I’ve been thinking about tropes a lot lately. That's because I’ve been noodling over a story idea that will be a mystery in a science fiction setting. So which tropes do I use?
For those of you who may not be familiar with the term, a trope is an element of genre fiction. It can be a theme (corrupt corporations in science fiction) or a plot device (a fake relationship in a romance).
Although there can be overlap between genres, many tropes are fairly genre specific. Science fiction tropes include rogue robots, aliens come to eat all the humans, the dangers of space travel including worm holes, cloning, genetic engineering, and evil scientists with hidden laboratories.
Among the mystery tropes are isolated locations, a closed circle of suspects, a missing person, blackmail, and a ticking clock.
Looking at these lists, I can see several that would work well together. I’ve already decided that there will be a robot. Nope. You can’t talk me out of it. The robot is essential. Since I was thinking they would be in the midst of a spaceflight, I think I could layer in an isolated setting and a closed circle of suspects.
But I was worried about another problem. Can you have too many tropes?
I was doing some research, and no I wasn’t just avoiding writing. I found an excellent piece by Jane Friedman, Tropes: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. She wrote about a problem that she called trope stuffing. As she explained it, this happens when the writer includes every single trope they can think of. They often do this in an attempt to appeal to as many readers as possible. If they list the tropes as themes, this can also help their book come up on as many searches as possible.
Hmm. I think that as long as the tropes work within my story, I can get by with four tropes – two science fiction and two mystery. There wouldn’t be any point in attempting to trope stuff, because I know my idea will not appeal to every single reader. It is for a middle grade audience, which eliminates an awful lot of people. And it is a science fiction mystery.
I’ll have to give it a try to see if it will work.
But before I can do that, there’s more research to do.
--SueBE
Sue Bradford Edwards' is the author of over 60 books for young readers.
- To find out more about her writing, visit her site and blog, One Writer's Journey.
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She is also the instructor for 3 WOW classes which begin on the first Monday of every month. She teaches:
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