10 Overdone Fantasy Tropes (That Literary Agents Are Tired of Seeing) | iWriterly

have you written a fantasy novel and you're wondering if your story isn't as unique as you think or maybe you're wondering if your story is unique at all in this video I break down ten over down at fantasy tropes coming up hey book nerves I'm Meg Latour I'm a writer and my debut novel the cyborg tinkerer is coming out this fall I also formerly worked at a literary agency on this episode of I read early I will be going through ten overdone fantasy tropes now keep in mind tropes are not inherently a bad thing but if your troops aren't executed in a unique way then that might be a reason why readers aren't connecting with your story or why literary agents and editors may not be requesting more pages from you now before we get into today's content hit the subscribe button and ring the bell if you haven't already here on I readily we create videos about how to be a successful modern-day author before we get into the ten overdone fantasy tropes I wanted to have a few quick definitions according to literary terms a trope is defined as follows the word trope can refer to any type of figure of speech theme image character or plot element that is used many times any kind of literary device or any example can be a trope most often the word is used to refer to tropes that are widespread such as irony metaphor juxtaposition and hyperbole or themes such as the noble savage or the reluctant hero an example of a trope as mentioned before is something like the reluctant hero so it's like a type of story situation sort of a thing a cliche is something else entirely according to a literary terms cliche is defined as a saying image or idea that has been used so much that sounds terribly uncreated using cliches is considered bad writing and speaking because they make it sound like you didn't put any thought into your words good writers and speakers try to use thoughtful and original language rather than cliches in their work literary terms gave a few interesting examples of what a line-level cliche might be and here are those diamond-in-the-rough going bananas easy as pie cold as ice don't judge a book by it's cover driving me crazy you get the idea in my research for this video one interesting thing that I found was that merriam-webster defined or rather may a comparison between clichés and stereotypes here's what they had to say cliche is today overwhelmingly encountered in reference to something hackneyed such as an overly familiar or commonplace phrase theme or expression Syrio type is most frequently now employed to refer to an often unfair and untrue belief and that many people have about all people or things with a particular characteristic in my opinion tropes can become cliche but tropes are not cliches those are usually two different things I usually think about cliches like line level things so a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel is often used to convey fear or anger whereas tropes tend to refer to storytelling conventions and that is like the reluctant hero which we talked about before with these definitions out of the way let's move to our ten over down fantasy tropes and how these tropes if not done in a unique way can lead to a rejection in the query box number one the chosen one this is the protagonist who's been chosen by destiny to go on a quest or defeat the big bad guy a few examples of this as Harry Potter Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games Tris prior from divergent and mayor Barrow from Red Queen I think the reason for it is a lot of times there's high stakes and you really want to support this character if they're the chosen one and they're the only guys who can defeat the big bad guy as a reader you want to support this character along their journey as for stakes this protagonist must take action or the entire world could be at stake that's it's like the stakes are super high in epic so maybe it's not the world it's at stake or maybe it's a community or a way of life or something like that number two is the Dark Lord when I think of this antagonist I think of someone who is doing evil for the sake of doing evil just because they feel like it they usually have no personal motivations and again they're just doing the bad things because they want to do the bad things a few examples of this are Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter oh yes he did have a little bit of a backstory but in my opinion he was just the typical Dark Lord doing evil for the sake of conquering the world another example is Sauron from Lord of the Rings the last example I'll give here is quite literally called the Dark One also called Shaytan if I'm saying that correctly from The Wheel of Time series the reason for it is that these Dark Lords make for a good guy versus bad guy story so you have the good side that you're supposed to be cheering for and then you have the bad guys that you're supposed to be against it quite literally makes you the reader want to cheer on the protagonist because they're doing their best to defeat the bad guy who's trying to destroy the world or a way of life in my opinion a Dark Lord is easier to write than an antagonist with their own motivation so like morally grey characters that are doing things that they think is good or that they think is going to help them achieve their goals whatever those goals may be versus a Dark Lord again doing evil for the sake of doing evil number three is an orphaned protagonist this is especially for kid Lee and I'm thinking like Mill gray young adults and probably younger than that for I think it's most prevalent in middle grade and young adults if you're unfamiliar with this trope it's usually at the start of the story maybe the character is doing something going