Unplanned, unintended, unhinged; the finished novel is full of not-so-accidental tropes. Welcome to genre fiction.
It’s quite a moment to finish writing a novel and discover your entire story is laden with tropes. Especially as it’s in the trope-heavy YA genre.
Tropo Allegro
A trope is a recognizable element, theme, or motif in storytelling. Think of ‘the Chosen One’ or ‘the reluctant hero.’ We’re so immersed in story telling across all forms of media, including advertising, it’s almost impossible to tell any story without them. When there are no new stories, only new twists, tropes are ever-present.
Tropes provide shortcuts as a way to frame or layout a particular story type. They are also familiar story-telling devices that let the reader know what kind of story they have in front of them.
The inclusion of certain favorite tropes also hook readers beloved of those kinds of stories.
For good or ill, tropes occur everywhere. They aren’t inherently bad, and can be incredibly useful devices for writers and readers. Spot the ‘enemies to lovers’ set-up and you know exactly what kind of story you’re getting.
Too many tropes?
Pile on too many tropes, however, and they become a problem. Tropes are not, by their nature, subtle. Written poorly, they light up like the neon signs in Times Square, distracting or even blinding the reader to what’s actually occurring in the story.
Which leaves me wondering where my latest project sits on the scale.
I didn’t outline it with tropes in mind. I didn’t think about plot twists or stock characters or archetypes, but in the latest edit, all those came to the fore.
Tropes by the pound
Here’s a laundry list of the main tropes in the current work-in-progress.
The Sassy FMC
The young protagonist has altogether too much sass for her own good. But there’s a reason…
Not Like Other Girls
Yari has a magical talent which makes her, well, not like other girls. It gets her into trouble as much as gets her out of it.
Missing parents
Yari’s mother died tragically some years ago. Her father was sent to the mines as a political prisoner and enemy of the Empire. With the parents out of the way, she’s free to rush into mortal danger.
Mandatory Sidekicks
Yari has two sidekicks, one grumpy, one sunshine. One charges at every problem like a rhino. The other is a thief, rogue, and all-round vagabond. Vagabond is a fantastic word.
Antagonists
‘The High Priest is not to be trusted.’
Because: fantasy.
Blue blood, black heart
The aristocrats are vicious, over-privileged oppressors of the lower classes.
The morally gray warrior
The former emperor’s bodyguard is a badass, unaligned, morally-gray free-agent with mysterious motives.
The mean city streets
It’s a trope that goes back into antiquity. The city is a dangerous place, where every alleyway and doorway hides a thief, assassin or spy. Keep one hand on your purse and the other on your blade.
And that’s not all of them. How many not-so-accidental tropes can you spot in your current read?