Keifer Lud asked Sam Hawke:

Hi Sam! I am so excited for your book to come out! From what little Ive read you seem to be an absolutely wonderful writer and I was wondering if I could ask for some writing advice before you become incredibly famous and are flooded by messages like these. In creating a fantasy world, what do you personally do to give well-defined fantasy/sci-fi tropes the necessary twists to make your book feel new and compelling?

Sam Hawke Hi Keifer,

Thanks so much. Haha, I doubt I'll be flooded any time soon.

Oh, that's a tough one. I suppose when it comes to tropes the thing to remember is that most of the time they're not inherently bad (leaving aside harmful tropes that hurt people), but they can be boring. I think the key is identifying what the readers' expectations of a particular trope are going to be, and then asking 'what if' questions to unsettle those expectations. What if the prophecy was a lie? What if the wicked stepmother makes a better ruler than the indulgent king? What if what you thought was going to be the solution turned out to be the cause of the problem? That sort of thing. Knowing what's feeling stale right now and what might be a fresh take is critical here, and you only really get that by reading a lot in your genre.

But ultimately, sometimes there are just tropes that you love and you're happy to embrace. Then you just have to identify what it is that you enjoy about it and, using that core principle, try to give it your own voice.

I hope you enjoy the book!

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