Top Ten Tuesday: Best Tropes

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Today, we’re talking tropes. In literature, a trope is an overused plot device, stock character, idea, theme, or motif. Basically, they’re anything that’s done so frequently it’s become cliché. Writing school teaches us that clichés are always bad, but are they really? I don’t think so. Here are ten tropes I’ll happily read over and over (and over and over).

Best Fiction Tropes

(And Many, Many Book Recommendations)

1. Small town, big problems

I grew up in a small town, so I understand rural places where everybody is in your business and not-so-secretly judging you. Small-town dynamics are fascinating because there are people with different values crammed into a small area. Angst is inevitable. That's what makes this trope irresistible for me. 

2. Don’t go into the woods

If I had to describe my reading aesthetic, it would be “weirdos in the wilderness.” Nothing is better than unusual people in hard-to-reach places. Bring on the survival stories, the nature writing, the Cabin-In-The-Woods horror. If there’s a forest, I’m here for it.

3. Abandoned places

Are you noticing a theme here? I like books with big settings and small casts. Abandoned places are horror movie clichés, but I don’t mind! I love them. I instantly want to know why the setting was abandoned and if it really is abandoned. Sometimes places aren’t as empty as they seem.

4. A Stranger comes to town

Life occasionally gets boring, right? It’s easy to become trapped in the same old routine. This is also true with fictional people. Sometimes you need a new character to come along and shake things up. Most of us know what it’s like to be the new kid in school, the new person in the group, or the new family in town. This trope is just plain relatable.

5. Sagas and secrets

Remember how I said I like books with small casts? Well, sometimes that’s a lie. I love books that follow a family through generations. I want to see what changes and what stays the same. Bonus points if the family is hiding scandalous secrets.

6. Amnesia

Soap operas totally ruined amnesia plotlines. Amnesia has become the trope to end all tropes. However, I love watching a character struggle to rediscover their past, especially if something bizarre happened. If an author is going to pull off an amnesia plotline, the forgotten stuff better be top-shelf weird.

7. The tragic villain

I think this trope would make a lot of people’s lists. Everyone loves a complex villain with a tragic backstory. The best bad guys are the ones who have understandable motives. It’s unsettling when you like the bad guys and are sad about their defeat. It’s not supposed to work that way! (I’m always thrilled when it works that way.)

8. Band of brothers / Found family

Don’t you love it when a squad of unrelated characters team up to do something epic? Authors seem to love it because I see this trope ALL THE TIME. I’m not complaining. I love it, too. There’s something satisfying about watching characters with diverse personalities learn to trust each other and work together (for good or for evil).

9. Parallel universes

My interest in parallel universes probably started with my Nightmare Before Christmas obsession as a child. I went through a phase where I watched that movie every single day. Yeah. Child-me needed to get a life. Since I still don’t have a life, my parallel universe obsession continues in book form. Luckily, there’s no shortage of novels about other worlds. Authors seem to enjoy parallel universes as much as I do. Maybe because alternate universes are uncanny. They’re almost the same as our world, but they’re different enough to be unsettling. That makes them fun to read about.

10. Great Depression And WWII settings

I read a lot of historical fiction. A LOT. For reasons I don’t understand, The Great Depression and WWII are extremely popular time periods for fiction. Probably because they’re dramatic and fairly recent? I don’t know, but I won’t whine about it. There are many supremely excellent books set during the 30s and 40s.

Which tropes are your favorites? Do you have any books to add to my list?