Comments on: How to Strengthen Our Story with Tropes

By: Jami Gold

Jami Gold — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 23:53:38 +0000

In reply to V.M. Sang. Hi V.M., Glad you found this helpful! And good luck with your writing. :)

By: V.M. Sang

V.M. Sang — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:57:33 +0000

Thanks for that. You’ve got some ideas going in my head for future work, the germ of which is starting to grow in my head.

By: Jami Gold

Jami Gold — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 20:46:15 +0000

In reply to ANGELA ACKERMAN.

Hi Angela,

Yes, exactly! Tropes are great shortcuts for a starting point–they quickly get readers on the path of the emotional journey we want to take them on–but then as you said, it’s the depth beyond that that matters. Thanks for letting me add to the great conversation about tropes that you’ve had here!

By: ANGELA ACKERMAN

ANGELA ACKERMAN — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 20:06:48 +0000

Great post, Jami. Becca and I have done a boatload of thinking about tropes lately and this post is chock full of great advice. I like the acknowledgement that subversions are so common they become new tropes, and so it’s really about challenging ourselves to go deeper.

Tropes are valuable starting points because readers recognize certain character types, but alone don’t make a well-layered character. If we want that, we need to understand who they are, why they think and act as they do, and what they need to learn most on their journey. This deeper characterization, along with certain interesting facets we brainstorm about them, will help us build someone authentic, relatable, and unique.

By: Jami Gold

Jami Gold — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 04:00:03 +0000

In reply to MINDY ALYSE WEISS. Thanks, Mindy!

By: MINDY ALYSE WEISS

MINDY ALYSE WEISS — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 23:42:08 +0000

Thanks for this helpful post, Jami! I can’t wait to check out your companion post, too.

By: Jami Gold

Jami Gold — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 11:08:37 +0000

Thanks so much for having me here again! I know tropes can have a bad reputation, but since we can’t avoid them, hopefully this post gives us ideas for how they can actually help our storytelling.

If anyone would like to see more examples for how to use the shortcut aspect of tropes to build more development or depth into our story, check out my companion post:
https://jamigold.com/2024/09/story-tropes-lazy-shortcuts-or-opportunities-for-depth/

There, I’m sharing two more trope-shortcut-to-added-depth examples using the delightful TV series My Lady Jane. 🙂