How to Brainstorm Using Tropes

Who doesn’t love a good trope?

My friends who write romance enjoy using irresistible tropes like “there’s only one bed,” “enemies to lovers,” and “fake dating,” and I’m completely obsessed with reading them.

But have you ever thought of using tropes as a way to brainstorm?

WELL HAVE I GOT THE WEBSITE FOR YOU. But first…

Most writers will tell you there are 4 stages of writing: 

Drafting

Revising

Brainstorming 

Spiraling into a bottomless pit of self doubt 

Kidding about that last one, almost :) 

I’m now in the third stage, brainstorming. I’ve got CP’s (critique partners) reading a draft of my WIP (work in progress) and my completed book is on sub with editors. Which means I’m in a weird limbo where I’m kinda-sorta working on something, but I don’t have a project to actively work on each day. Which means it’s the perfect time to brainstorm something new. 

There are lots of ways to generate ideas, but I want to share with you another completely random and equally valuable source of inspiration.  

tvtropes.org

This website is the mecca for ideas. It’s brainstorming gold. If you’ve never used it, use this post as a guide for how to navigate the (not super user-friendly) website and hopefully come up with that next amazing idea! 

What’s the site all about?

First, some more about the website itself. Let’s start with the title. A “trope” is defined as a “commonly recurring literary and rhetorical device ,motif  or cliché in creative works.” Think of common elements you see in any genre of film: car chases in James Bond films, kisses in the rain in romances, body humor in slapstick films, etc. Tvtropes.org breaks down every imaginable trope and device in every imaginable genre. And while the site is called “tv” tropes, it doesn’t only cover TV. It pulls from almost every type of media, including film, music, games, print media, and theatre. 

All the tropes on this site could be the jumping off point for your next story. Whether you already have a few ideas and need a little inspiration to get the juices flowing, or you’re starting from a blank slate, this site can help! Now about how to navigate it. 

There are several ways to click through the site, and some of them can be kinda confusing. The best way to navigate all the tropes is by clicking on “Tropes” in the navigation bar in upper left hand side. You’ll then be brought to the main index section. I describe each of the main indexes below, plus the best way to use the search bar.

Use Comp Titles as Inspiration

Let’s say you want your WIP to be similar to an existing favorite story. For instance, if I ever decided to write a rom com, I’d want it to have the same vibes as Pride and Prejudice. What I could do is use the search bar (located in the top right) to look up that story and the tropes used in it. Pride and Prejudice (the 2005 film) yields the following results, among others: 

Cannot Spit it Out—The adorable scene at Mr. Collins' house, where Darcy makes the most incredibly awkward conversational gambits ever heard by human ears.

That Came Out Wrong—Darcy's insulting proposal to Elizabeth is fueled by a poor choice of words as he earnestly explains why he hesitated to express his feelings before his sudden proposal. 

Headbutt of Love— Where Lizzie and Darcy when they get together bump their heads lovingly at the end instead of a kiss.

Lip-Lock Sun-Block—The Big Kiss at the end is backlit by a rising sun.

Headbutt of Love is my new favorite trope I never knew existed. Has this given me a fully realized idea for a rom com complete with conflict and states? Not necessarily, but it has the potential to help me brainstorm scenes, characters, and overall *vibes* which, let’s be honest, is the best part of brainstorming! 

Have Fun With Genre

Genre refers to broad categories of books, film, or TV, like action, romance, comedy, or drama. Genres can be broad or narrowed down further into sub genre. For instance, action films include subgenres like superhero films, spy thrillers, or war films. You get the idea. Click on “Genre Tropes” in the main indexes section. If I wanted to infuse my WIP with some more silliness and laughs, I would click on “comedy tropes.” This yields hundreds of results. It can be overwhelming, but just click through at random and let your curiosity be your guide. If I go back to the “Genre” page, I see many genres I’m failure with: gothic horror, love, crime and punishment, etc. But I also see amazing genres I’d never heard of, like “Pirate Tropes.” Excuse me, what!? A whole page of tropes dedicated to pirates? Count me in! Like the “Comedy Tropes” section, this page lists all sorts of tropes for character types, plot devices, props, scenes, settings, and clothing. Some fun examples: 

Jumping down this rabbit hole is amazing if you want to have fun and mix things up with your brainstorming. Case in point: it wasn’t until I literally wrote this blog post that I thought to myself, “maybe I want to write a short story about a female space pirate!” But actually. I’m starting the Scrivener document for it now. 

Explore Media Types

“Media Tropes” breaks things down by media type i.e. “television,” vs. “theatre,” vs. “animation.” This filter is obviously helpful for those who create in a specific medium. Since I strictly write novels and short stories, I typically wouldn’t use this filter. However, there are still opportunities to find ideas in this section! For instance, you may be writing a story that features a specific medium, like if you have a protagonist who’s a photographer. When I click on “photography” under the “media tropes” section, I see tropes like “boring vacation slideshow” and “group picture ending.” Both of these could serve as meaningful scenes in a book about photography. Remember when I said this site was the mecca for ideas? I wasn’t kidding. 

Focus on Narrative Elements

This section of the index is a crucial tool for writers who want to focus on a specific aspect of their storytelling, such as characterization, dialogue, or conflict. If you struggle writing dialogue, exploring dialogue tropes could give you ideas on how to spice up and add variety to your dialogue exchanges. What I love about this section is it highlights narrative features we’re all familiar with and have been exposed to, but maybe weren’t aware of, if that makes sense. For instance, I just clicked on an unfamiliar trope, “facial dialogue.” It means “when a character is communicating not just their emotional reactions or intense feelings, but entire reams of dialogue using nothing more than their facial expressions and without saying a single word.” Now that I’ve read it, I can think of many examples where I’ve seen this trope in play. But it wasn’t something I was actively thinking about while writing my WIP. It’s a helpful reminder that I don’t need characters to say every single thing they’re feeling. It makes me wonder if there are opportunities in my WIP to work in more description, develop character through body body language, and ditch a few quotation marks. 

Topical 

The last section of the index is “Topical.” Very similar to Genre, this section describes tropes for different topics. Topics are ranging and at times surprising. I saw several topics featured in my WIP, including “anxiety,” “food,” “religion,” and “friendship.” I also saw topics my WIP doesn’t cover but could be explored in other projects, like “politics,”  “sports,” and “vampires.” The benefits of using this index are similar to those of using the Genre index. 

That’s pretty much it! You can spend minutes or hours clicking through this site, but whatever your process, I hope it yields awesome ideas for you. Have fun and happy brainstorming!