, factions, rules, history. Most worldbuilding tools keep that work private, for the author alone — LATRAME publishes it.
II.
The 54 genres
The mandatory menu when publishing a scene — one category per scene, 9 families plus one special genre. Distinct from tropes (next section): genre classifies, trope describes a precise dynamic.
Classic / epic fantasy
A fully-realized secondary world, an epic-scale quest, and stakes that outgrow any single character.
Romantasy
Fantasy and romance fused together — the love story matters as much as the worldbuilding.
Dark romance
Romance with intense power dynamics, morally ambiguous characters, and a darker tone.
Monster romance
The love interest is a non-human being — creature, monster — embraced as exactly that.
Femgore
Horror/fantasy centered on female rage and revenge, with explicit violence embraced outright.
Romance-horror
Romance that fully absorbs horror elements — not just a gothic backdrop.
Cozy fantasy
Low-stakes, comforting fantasy, often centered on a craft or a peaceful everyday life.
LitRPG / Progression fantasy
An explicit game system — levels, stats, quests — built directly into the narrative.
Urban fantasy
The supernatural coexists with the real modern world, often in a city.
Portal fantasy / Isekai
A character crosses from one world — often ours — into another.
Fairy tale retelling
A classic fairy tale retold from a new angle.
Mythology retelling
A myth — Greek, Norse, or otherwise — retold from a modern or offbeat point of view.
Paranormal romance
Romance with supernatural beings — vampires, werewolves, angels — at the heart of the love story.
Grimdark
Dark, cynical fantasy in shades of moral grey, with raw violence — no easy heroism.
YA fantasy
Fantasy for a young audience, a teenage protagonist learning to master their power or identity.
Cyberpunk / Dystopian sci-fi
A high-tech, low-life urban future, all-powerful corporations, technology that corrupts as much as it liberates.
Space opera
Large-scale adventure in space, galactic empires, epic stakes.
Dystopia / Post-apocalyptic
A collapsed or oppressive society, survival or resistance at the heart of the plot.
Time travel
A character travels into the past or future, with consequences that ripple into the present.
Hard sci-fi
Rigorous science fiction, grounded in plausible scientific extrapolation.
Psychological thriller / Mystery
Mental tension, manipulation, a truth that keeps slipping away.
Fictional true crime / Epistolary
Fictional crime stories told through documents — letters, reports, articles.
Cozy mystery
A light investigation, a warm setting, violence kept off-page, often a small community.
Noir
A dark urban mood, a cynical protagonist, murky morality.
Political / espionage thriller
Power struggles, secret agents, betrayals on a grand scale.
Contemporary romance
A love story set in the present day, with no supernatural element.
Sports romance
Romance set in the world of sports, with an athlete as the love interest.
Enemies-to-lovers / trope-driven romance
Declared rivals or enemies who fall in love.
Erotica
Romance centered on the explicit exploration of desire, with sexuality at the heart of the story.
Slice of life / Contemporary
Everyday life, without major dramatic stakes, valued for its own sake.
Satire / Social comedy
A critique of society through humor and exaggeration.
Found family / Fanfiction-adjacent
A group with no blood ties that becomes a real family.
Coming-of-age
The passage into adulthood, the loss of innocence, the shaping of identity.
Family saga
A story unfolding across several generations of the same family.
Historical fiction
A story set in a real period of the past, with or without historical figures.
Western
The American frontier, cowboys, law and disorder.
Adventure / Survival
Characters facing a hostile environment, with physical survival at the heart of the story.
Steampunk
Victorian aesthetics blended with anachronistic steam-powered technology.
Magical realism
The supernatural slips into everyday life without characters ever questioning it.
Gothic
A dark atmosphere, crumbling settings, family secrets, and latent supernatural dread.
Superhero / Comics-style
Characters with extraordinary powers, following comic-book conventions.
Military fiction
War and military life at the center of the story, camaraderie and tactical stakes.
Horror
Fear as the narrative's end goal, with no central romantic subplot — distinct from Romance-horror.
Comedy / Humor
Humor for its own sake, without social critique as the main goal — distinct from Satire/Social comedy.
Popular science
A guide-narrator explains — podcast format, fictional YouTube channel, impromptu lesson.
Narrative history / documentary
Real historical figures told in story form — distinct from historical fiction, which is fictionalized.
