HILT - TROPE THESAURUS, THE

Copyright 2021 by Jennifer Hilt

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Even a quick glance at popular books, movies and streaming series says it alla skillful application of tropes sells stories. Thats because tropes create a foundation between the audience and the action.

Im not suggesting we slap a few tropes together and call it done.

Im talking about twisting tropes to create characters that fans cant stop thinking about to increase story conflict.

How do we do that?

By digging down into the functions of tropes.

But isnt a trope just a trope? What do secret baby, road trip and revenge have in common?

Conflict. Conflict. Conflict.

The Trope Thesaurus explores tropes common in romance, mystery, suspense, thriller, science fiction, and fantasy. It also features a listing of tropes with their definitions, along with some ideas about how to use them more effectively to craft stronger stories.

New and established writers will appreciate this different take on a craft topic in the quest to become a fan favorite.

Consider these three tropes: a bet, blackmail, and a billionaire.

Maybe your brain is already churning with ideas about how these three provide a basis for a story? Or is just the mention of tropes stressing you out?

Whether you are on #TeamTrope because you know which ones your audiences love, or you dont feel comfortable using them, tropes are landmarks.

They prepare our audiences to be wowed by twists of character, worldbuilding, and conflict; a trope is a contract with the reader.

It says, trust me, let me tell you a story.

They are neither positive nor negative. Tropes are tools to use in our story world. Tropes can be applied sparingly or more liberally; its all up to you because they work for us.

In working with storytellers about tropes, Ive met some who love them, some who hate them, and some who just arent sure what to do with them.

My hope for this book is to take the mystery out of tropes.

Whether you use tropes in your work, they are inescapable in the wider storytelling world. Todays movies, series, and computer games are chock full of tropes.

Why is that?

Tropes provide conflict. That Breaking Bad episode that had your jaw drop? A trope did that. The Disney+ Star Wars Mandalorian series that had my family hooked each week? Tropes. Tropes. Tropes.

Stories need conflict like plants need water.

If you are trope phobic, you might be surprised at the invigorating effect they have when employed.

And if you dont plan on using a trope, guess what? Its unavoidable. Tropes are the gears behind every single story ever written or spoken. Its even in the favorite song you cant get out of your head.

So how do we use tropes skillfully in our storytelling?

By using them to create multi-dimensional characters and to increase conflict.

Since you cant escape using tropes, you might as well learn how to use them and make them do the heavy lifting for every story you create.

Ive chosen examples readily available from most streaming services in this book. The books I mention are available in libraries or audiobooks. I dont want it to be too difficult or time-consuming for you to check out the examples.

But even more important, I hope you start looking for trope examples in your favorite books, movies, or series. They are everywhere, and once you key into them, your brain starts wondering what if I with tropes. My goal for this book is to see tropes and start twisting them into your creations.

I wrote this book because I love tropes. It wasnt always that way, as youll discover in a bit, but I am now a die-hard fan.

This book began with a question. Since my background is linguistics and storytelling, I wondered what would happen if I studied tropes, combining my two favorite passions?

The Trope Thesaurus was born.

You can use this book in any way that helps you become more comfortable with tropes.

I suggest you read Part One first. Its where I lay the groundwork for how I approach tropes with definitions and explanations.

Part Two includes romance, thriller, cozy, police procedural mysteries, fantasy, and science fiction genre examples with tropes.

Part Three Ive gathered the tropes Ive seen most often with some examples, including trope twists, in alphabetical order.

Part Four Ive given you a fun quiz because I miss those in the back of magazines. And its an excuse to talk more tropes. I also included a story checklist that I use.

Are you ready? Okay then. Lets do this! Its painless, I promise. And even fun.

Go ahead and embrace your inner word nerd! Speaking of word nerds, heres a bit about me. Ive loved stories of all kinds ever since I was a kid. I was encouraged to take my library card and walk up to the library from an early age. It formed a lifelong habit.

Ive published fifteen books across three pen names and made the USA Today Bestseller List twice. Under my name, Ive published ten books in urban fantasy and paranormal romance. I have an undergraduate degree in Linguistics and a graduate degree in English Literature. Plus, Ive worked as a plotter and concept creator.

And I love to talk tropes.

So, lets roll up our sleeves and get to work!

There are a lot of words that get thrown around when we talk about storytelling so lets look at a common definition for a trope.

A trope [is] a convention or device that establishes a predictable or stereotypical representation of a character, setting, or scenario in creative work.

Lets simplify that further into: a trope establishes a predictable character, setting, or scenario.

We will examine how to use tropes when we first draft a story and when were revising.

As a lifelong reader, my discovery of the power of tropes has been gradual. I read my favorite stories repeatedly, but that wasnt enough to figure out how these authors created great work.

I purchased physical copies, marking them up with what interested me. Notes about characters, conflicts, and secondary characters flowed onto pages of my notebooks.

The most crucial question was how the authors created stories that sucked me in? Yes, I loved the characters, conflicts, emotions, and worldbuilding but how evaded me. What was the magic that made me want to immediately cancel all aspects of my regular life to stay in that story world?

If there was ever a secret sauce recipe, I craved this one. I studied my lists, outlines, and diagrams for what these stories shared. And I filled several notebooks with the information. All the time, I pulled at the commonalities in the stories.

That was what interested metheir common threads.

And thats how I stumbled upon tropes.

Discovering the power of tropes was a gradual process for me.

Philip Pullmans The Golden Compass, published in 2003, is a 350 plus page fantasy novel that spawned one mediocre Hollywood movie and, more recently, a better received BBC limited series. The Golden Compass is the first in His Dark Materials trilogy.

Ill talk about the book here. I first read this book almost twenty years ago, and I loved it so much, I still reread it about once a year.