How to avoid tropes and cliches?

W

writersaurus

Member
New Member
What tricks do you emplore to avoid tropes and cliches? Like putting a werewolf on a spaceship? or having vampires in a futuristic world of flying cars and laser guns? Or having zombies possess the ability to perform sonnets? (Okay, that last one was a joke :LOL:).
 
I don't avoid tropes. I don't even think about them really. If my characters and story require a hero's journey or a quest or someone is a chosen one - that's what I'm going to write. I think there's a misconception that tropes are inherently bad, but they aren't. It's just a description of what's within the pages. Can they be written badly? Of course they can (and often are), but that's a writing problem, not a trope problem.

Most often from what I've seen (I'm in a LOT of reader only groups and subs) when readers mention tropes as a con rather than a description it's because the characterization was horribly lacking and they felt like the characters were cardboard cutouts following a predictable line. That's what not to do. When they mention tropes in a descriptive light it's to recommend it to others who like similar tropes and story lines. That's what you do want.
 
I don't think about tropes much unless it's to intentionally subvert them. There are some tropes I avoid, like the ones you mentioned, because they bore me.

I look for ideas that interest me and let them go where they will. If they end up adhering to common tropes, that's fine as long as they work for the story. If an idea feels too generic, I'll try to twist it in some way or come up with something different, something that I find more worth exploring.

There's nothing inherently wrong with common tropes. They are common because they work, and there will always be an audience for them. But even the most common tropes can be presented in new ways. The execution is what matters most.
 
I'd never heard the word "trope" before I started hanging out on writers forums. The term irritates me to no end. Don't as why because I don't know.
 
Trish said:
Really? Readers use the term frequently as well.
Click to expand...
Yep. Really and truly, though I should qualify my original statement to say I'd never heard "trope" commonly used to describe a type of character or plot. As far as I knew, trope referred to figures of speech, such as calling an obnoxious person a jackass or saying one is angry enough to spit nails. Though we discussed cliched terms, characters, and situations, I don't recall trope specifically used to refer to characters or plots in any writing class I ever took and I certainly never used it in any writing class I ever taught.

I'd be interested to know when it became a common term to describe character/plot, but I haven't had time to do the research. References to the same would be welcome.
 
CatrionaGrace said:
I'd be interested to know when it became a common term to describe character/plot, but I haven't had time to do the research. References to the same would be welcome.
Click to expand...
The motif portion was apparently added in 1975 based on what I see 🤷‍♀️

Dictionary
Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more



noun
noun: trope; plural noun: tropes
  1. a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression.
    "perhaps it is a mistake to use tropes and parallels in this eminently unpoetic age"
    • a significant or recurrent theme; a motif.
      "she uses the Eucharist as a pictorial trope"
Click to expand...
 
It's probably best to differentiate between the two. A trope is any common, classic device, which only earns "trope" status by being effective. A cliche technically refers to a phrase, but has expanded to include anything tired and trite. In effect, a cliche is a shitty trope. The former is ineffective due to repetition but the latter is still effective despite (or because of) repetition. Subverting tropes, as someone mentioned above is also effective, but rapidly becoming cliche in my opinion.
 
writersaurus said:
What tricks do you emplore to avoid tropes and cliches? Like putting a werewolf on a spaceship? or having vampires in a futuristic world of flying cars and laser guns? Or having zombies possess the ability to perform sonnets? (Okay, that last one was a joke :LOL:).
Click to expand...

Like @Trish, I don't. Tropes exist for a reason - they're narrative devices, not clichés. There's no reason to avoid them, if you execute them well. So what if I want my female main character to be the last one standing when all the other ones die? If the reason is compelling enough, then why not? Maybe she's the daughter of the last person to have stayed at the cabin in the woods. Maybe she can smell the monster because of a brain injury. Maybe she just... is. There's no reason apart from sheer dumb luck.

And more importantly, I don't look to specifically deconstruct or subvert a trope unless there's a narrative reason.
 
Homer Potvin said:
It's probably best to differentiate between the two. A trope is any common, classic device, which only earns "trope" status by being effective. A cliche technically refers to a phrase, but has expanded to include anything tired and trite. In effect, a cliche is a shitty trope. The former is ineffective due to repetition but the latter is still effective despite (or because of) repetition. Subverting tropes, as someone mentioned above is also effective, but rapidly becoming cliche in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Did you reverse former and latter or am I reading it wrong?
 
Homer Potvin said:
I don't think so.

"A cliche (former) is a shitty trope (latter)."

Right? I had to write it out to be sure.
Click to expand...
But you talked about tropes first and then cliches? I think? I'm questioning my brain right now 🤣
 
Naomasa298 said:
But are you saying that a "cliché" is not effective, whereas a "shitty trope" is?
Click to expand...
No, I think he's saying tropes are effective, shitty tropes (cliches) aren't. But in his first answer the trope was talked about first so I'd consider that the "former".

Hence my confusion.
 
"Character archetype" has more syllables than "trope," but I ain't seered a big words, so I reckon I'll go with the former.
 
Everything has already been written, so I guess just write a better version. It's that easy.
 
CatrionaGrace said:
"Character archetype" has more syllables than "trope," but I aint seered a big words, so I reckon I'll go with the former.
Click to expand...
Trope is a much broader term, referring to any device, not just archetypical characters, though that's its most utilitarian application. It goes all over the place, setting, plots, themes, both the micro and macro. Boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back, for example.

I didn't hear the term either until the postmodern Internet age. And I believe it grew out of television and cinema more than literature. There's essentially no differentiation between the various medias anymore.
 
Ah, that could account for my failure to grok the term sooner. I haven't had a television since I left home in 1975, I see maybe one or two new movies in the course of a year, and until a few years ago, I never ventured onto writing forums. Just stayed in my happy place, reading and writing stories, blissfully obivious to changing terminology. Good thing I write historical fiction, hmm?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top