Tropes. When you hear the word trope, you most likely groan to yourself, thinking of your least favorite cliche. The infamous love triangle, the classic chosen one, or the quintessential quest. We all have tropes that we’re absolutely sick of and that’s most likely the first thing that comes to mind.

But on the other hand, there are probably those who are offended by the negative examples I used. You may hesitate to admit it, but I guarantee that if you think about it, there are tropes that you really, really enjoy reading about. They can be common scene patterns (starting with the protagonist getting up and getting ready for school), tropes that stretch over the whole story (the aforementioned quest), or character tropes (the reluctant hero). 

One of my personal favorites is the enemies-to-lovers trope. I will read just about any book with it. My library record and bookshelves can attest to that. Even though I’ve read the trope dozens of times, I still love to see it done differently again and again.

The truth is, tropes are tropes for a reason. If people didn’t enjoy them, writers wouldn’t continue to include them in their stories and readers wouldn’t continue to buy books containing them. So I don’t think that it’s as simple as the common advice: “Avoid tropes at all costs.” They have their place in writing. They’re fun, they appeal to readers, and they have extremely practical uses. 

Before we get into it, let me make one thing clear: tropes and cliches are not the same thing. If you look it up, the two words have similar if not exactly the same definitions, but for the purpose of this blog post, I’m giving them two distinct definitions. In my mind, a cliche is an overused plot point or character role that is worn out and lacking new life. Tropes are common scene patterns, general plots, or character types that have been written in a new and fresh light. While the two can easily blend together, I believe cliches should be avoided, while tropes can not only be used, but are very helpful to you and your writing.

There are several factors that support the use of tropes, but the most obvious is one that I already mentioned. People like tropes. I said it before, but I’ll say it again, Tropes are tropes for a reason! If you can easily think of a trope you love, I guarantee your readers can too. 

I recently heard author Bethany Atazadeh compare tropes to butter. It’s kind of a guilty pleasure. We hesitate to admit how much we love it, but in reality, we’ll go for a buttery treat over a vegetable any day. 

But tropes aren’t only enjoyable for our readers to read, they’re also a ton of fun to write. They can add a light, “buttery” element to our writing that can help balance out the more challenging parts of writing. Tropes can be just the thing to keep us going when other elements of our story aren’t quite as fun to write. They can even be used as motivation for just the first draft. When you’re stuck with writer’s block, add a scene trope, even if you end up deleting in the second draft.

But tropes aren’t just useful in attracting readers and keeping yourself motivated, they also have a very practical use in helping readers understand your stories.

At a recent writing summit (Young Writers Can Change the World hosted by The Young Writer), bestselling author S.D. Smith brought up something about tropes that I thought was super interesting. He said that tropes, specifically character tropes, are very useful in helping readers understand stories more quickly. When we read about the “gruff, old mentor” character type, we pretty quickly pick up on what they’re going to be like and how they’ll interact with the main character. As the writer, not as much explaining is necessary, because the reader will understand the character more quickly.

Tropes can be a shortcut of sorts. They send easily understood signals to readers that save the writer from having to lay out every detail of that scene, character, or element of the plot. And sometimes, being able to cut out some of those things enables the story to move along to the more important elements of the story.

Just as tropes can be shortcuts in writing, they can also be shortcuts in marketing. When you look at a book blurb or in the reviews for a book, you’ll often see mentions of some of its tropes. Even if they’re not directly spelled out, you can figure out pretty quickly what the overarching tropes are. Spotting a favorite trope can influence readers into taking more time to look at your book or even buy it. 

As we can now see, tropes can be very valuable to an author and their readers. Not only are they fun to read and write, they’re also very useful in helping your readers grasp elements of your story even just from reading the blurb! 

But, you have to be careful that they don’t slip into cliche territory. There still needs to be  unique and fresh twists to the tropes you use and new elements altogether. It’s very easy for your tropes to become stale and end up repeating what dozens of authors have done before. The slope from trope to cliche is a slippery one, so make sure you handle it with care.