3 Tropes that Can Strip Nuance from Your Story

Tropes and cliches can be hard to avoid, especially when you’re working within specialized genres or categories. Author C. Chancy, also known as Vathara, shares three tropes she tries to avoid:

I currently write in two genres or categories: urban fantasy and fanfiction. I’ve found that many stories in both these categories can lean toward the following tropes… and end up losing something along the way:

‘Dark and Edgy’ to the max. 

The lone hero fights the good fight, but the villains keep getting stronger, the stakes higher, and the light at the end of the tunnel dimmer. We dip into the villain’s headspace more often than not; as if we’re only interested in the mindset of someone bound and determined to do Evil.

These stories lack Hope.

Everyone is treated as contemporary liberal Westerners, whether or not that makes sense. 

An Iron Age vampire slaughters his enemies and enslaves them, but rather than viewing his actions within the context of his time period and culture, he’s written off as evil without any nuance. 

A religious person who says “No, I won’t serve same-sex marriage,” isn’t considered a product of her family and church; she’s an intolerable enemy who must be destroyed.

These stories lack Charity.

Characters change morals, ethics, and the habits of a lifetime at the drop of a hat.

Sometimes they do this because the hero’s way is “obviously” better, or evil is so irresistibly tempting that only the protagonist could possibly stand against it. 

These stories lack Faith.

I strive to write stories of hope, charity, and faith: 

The Hope that, through characters’ actions, at the end of the day, the world can become just a bit better. The Charity to believe people can disagree without being mortal enemies, and that there’s more than one way to act honorably.The Faith that people—not just “heroes”—can have the inner strength to own an unshakable ethic.

All told, urban fantasy and fanfic are both fun to play with, and I encourage anyone to break some tropes in the process. But there will be knocks along the way. Try to find some friendly beta-readers; it really helps!

C. Chancy has been in and out of dragon lairs since learning to read, usually with a map, compass, and something crunchy and good with chili sauce… just in case. Besides reading fantasy, SF, mysteries, and history, she also enjoys beading, manga, anime, digging up survival information, poking odd color combinations, and maintaining an aquarium of half-wild guppies and one huge South American catfish that likes to lurk unseen for weeks. 

Photo by Flickr user TheGiantVermin.