This week: Subverting Tropes Edited by: JayNaNoOhNo  
More Newsletters By This Editor 
 
1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions
| "There's nothing new under the sun" certainly applies to writing. From 'the two types of stories', to 'the seven basic plots', from 'archetypes', to 'story beats', there's commonality to all stories. The identification of beats that are expected to be within certain genres—which we call tropes— combined with the other classifications means somewhere, at some time, someone has told this story in some fashion. How can you take those pre-existing notions and turn them on their head? |
| ASIN: 0996254145 |
|
Amazon's Price: $ 12.95
|
|
No matter how hard you try, your genre has expectations. Whether it's a narrative, set pieces, character archetypes, scenes or other elements, these constraints can result in repetitive writing. The thing is, these reader expectations aren't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, they can be the exact thing that point consumers in your direction. Mystery readers like mystery tropes. Some may prefer a mystery of a certain type, such as cozies over hard-boiled, but genre readers expect those story elements and beats to be there. When they aren't, reader reception gets dicey.
None of this means you have to adhere to formulaic, repetitive patterns (although many writers have done so and turned out just fine). There's a huge difference between a trope and a cliché. Tropes are expected story points (a detective, maybe even one who's not surprised by crime anymore). The cliché is the alcoholic, womanizing detective. Not only is it overdone, it's wildly out of date. Avoiding clichés but using trope expectations to give the reader something fresh is a great way to make your work stand out.
1. Subverting tropes doesn't mean 'do the opposite'.
Take the drunk, womanizing detective. The temptation may be to do a swap and switch the detective to a female. Does that really make the character unique? One way to subvert the trope is to put the behaviour into a modern context and call it out for what it is.
Another example is a modern take on Sherlock Holmes, where smoking is replaced with wearing a whole whack of nicotine patches. It communicates several messages all at once: eccentricities, addictions, defiance and more.
2. Subversion doesn't have to mean 'comedy'.
Not that comedy can't be used to great effect. Spaceballs subverts the 'I am your father' from Star Wars like nobody's business. Parody and satire are also very effective. Deadpool plays with both throughout the comic, and the graphic novels V for Vendetta and The Watchmen brilliantly cut at the trope of not only what makes a superhero, but whether or not superheroes are a good thing.
3. Be logical.
Replacing a gold-hoarding dragon with a gem-loving dragon isn't subverting a trope, it's trading one cliché for another. Unless it's a Jem-hoarding dragon, with a massive collection of 1980's rocker chic Barbie knockoffs. It would certainly be unexpected. But there would have to be an awfully good reason for it.
A recent example or trope subversion is found with Thanos, the villain from The Avengers. The usual villain characteristics of greed and selfishness are upended as his end goal is for the betterment of the universe. And while his methodology is bonkers, at it's core, his reasons appear logical. It smashes the anti-hero and villain together, both of which are objectively bad people, but not always for bad reasons.
The best way to subvert tropes is to know them. The more you read within your genre, the more tropes you'll recognize. The more you read outside your genre, the more tropes you can pull in to your writing (assuming it makes sense to use them in context). Like anything else in the writer's toolbox, the more you have to work with, the better the final product.
So, while 'there's nothing new under the sun', there's plenty of different ways to enjoy the sunshine. Happy writing! |
| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#2257464 by Not Available. |
Looking for contests?
| | Contest Clues (E)
List of WdC Writing Contests, Challenges, Activities. Clues To What's Open, What's Closed!
#2221492 by GeminiGem🐾  |
|
Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
Don't forget to support our sponsor!
| ASIN: 1945043032 |
|
Amazon's Price: $ 13.94
|
|
| ASIN: B000FC0SIM |
Product Type: Kindle Store
|
Amazon's Price: $ 12.99
|
|
To stop receiving this newsletter, click here for your newsletter subscription list. Simply uncheck the box next to any newsletter(s) you wish to cancel and then click to "Submit Changes". You can edit your subscriptions at any time.
|
Mystery: September 15, 2021 Issue [#10981]
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
