My regular readers know that I’ve been writing a new book for the last several months. Well, it’s time to announce what that’s all about. The book is titled Tropes: A Quick Reference Guide is and designed to help writers, authors, and other creatives. As an author I often use tropes in my work. But sometimes I come across a trope name that I don’t recognize, or I’m at a loss for thinking what to do with a character or story.
When I was writing my first book, I looked through different tropes and found that most were listed only by genre or categorized in a way the limited what I wanted to do with the trope. Being me, I wondered why? Why can’t there be a surprise pregnancy in a horror novel? Why can’t I write an chosen one into a romance?
So I started a spreadsheet of all the tropes I could find, with a brief definition. I didn’t limit them to a genre or theme. Instead I sorted them alphabetically and the result is Tropes: A Quick Reference Guide. Designed like a dictionary, the tropes are listed without any suggestion as to how to use them. This gives anyone from Game Masters to Writers, Authors to Storytellers, the ability to mix and match the tropes that work for their stories without limiting their creativity. The guide could also be used by writing teachers or tutor who want to explore tropes or challenge their students on the art of subverting tropes.
Tropes: A Quick Reference Guide is currently in the final stages of editing and cover design. It will be published in March as both and e-book and a paperback. If there is enough interest, I will also publish a hardcover version.
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