about their normal day and then a big bad guy shows up at their house kills their parents and they're thrust into the story a lot of times they have magical powers or there's a magical world they didn't know about and then they move along in that sort of the inciting incident some stories it starts with a character not having parents maybe they have an aunt or uncle or some other caregiver that takes care of them but there is a reason for it and I'll get to that in just a second but the point is they start the story either without parents or shortly into the story they lose their parents know their parents are kidnapped usually the parents are killed I personally hate this trope I don't like it but there are reasons for it couple examples of this trope are Harry Potter I feel like Harry Potter is gonna hit all of these examples that I'm gonna give for overdone tropes and that's because a lot of times certain stories that get really popular make certain tropes popular and other people want to use these tropes in the same way that the popular books use these tropes another example is Frodo from Lord of the Rings his parents died Bilbo took him in then on his one hundred and 11th day they'll be left in search of the elves sorry if you guys think that's a spoiler I don't it's like the beginning of the story but the point is Frodo grew up without parents another example is MIA from never Knight I'm pretty sure the story starts off with her parents dying and then she is taken in by someone else another example is Farah from a court of thorns and roses I believe her mother is dead at the start of the series and then her father is alive but he really isn't emotionally present he might be physically in the room but he doesn't do much to help the sisters or their unfortunate circumstances the last example I'll give here is Maggie from Inkheart I really like this book and I feel like it is not talked enough about on author tube but in Encarta Maggie's mother is dead and she is just with her father who she calls moe now for the reason for this trope if a child specifically in kid led usually you're following a child protagonist going about and doing some type of adventure so if this child has parents around I mean guys I'm a mom so like if my kid was older and going off in these crazy adventures and facing dragons or whatever I would be like get your butt home no no you're too young for this I want to keep you safe so if there's parents that are around and kidlets a lot of the times they probably would try to prevent the child from going on these adventures because they want to protect their child so without the parents in place the kids could go on these epic adventures and then I'll speak in a decision-making role so they can decide what they want to do and really have a lot more agency as a character number four is the Forgotten heir I just think of this character as the person that's hidden away on a farm they don't know who they are oftentimes they are the heir to a kingdom maybe they're they have a royal lineage or maybe they have some magical powers they didn't know of and right the start of the story they're starting to discover that weird things keep happening and it's usually because their powers then usually in some capacity they are summoned to face the Dark Lord or some evil in their world or they may be the people in their well-being help for one reason or another but they don't know their history or heritage or that they're an heir to something and they're summoned from hiding examples of this are Harry Potter I guess we're all surprised by that one another example that I personally always think of and it's not a one-to-one example but it's Eragon he's not necessarily like an heir to a kingdom or have some magical powers but he becomes a dragon rider pretty quickly into the story and then that's super rare and super interesting and he had no idea about all these different things that were happening so yeah it's kind of loosey-goosey example but I always think of Eragon when I think of the Forgotten heir another example is rend al Thor from The Wheel of Time series this series starts a lot like lore the rings where a wither character comes to a farm village and there's this farm boy and weird things are happening around this farm boy and then I'm not gonna give away the thing if you guys haven't read it it's so good please someone read The Wheel of Time serious we can talk about it but basically something weird is happening and you find out Rand is really important and he's that forgotten medical person I've heard of giving things away I feel else out there number five is the wise wizard if there isn't a parental figure to guide the protagonist you bet you there's gonna be some wise figurehead around bonus points if they are a wizard often these wise wizards die at some point usually earlier on in the story this way the protagonist must make decisions later on so they're given some type of information that's necessary to move the plot the protagonist takes that information and then maybe the wizard dies and then they have to go forth have some character agency and go into the plot let's have a few examples of some wise Wizards Gandalf from Lord of the Rings zeddicus Zul Zorander from the Wizard's First Rule Miranda Madrid huh boom same it right from the Wheel of Time Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter now the reason for this trope is that so that the protagonist can be guided usually towards their destiny they don't have some type of information that they need at the front of the story maybe about the magic maybe about the world maybe about the bad guy or if they're on a quest where to go for that first quest and so this wizard comes in and gives them some essential information so that they can proceed with the plot