We’ve all heard the terms “trope” and “cliche” before, likely in negative contexts. If the trope is pertinent to your story, use it. Tropes should be used intentionally, because your reader will have preconceived ideas about most tropes. I believe tropes are used for these reasons: There are a few things you can ask yourself when considering the use of a certain story trope: Many stories and novels use multiple tropes, but it’s important to limit yourself at some point. An LGBTQ+ love triangle, for example, wouldn’t feel as trite as the usual boy-girl-boy subplot. Examples of Story Tropes. Manic Pixie Dream Girls are equated to poor character development alot of the time. Fantasy tropes are everywhere. In a celebrated novel we edited, the writer used the phrase “they vanished into thin air” to avoid a lengthy, complicated explanation. The skinny of it is: avoid cliches unless you can use them in an intentional and creative way. When a character must choose between two love interests.eval(ez_write_tag([[580,400],'selfpublishinghub_com-box-4','ezslot_0',181,'0','0'])); Example: Arya from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. As writer and humorist John Hodgman remarks, “Specificity is the soul of narrative.” This is a common trope in dystopian fiction, specifically. Other fandoms became known as the place that a new fannish trope began. Breaking the fourth wall–When a character or narrator addresses the audience/reader. Example: Margo in Paper Towns by John Greeneval(ez_write_tag([[580,400],'selfpublishinghub_com-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_4',183,'0','0'])); When there’s a missing person that a story’s characters are actively searching for. She has published two bestselling short story collections, Little Birds and Starlight. You might add to a cliche, like Taylor Swift in the song Endgame: she takes the cliche “bury the hatchet” and turns it to “I bury hatchets, but I keep maps to where I put ‘em.” She achieves the immediate cultural understanding of what it means to bury the hatchet (forgiveness, putting away old disputes) and adds a layer of keeping maps to where they are, so she can retrieve that dispute whenever she wants to. Think of a fantasy story with an ogre. Raising a host–Nightbloods raised and collected for the Commander legacy, then in a later season by the Primes as hosts. Example: Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. The Unlikely Heroeval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'selfpublishinghub_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_7',611,'0','0'])); Example: Katniss in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Five people said they love a missing character? I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak is another of my favorite books (and the one I always reference to teach effective prose!).

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