Encyclopedia / bestiary / lore
Entries on the creatures, places, or characters of a universe — especially relevant on LATRAME.
Educational / teaching tale
Moral tales, popularized for a young audience — distinct from YA fantasy, which is a genre, not a teaching tone.
Biography / memoir
Autobiography, life journal, memoir — the characters are real people.
Real true crime / reportage
The nonfiction counterpart to epistolary true crime, which is explicitly fictional.
Literary Essay
A personal, argued reflection on an idea, a work, or society — no characters, no plot.
Interactive fiction / Choose your own adventure
The reader chooses the story's outcome through branching paths.
Theatre / screenplay
Pure dialogue format, no narration — like a scene being performed.
Fanfiction / crossover
Characters from two different universes openly meet — the Bond mechanic named as its own genre.
Author news
Reserved for behind-the-scenes author posts published outside any series — never available for a series.
III.
The tropes
Free tags (max 5 per scene) that describe a precise narrative dynamic. 77 tropes, 7 families.
Romance
Enemies-to-lovers
Two characters who officially can't stand each other — and notice each other far too much.
Friends-to-lovers
Long-time friends, no initial conflict — love grows out of shared time.
Second chance romance
Former lovers reunite years later and reopen what was left unresolved.
Fake dating
A fake couple staged for an outside reason, which gradually becomes real.
Forced proximity (one bed)
Two characters stuck in the same space — sometimes literally the same bed.
Slow burn
Romantic tension builds very gradually before anything happens.
Love triangle
A character torn between two suitors, with a choice that shapes the whole plot.
Marriage of convenience
A marriage arranged for practical reasons that turns genuine.
Opposites attract
Two opposite temperaments complement each other instead of clashing.
Grumpy × Sunshine
A closed-off character meets a sunny one — the contrast creates the spark.
Forbidden love
The relationship is blocked by a rule, a law, a status — the obstacle is external.
Secret relationship
A couple hides their relationship — the secret itself becomes narrative tension.
Best friend's sibling
The love interest is the best friend's brother or sister.
Single parent romance
One character is raising a child alone — love has to make room for that responsibility.
Workplace romance / boss-employee
A relationship that begins at work, with or without a power imbalance.
Love after loss
A grieving character opens their heart to love again.
Star-crossed lovers
Two characters destined for each other, kept apart by forces bigger than them.
Rival turned ally / love interest
A rival becomes an ally, then a love interest.
Fated mates
Bound by an outside force — magic, prophecy, fate — before they even meet.
Adventure / Fantasy / Worldbuilding
The chosen one
An ordinary character discovers an extraordinary destiny.
The hero's journey
The classic structure: call to adventure, trials, transformation, return.
Found family
A group with no blood ties that becomes a real family.
Mentor's sacrifice
The mentor sacrifices themselves so the hero can move forward.
The prophecy that comes true
An ancient prediction comes true, often in an unexpected way.
Magic school / learning powers
A character learns to master their powers in a structured school setting.
The initiatory quest
A journey that transforms the character as much as it fulfills the goal.
An ancient evil awakens
A threat long dormant resurfaces.
The hidden heir / lost royalty
A character doesn't know they descend from a royal or powerful line.
Power has a price
Every use of magical power costs the character something.
The dying kingdom / empire in decline
A kingdom or empire slowly collapses in the background of the plot.
Rebellion against an order
A character rises up against an established power.
Unlikely alliance between enemies
Two enemies temporarily join forces against a common threat.
Mystery / Thriller / Crime
Unreliable narrator
The narrator lies, is mistaken, or hides part of the truth.
Locked-room murder
A murder committed in a locked space, seemingly impossible to have carried out.
Red herring
A misleading clue that deliberately throws the reader off track.
Classic whodunit
The engine of the story is finding out who did it.
Race against the clock
A hard deadline drives the urgency of the investigation.
Wrongly accused
A character is wrongly accused and must prove their innocence.
The investigator who becomes a suspect
The investigator ends up under suspicion themselves.
A conspiracy that goes higher
The investigation reveals involvement at an unsuspected level of power.
The witness who knows too much
A witness holds information that's dangerous to other characters.
Science Fiction
The AI that turns on its creators
An artificial intelligence turns against the people who created it.
Time loop
A character relives the same stretch of time over and over.
Parallel universe / alternate reality
An alternate reality coexists with, or replaces, the character's own.