yeah I mean usually this wizard has information that the protagonist needs to defeat the antagonist or to go on some type of quest number six is the European inspired medieval setting many fantasy novels base their settings on medieval Europe including things like monarchies the setting politics and more taverns might be frequented there might be trial by combat where people duel with swords but these are things that was probably typical in medieval European history and these medieval inspired fantasy stories there might be kings and queens who rule over territory and there's commoners and they have Knights who are in steel armor to do their bidding two easy examples of this are a Song of Ice and Fire series better known as a game of Thrones and the Lord of the Rings series there are a couple reasons for this europeans namely britain conquered much of the world in our history therefore this is the history that most of us are probably taught in school and of course history books often tell the tales of the victors and not those who were conquered or lost the battle there's a second reason for this as well according to a 2018 United States Census Bureau survey 76.5% Americans are white that means the majority of Americans probably have some type of European background so it's probably the heritage that they know the best maybe their parents told them stories or maybe they were brought up on certain fairy tales or different stories but again if these people are all white and they have some type of European heritage it's most likely that they know these stories the best and therefore might be inspired to have some type of European inspired setting because that's the thing that they know the best I do want to point out though that the majority of the world nests isn't necessarily white it's just in the state and of course here and I write let me talk about the United States book publishing industry so depending on where you're from this might be totally different but again this is just for the state's personally I've read so many European inspired medieval settings and I do love it because you have that familiar feeling when you read a story with things that you've read so many times before but at the same time actually like myself and met to the industry we're sick of it please please array something different number seven is the black and white morality this is the good guys versus bad guys story versus things like morally gray characters and I'm gonna get two examples in a second but when I think of morally gray characters you betcha I think of Game of Thrones there's so many characters that do things and you're like are you a bad guy are you a good guy I can see your motivations and why you're doing the things that you're doing it's not necessarily a good thing what you're doing but I get what you're doing it so when I think of morally great characters I think of Game of Thrones but this trope the whole black and white morality kind of goes hand-in-hand with the Dark Lord trope this is usually because the Dark Lord is out to kill the world or conquer it or defeat people or whatever or do evil just for the sake of doing evil meanwhile the protagonist is driven by good and they want to defeat the Dark Lord in the name of good maybe the protagonist wants to fight for freedom or justice or whatever couple easy examples of this one are Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter I think the reason for these black and white morality themes are so that we can easily want to cheer on the protagonist we sigh with them there as a reader we side with them very we want them to succeed that's because this protagonist is obviously in the right because they stand for justice and freedom for all people whereas the antagonist stands for darkness and conquering and subjecting people to slavery or whatever number eight is summoning an evil entity to make a contract this is when the protagonist either wants to achieve something or maybe wants to save someone they love that person could be dying or very ill so they summon an evil entity often a demon or maybe the devil and they offer to make a contract in exchange they often give up their soul or something else dear to them I have a handful of examples for this one but the first one I think of is the Vampire Diaries I didn't read the book series but I did watch the show and back when I watched it years ago something that I loved but they did this many many times so I always think of this one another one is the Mortal Instruments another example is the dreadful tale of prosper reading and a two movie examples are Ghost Rider and Sleepy Hollow number nine is the magical artifact there is an object of great power that must be kept from falling into the wrong hands it's usually an object of great power that can be manipulated to use its powers sometimes it derives the power from the person holding that object the object might not be inherently evil but it might tempt the person who has the object to do evil things that they might not necessarily have done without exposure to this object a few examples of this are the One Ring from Lord of the Rings that one is inherently evil another example is the Elder Wand from Harry Potter reason for it is just a simply a plot device it's something for the protagonists and antagonists in their you know evil forces and henchmen and the good guys to all fight over number 10 is the quest this is your protagonist going on a journey to complete a goal or task the hero I'm usually a handful of side characters go on a quest to complete a specific goal typically the goal ranges from saving the princess to defeating a villain or destroying an evil artifact or finding someone here are a few examples in Lord of the Rings Frodo and Sam must leave Hobbiton or the Shire in order to