Melanie Bell

Author, Writer, Editor

Tag Archives: genre


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The Joy of Playing with Tropes

A friendly dragon

This month, I had a very short dragon story published in Contrary, one of my biggest literary bylines. I love dragon stories. I used to think they weren’t “serious literature,” and when I submitted for awards, I’d send pieces about death set in the “real world.” Meanwhile, I’d write secret stories about magical creatures and realms. I’ve since learned that this separation between “serious” writing and “fun” writing is artificial and counterproductive. Life is short! Write the things you love!

Just like we crave certain foods, readers can get cravings for specific types of books (and writers might crave writing them). Sometimes you just want to read about fake dating, an intrepid sleuth, or a magic sword. Cliches? Not necessarily! Storytelling thrives on tropes, and we all have favorites. Christopher contends that there are only seven basic story plots, with others citing three or six. Within variations of these stories, motifs repeat themselves. Popular motifs can become tropes.   

Bad storytelling and stereotypical use of tropes can give them a bad name. Think of how many Disney villains have been given queer coding, with certain mannerisms being shorthand for characterizing them as as evil. And books in the same genre can sometimes draw on tropes to the point of predictability. But while some uses of tropes are actively harmful or simply tedious, tropes themselves are valuable storytelling tools. 

It’s all in the execution. As a writer, you’re telling your story. You get to make the decisions about what tropes you use, how, and why. You can use favorite tropes as inspiration, the way Yoon Ha Lee did when writing Ninefox Gambit (“I’d been nosing about the TV Tropes website, specifically my favorite pages, Moral Event Horizon, Chessmaster, and Magnificent Bastard”). If you’ve run into writer’s block, you might try using tropes as prompts and mixing them up in unexpected ways, the way Jim Butcher did in the Codex Alera series, accepting a challenge to combine Pokemon and a lost Roman legion! If you really, really want to read a story about, say, found family and flying saucers, that might be a good reason to write one.   

Here’s another important context where authors engage with tropes: when there’s a type of story that they love, but they don’t see people like themselves in stories like that. Recently publishers have been making strides towards diversifying their catalogues, with increasing attention being paid to “own voices” stories. To give two recent YA examples, you can now read a Black Cinderella story (Cinderella is Dead by Kaylynn Bayron) or a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in a contemporary Latinx context (Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera). Are there any tropes you feel compelled by but excluded from? Try writing yourself (or someone like you) in.

Tropes can comment on contemporary situations. I recently read Nevermoor, a popular middle-grade fantasy by Jessica Townsend, and found it rich in both tropes (the Gothic manor, the eccentric mentor) and uniqueness (the giant cat housekeeper, the umbrella-based public transit system). Most powerfully, the young main character, Morrigan, is brought from an unsafe country to a safe one, and pursued by police who call her “an illegal.” This pointed comment on immigration speaks to the fictional context while reflecting on real-life issues.   

Who gets to fall in love? What makes a person exceptional? What skills solve a mystery? What does horror look like? Who gets to travel to another world, and why?

That’s my challenge to you this month, writers: Play with some tropes that intrigue you! Don’t be afraid to get weird and hyper specific. And if you like, let me know what emerges.


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Finding Your (Writing) Style

Orange is not my color!

When I was first learning about the Enneagram (the personality system I teach and have written a book about), one conference presenter surprised me by handing out style questionnaires. I was a little perplexed – I’d come to learn about people’s inner worlds, not to talk about what types of clothing I preferred to wear! But her point was that people with similar personalities tend to use similar language to describe themselves, and this can be seen in how they think about their fashion choices. Style is more important, and multifaceted, than I’d given it credit for. And writing style is the same.

Learning some color and style systems recently, I’ve seen that their lessons can be applied to writing. Rather than being as superficial as I’d first imagined, they have brought about tangible transformations and solicited the type of feedback that many writers seek. Allow me to explain.

I’d started this hobby hoping to find clothes that were flattering, rather than spending money on garments that ended up sitting in the drawer because I felt like a frump whenever I walked around in them. I found out that my color season is true summer, which means that delicate cool tones with some richness suit me best. I picked out some makeup and clothes in those colors, including a white and deep pink sundress. To my shock, whenever I put that dress on, I get compliments. I’ve even had checkout clerks gasp and tell me how beautiful I was! That was certainly a first. Applying style principles such as the Kibbe system has been helpful as well. Swapping looser garments for tailored ones that suit my petite, narrow frame has led others to take me seriously rather than overlook the “tiny person.” I’ve had other clothes and styles that I liked over the years, but none of them had the same level of positive public response.

Just as color and style systems identify guiding principles for your best look, finding stylistic guiding principles for your own writing can be useful in choosing projects that tap into your strengths. Below are some questions I’ve borrowed from style and color systems that equally provide insight into writing style. (Feel free to use them the next time you’re clothes shopping, too!)

  1. Cool or warm?

Just as some skin tones favor cool colors and others are flattered by warm tones, some writers favor analytical, meditative, or descriptive prose, while others naturally tend towards action-oriented or direct styles. Where do you fall on the cool-warm continuum in your writing?

  1. What size and structure work best for you?

Just as different people look best in different shapes of clothes, different writers gravitate towards differing genres, project lengths, and structures. Not every memoirist will be happy as a science fiction writer, and not every novelists will take to poetry. In terms of word count, I’ve found it easiest to write either short, tightly crafted poetry or lengthier, full-length manuscripts. Both lengths rely strongly on inherent structure. It’s more of a challenge for me to get through the middle ground of a short story: to both create a plot and finish it concisely. What genres and project lengths are in your own comfort zone?

  1. How much detail suits you?

Similarly to length, it’s important to consider detail. Some writers love crafting intricate sentences, while others want to get to the point. Read through your old writing to get a sense of where you fall on the detail continuum. Where you put the detail is also important. Maybe you’re a writer who describes the landscape lavishly but wants to skip past the dialogue (or vice versa). Note your strengths and capitalize on them, while seeking feedback from beta or alpha readers to help fill any gaps.   

  1. What “feeling” do you convey most naturally?

Take out your old writing again and read for tone. What emotions are conveyed most strongly? Do you come off as a friendly and trustworthy teacher? Do you have readers on the edge of their seats in suspense? Identify your strengths in this area. Next time you begin a new project, think of a way to focus on the feelings and tones that you excel at conveying.   

  1. How can you make your aspirational styles work?

Out of the writers you admire, your style may bear resemblance to some of theirs and be completely different from others’. Maybe you’re a Hemingway-type who dreams of writing a magical mystery like J. K. Rowling’s. Here’s where your uniqueness really comes into play, because no matter what similarities your style may have to other wordsmiths’, no one else in the world writes quite like you. Strategize ways to write that thing you want to write your way, letting your talents shine. Take inspiration wherever you find it, and adapt it to the things you do best.

Just like with fashion, don’t be afraid to experiment with different writing styles. It’s a great way to find what works for you. Have fun discovering your most stylish writerly self!