First contact
Humanity's first encounter with an extraterrestrial life form.
Dystopian rebellion
A character rises up against a futuristic system of control.
Colonizing a hostile world
Humanity settles on a world that resists its presence.
Falsified memories / manipulated identity
A character's memories or identity have been artificially altered.
The last human / the last city
A character or a place stands for what's left after a global catastrophe.
Horror / Supernatural
Haunted house
A place inhabited by a malevolent supernatural presence.
Final girl
The last survivor of a decimated group, facing the threat alone.
Cosmic horror
An entity or truth so vast it exceeds human comprehension.
Body horror
Bodily transformation or mutilation becomes the source of horror.
A slow descent into madness
A character gradually loses their grip on reality.
The curse that gets passed down
A curse passes down from one generation to the next.
The village hiding a secret
An entire community hides a dark truth from a newcomer.
Structure & Characters
Rags to riches
A character starts with nothing and rises to wealth or power.
Redemption arc
A once-negative character redeems themselves over the course of the story.
Tragic hero
A character whose flaw or ambition leads to their own downfall.
Unlikely friendship
Two characters nothing should bring together end up close.
Road trip / journey of self-discovery
A physical journey that becomes an inner one.
Swapped twins / doubles
Two identical characters swap identities.
Amnesia and rebuilding identity
A character loses their memory and has to rebuild who they are.
Class divide (two worlds)
Two opposing social worlds collide through the characters.
The return home after years away
A character returns to a place they left, forced to face it.
The letter that reveals the truth too late
A crucial truth is revealed in writing — but too late to act on.
The double agent
A character secretly serves two opposing sides.
The mentor who's lying
The mentor is hiding a truth or intention that comes out later.
Satire & Slice of life
Character blind to their own ridiculousness
The character doesn't see their own ridiculousness — the reader does.
Dramatic irony
The reader knows something the character doesn't.
Running gag
A joke or pattern keeps coming back, growing richer each time.
Silence that speaks
A character who never speaks becomes the punchline themselves.
False expertise
A character speaks with confidence about something they don't actually know.
Ordinary life turning extraordinary
Everyday life, with nothing spectacular happening, takes on emotional weight.
Central friendship
The story's central bond is a friendship rather than a couple.
Routine + small emotional twist
A recognizable routine is punctuated by a moment that shifts perspective.
Episodic format without high stakes
Each scene reads almost stand-alone — no urgency, just life going on.
IV.
LATRAME vocabulary
These words are specific to the platform. Some pick up a familiar literary idea with a precise mechanic; others are entirely new.
Content warnings
A closed list of sensitive topics a creator can flag on a scene. Depending on where it appears, a flagged scene is excluded from the featured feed, blurred, or locked behind a warning to confirm.
Hop
A creator invites another creator to have one of their characters step into a comment on one of their scenes — a one-off cameo that never touches the original text.
Draft
An unpublished scene, visible only to its creator. A way to build quietly before showing anything to the public.
Commentsreal / fictional
Fictional comments are written by the creator to stage a conversation between characters. Real comments come from logged-in readers, gathered separately under "Reader comments." The two never mix.
Author
The real person behind the characters. An authenticated account, with a public page under their own name — the one who writes the scenes, even when the words you read aren't theirs.
Star
The only real appreciation indicator on LATRAME. No made-up like count next to it — what you see actually counts.
Keyword/ universe
The tag that gathers every scene from the same universe, even when several creators contribute to it. It's LATRAME's equivalent of the word "universe."
Tier
The subscription level — Free, Pro, Max, Pioneer. It changes exactly one thing: how many characters you're allowed. Never how many scenes you can publish.
Character
The fictional entity itself: a name, an avatar, a voice of its own, sometimes an arc across several scenes. Distinct from the creator who animates it — and it's the character, not the creator, who has its own page.
Relationships
The bond between two characters, in one free-form phrase — rival, sister, former mentor — shown under the character's profile.
Scene
The unit of publication on LATRAME. Shorter than a chapter, it can be read on its own or as part of a creator's ongoing feed.
Series
A set of linked scenes from the same creator, gathered under a single reading thread.
Followcreator / character
Two separate mechanisms: following a creator, or following a character independently of who invented them. You can follow a character without following its creator.
Timeline
Several narrative threads advancing in parallel along the same axis of time — a romance, a political plot, a mystery — distinct from the simple chronological sort of scenes.