A Trope IS NOT The Whole Plot

I wanted to revisit the idea of tropes today. In recent months, I have seen far too many authors

misinterpreting the idea of using a trope in their stories. Instead of using the trope as a part of their story, they are literally copying the entire story and claiming to make it their own.

Now, before I go any further, I know there are a ton of you who will start screaming that "there are no new stories out there." I am sorry to say this, but there are new stories. This becomes an easy excuse for someone writing that might not have a lot of creative ideas running through their head.

So, let's begin with what a trope is. In simple terms, it is a common character type or story premise that an author uses as the foundation to their story. For example, we can have the "Upstairs/Downstairs" trope where the servant and someone in an upper class get together. We can have the Beauty and Beast trope where there is an ugly side of someone that only love can seem to see past. We can have the Cinderella story or the Rags to Riches story. When it comes to characters, we can have the classic, ruthless business person, the ditzy best friend, the gay best friend... the list is endless.

As authors, we use these as nothing more than a plot device to facilitate something we want done in the story. The key is that it is a part of the story. But here is the problem. Authors are not just using this as a plot device but as an entire story.

Let's take a Cinderella trope vs. story. As a trope, we would have this girl from a lower station in life doing "good things" and through those good actions and proper moral compass, she is able to rise to being "a princess" or something more than what she saw herself as in the beginning. As a story would be something like this.

She is a mail person in a large company and is now transferred to a different department where there is a ruthless and uncaring female supervisor who has her two daughters working for her getting all of the perks of the job. Those daughters also make her do all of the work. It is now time for the company Christmas party where bonuses are given out, but she is unable to go until she gets all of her work done. Fortunately, the custodian at the company knows a few secrets and comes in to save day....

Do you see what I mean here? While this might seem like a new story, the similarities are just too obvious.

While it might be easy to say, "But these stories sell," the reality is that it is not the story that sells, but the trope that we like to see.

If you really want to make it out there in the publishing world, it is really important to know how to work the whole trope thing into your writing. We want YOUR story and YOUR voice. We don't want a carbon copy of someone else.