I spent my childhood summers in Thailand. One summer, my younger brother was all excited and said our aunt was making pizza. I love Thai food, but we’d been away from the US a while and a pizza sounded pretty awesome.
Then my aunt placed a piece of toast in front of us. It had ketchup spread across it, then a slice of processed American cheese. Then she fried up a few hot dogs and placed them on top. She was so happy she’d made us an American Pizza.
>_<
Needless to say, it was not what we’d expected. We ate what she’d made but we didn’t come back for seconds or request it again.
If I were to pick up a book, and similar to the pizza, I thought it would be one thing but it turned out to be completely different, I’d be disappointed.
How do I know I’m going to get what I’m looking for if I’ve never read the book? Well, it’s not a sure thing, but for a book to be of a certain genre, it’s going to have most of the tropes common to the genre.
Do you know the tropes common to your genre? Or…what a trope actually is?
Here’s the definition from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
1 a : a word or expression used in a figurative sense : figure of speech
- b : a common or overused theme or device : cliché
I’ll take that definition a bit to the side and add that, in my mind, tropes are characteristic to a genre. They’re key to the story being what it is – a young adult novel without a young adult-aged main character isn’t young adult genre. A romance novel without a relationship or love interest isn’t a romance (happily ever after versus happily for now is open to debate). A science fiction novel without advanced technology or some mode of space travel is difficult to call sci-fi.
A chocolate chip cookie with no chocolate chips, chunks or particles does not a chocolate chip cookie make.
Having the desired tropes in your story, the keys to the genre, satisfy the reader and maybe keeps them coming back for more.
This doesn’t mean you can’t bust those boundaries! By all means, twist things and mix them up. Throw a new spin in there. Cross genres. But when you cross them, don’t exclude the tropes or mutate them beyond recognition. Find a way to incorporate the best from both genres.
And when you’re writing, notice the presence (or lack) of the key tropes for the genre. It’s a part of being able to accurately recognize what genre your story is. Those tropes can be used with skill, like a special ingredient, but they shouldn’t be overused.
A part of being a good writer is knowing your audience and what they want. Another part is knowing your genres and what makes them what they are. This way, you’re not accidentally writing a book that people stumble across and love. This way, you consistently write the kinds of stories that readers come back to as a reliable source of exactly what they’re in the mood to read. You become a go to for them, and your new releases are always on their To Be Read list.
I agree that if you are a writer with a reputation and a following in a particular genre that incorporating the genre’s norms is a sensible strategy for keeping your established readership and selling books to new readers who are fans of your genre.
I’m not sure I would agree this constitutes being a “good writer” – a commercially savvy one certainly – but surely pacing, a gripping plot, interesting characters, a little dash of “special sauce” to make your work stand out, and all the other necessary ingredients that go into creating a well-written piece of fiction are what makes a writer “good”? “Good” and commercial success don’t always go hand-in-hand…
Thanks for your thoughts. “Good” and commercial success don’t always go hand-in-hand, this is absolutely true.
Keeping the tropes in mind is a Part of being a good writer. It is by no means intended to be all-encompassing. I honestly wouldn’t try to write a single post on all the things that would constitute being a “good writer” as it’d be insanely long and, of course, I’m still learning.
Hey PJ,
To be honest my other half was more than miffed with the new James Herbert, it wasn’t what she was expecting and really peed off when it didn’t deliver what she’d come to expect.
Neither of us mind an author blasting into seperate genres or trying something new but when you’re sold a book based on a certain concept and its nothing like that, then yeah, its definitely a miffer.
Exactly.
As a reader, as well as an author, those expectations matter.
Great post, PJ. It’s a tricky world out there where an author wants to be original but I agree that as an author, you need to remember who your audience is and what they expect.
Yup. And it’s okay to explore, but be clear with your readers that this book is a horse of a different color. Set expectations.