Day 18: Mystery Tropes

Photo by Andrea Caramello on Unsplash

Do you ever watch a movie or show or read a book and go, “Agh. Not the twin. There was a twin? The twin is the murderer. That was so done before!”?

And then you realize that not only has it been done before, but it’s been done before about 25 million times?

That is a trope.

For a more academic definition and a kinder one, Robert Lee Brewer for Writers Digest explains:

“While some resources say tropes can be basically any form of figurative language, including metaphors and oxymorons, I think most people use the term to refer to common plot devices within various genres of writing. For instance, a popular trope in romance fiction is bringing together two people who despise each other and making them fall in love. Other tropes that litter literature include the story involving an orphaned child who has great powers or the roguish character who's a reluctant hero.

“Tropes are sometimes given a bad name, because they can be mistaken for a cliche. However, tropes are important building blocks of storytelling, especially in genre fiction, because they help set and/or fulfill expectations readers have. People want happy endings in romances and dead bodies in murder mysteries, right? Of course they do.”

Mysteries are delicious in their tropes and it’s part of the fun. It’s not always about twins either, one trope often used is that of the incompetent police.

The police just don’t get it right so the mystery sleuth is on the scene.

The cool thing about understanding and using tropes is that it helps you, the writer, create plot and structure to your novel.

Below the jump, I talk about a couple common tropes, give a writing exercise about tropes, a place to submit and a bonus bunch of writing prompts.