destroy the One Ring in the Wizards first rule Richard must leave his home and travel through the boundary to find a way to defeat darken Rahl in the eye of the world which is the Wheel of Time book one Rand and his friends must leave their village their farming town in order to get to the White Tower for various reasons that I won't give away because spoilers as for the reasons for this it's just a type of story and it's one that has been done many many times personally as a writer I think it's also a very easy plot structure usually at the very beginning of the story you have this person who's an heir or maybe some has some type of magical powers and they're hiding away they're not aware of it the wizard finds them or evil henchmen or evil creatures attack the protagonist and then back up shows up and they find out voila they have some magical thing or abilities and they must leave their life they'll life as they knew it the world or the way of life is at stake and this protagonist must intervene then they go on a quest usually there's at least three obstacles and then they face the antagonist that's it that's quite literally in my opinion the structure of the story and it's a very easy one to write and therefore it might be more tempting for writers to write this story because the plot structure is quite literally much more straightforward than other types of stories those are my 10 overdone fantasy tropes personally I think that these tropes are not inherently evil as I mentioned before they've just been done a buttload so if you are writing a story and you're using one of these tropes just be very careful that you are aware of what is commonplace and fantasy be reading in your age category in genre so if you write adult fantasy read a lot of adult fantasy so you know what's typical and then look at the tropes especially the books that are really popular and be like okay how can I make this story as unique as possible if it's this type of a trope and this is what the reader is going to expect kind of like a one-to-one how can I twist that so the reader doesn't get exactly what they expect and then feel disappointed by the end of the story because they're like FML is very predictable and now I will point out that predictable stories aren't inherently a bad thing just like tropes are inherently a bad thing I think a lot of readers like to have the stories that they can expect but if you're trying to snag a literary agents attention and a lot of editors in the traditional publishing industry once you have an agent it's a lot easier to catch their attention if you're doing these tropes in a super super unique way sometimes these tropes are just so out of favor I think like the chosen one is just really out of favor right now and it's 2020 when I'm recording this so you might just not get ijen attention because you've written a story that is super saturated and the market has moved on but I remember the market always comes back out of the story make it as unique as possible if you don't get an agent hold on to that book don't trash it shelve it which just means you put it aside you don't throw it away you might bring it back out later dust it off and edit it up again but if you're doing these stories in a saturated market and agents don't want them anymore it is a little bit tough luck right the next story try to be unique don't chase trends it's really hard to write a story and get an agent and then send that book to an editor before the trends have already changed and I told you guys this story before but before I wrote the cyborg tinkerer I wrote an adult fantasy that had a bunch of elemental magic and when I had written and queried that the market had kind of moved on past the elemental magic no one really wanted it anymore so it happens to all of us it's okay if you've written some of these tropes just write the next book if you're not getting any luck with agents or editors and if yourself publishing that is something else and tie thanks for tuning into this episode of I read early the ten overdone fantasy tropes if you want to support what I do join me on patreon as a patron you'll be the first to hear about book updates YouTube updates and more I currently have six different tiers with a bunch of different parts the link is and in the description below hit the like button subscribe and ring the bell so you are notified every time I upload a video if you have questions or requests for future videos please do drop them in the comments below and if you have additional tropes and things that I didn't mention today because of course there's tons more than these 10 fantasy tropes I talked about but do you have tropes that you're like I am done with these tropes I don't want to see them anymore drop them in the comments below plus your friends on social media I'm on Twitter and Instagram I also have a monthly newsletter when you subscribe you'll receive free copies of how to format your manuscript for submission which is a or document template and a querying checklist you also have first access to any information about the publication journey and status of my debut novel the cyborg tinkerer all the links are in the description below that's it for today as always keep writing [Music] you

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Keywords: writing tips, best writing advice, writing advice, fantasy trope, fantasy tropes, worst tropes in fantasy genre, fantasy, fantasy novels, fantasy books, 10 worst fantasy tropes, how to write a novel, literary agent, literary agents, agent rejection, why agents reject books, why literary agents reject books, why do books get rejected, rejections in publishing, meg latorre, iwriterly, authortube

Id: d_tay0X7mFI

Length: 22min 0sec (1320 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 11 2020