Tropes are literary tools that can help you create a story people will love. But when they are used too many times, they can become predictable and stale. You need to keep your tropes fresh so your readers don’t feel bored and lose their appetite for your books.
Why we need tropes
A trope is a type of plot device that writers can use as a framework to build their story. Good storytelling usually involves tropes. They appear in pretty much every kind of fiction, including movies, novels, and TV dramas. Some seem to suit specific genres such as the Enemies to Lovers trope, which is very common in romance novels. This is when two people start the story by hating each other and end up falling in love by the end. You’ve probably seen the Good Cop, Bad Cop trope in countless action movies and police dramas.
There are too many tropes to list, but here are some of the more popular ones:
- Marriage of Convenience
- Enemies to lovers
- Amnesiac Hero
- Friends to Lovers
- Second Chance Romance
- Feuding Families
- The Chosen One
- Humble Hero
- Love Triangle
- Found Family
- Good Cop, Bad Cop
- Redeemed Villain
- Not Like Other Girls
- Survive the Trials
This list could go on for pages and there would still be more to find. New tropes are created as old ones fade away. There are tropes that are specific to genres and others that are flexible enough to work anywhere. Most stories contain more than one trope, such as the Harry Potter series which uses Humble Hero, The Chosen One, and Not Like Other Girls to name a few.
The problem with tropes
Writers and readers love tropes that are used in original ways. It’s when they become overused that problems arise because it seems like the same story is being told again and again. An example of an overused trope is The Chosen One which you can find in numerous YA fantasy novels. A young (often female) protagonist finds out they are destined to save society because they are special.
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
- The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik
- Cinder by Marissa Meyer
If everyone else in your genre is using the same trope, it’s difficult for your story to stand out. Since there are hundreds of tropes to choose from, it’s easy to find something else that can make your work more original.
The underlying message
Some tropes are problematic not only because they are overused but also because of their underlying message. An example of this is the Rich Man, Poor Girl trope. There really isn’t a lot to say about this except it’s about a very wealthy man falling in love with a much poorer woman. This reinforces the ideas that money can buy love, money is power, and that these things impress poor women.
Another particularly controversial trope is the Bad Boy one which often leads to the Love Can Change You trope. An attractive young man with deep-rooted emotional issues behaves badly (sometimes abusively) towards the protagonist. His abusive actions only make her like him more. Her love redeems him and they end up in a wonderful relationship. Sometimes, it’s revealed the girl misinterpreted the abuse, or it’s explained away by his troubled upbringing. Unless he redeems himself through other methods such as the ones outlined in my post, How to Make a 5-step Redemption Arc, my advice is to steer away from this one altogether because of the negative message it carries.
How to subvert a trope
Since most tropes are easy to spot and readers can predict what’s going to happen, you need to work hard in order to make it fresh and engaging. One way to do this is by changing the usual format. Drop enough hints early on so that the trope is recognizable. For example, introduce the two love interests in your romance novel and then bring in a third player. Your readers will realize this is a Love Triangle and have expectations of how this will play out. However, once you’ve established your trope, you can decide where you want to go with it. Here are some suggestions for you.
- The protagonist chooses the romantic rival
- It’s a real triangle with Person A liking Person B who likes Person C who likes Person A
- You introduce another character who runs off with the protagonist
Don’t spend most of your book setting up your trope only to change it in the last chapter. It should be something that not only suits your characters and story but also leads to a natural and satisfying conclusion. If you decide to reveal that your Amnesiac Hero faked their memory loss, either make readers aware from the beginning or drop some hints for them to pick up on. You want people to feel entertained rather than cheated.
Conclusion
Tropes are a useful formula or shorthand for your plot. Readers expect to see them in novels and they can help by making situations easily recognizable. This means you don’t need to spend pages explaining what is going on. However, once they feel repetitive and formulaic, they risk becoming cliche. Not that you shouldn’t use tropes in your story but try to do something new and unexpected with them.
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