Found something I thought you guys would be interested in. I may just be new to the uptake, but I stumbled upon this site called
Tvtropes.com, and its freaking fantastic. Its like a wikipedia for modern literary structure, but with a focus more on Stan Lee than Shakespeare. I have never found a place that had so meticulously broken down the modern archetypes and well...literature. I mean, where else could you get a multipage breakdown, with examples, of a
Xanatos Gambit,
Jerkass Dissonace, or the
Sidekick Ex Machina (which btw is an extreme form of
Hypercompetant Sidekick and similar in application to
Manic Pixie Dream Girl). Its got a listing of villain levels from
Mook to
The Dragon, and and a listing of the
Flying Brick superpower set. I have now spent that last hour crawling through it soaking all up.