trope
Recycled story element
A trope is a recurring device, motif, or convention in storytelling or rhetoric.
The term originally meant a figure of speech, but now usually refers to familiar patterns in fiction: the chosen one, the love triangle, the final girl in horror films.
Tropes aren't inherently bad—they're the building blocks of genre—but tropey suggests overreliance on clichés.
Implied identity comparison
- imageryVivid descriptive language
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
- metonymySubstituting associated name
synecdoche · irony · personification · analogy · conceit · figuration
One admired for courage
- mentorTrusted wisdom-giving advisor
- questSeeking journey for something
- journeyTravel from place to place
- transformationThorough change in form
shadow · trickster · villain · sidekick · antihero · sage · outlaw · orphan
Motivator irrelevant in itself
- foreshadowingHinting at later events
- cliffhangerSuspenseful unresolved ending
- flashbackInvoluntary past memory
- fourth-wallConceptual stage boundary
callback · subversion · lampshade · deconstruction · genre-savvy · inverted · subverted · justified
Repeatedly assigned similar roles
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
- generalizationDeriving principles from examples
- one-dimensionalWithout depth or complexity
- cardboardRigid paper for containers
cookie-cutter · token · pigeonhole · oversimplified · reductive · two-dimensional
Overused and unoriginal
- overusedEmployed too frequently
- tiredLacking energy, needing rest
- worn-outDepleted through overuse
- predictableAble to be foreseen
derivative · formulaic · stale · unoriginal · recycled · stock · boilerplate · cookie-cutter
metaphor
Implied identity comparison
- imageryVivid descriptive language
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
metonymy · synecdoche · irony · personification · analogy · conceit · figuration
hero
One admired for courage
- mentorTrusted wisdom-giving advisor
- questSeeking journey for something
- journeyTravel from place to place
transformation · shadow · trickster · villain · sidekick · antihero · sage · outlaw · orphan · everyman
MacGuffin
Motivator irrelevant in itself
- foreshadowingHinting at later events
- cliffhangerSuspenseful unresolved ending
- flashbackInvoluntary past memory
fourth-wall · callback · subversion · lampshade · deconstruction · genre-savvy · inverted · subverted · justified · reconstruction
typecast
Repeatedly assigned similar roles
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
- generalizationDeriving principles from examples
- one-dimensionalWithout depth or complexity
cardboard · cookie-cutter · token · pigeonhole · oversimplified · reductive · two-dimensional
hackneyed
Overused and unoriginal
predictable · derivative · formulaic · stale · unoriginal · recycled · stock · boilerplate · cookie-cutter · paint-by-numbers
- fanspeakOTP, ship, fic, fanfic, fanfiction
- literary elementsplot, character, setting, theme, narrator
- clichescliche, platitude, bromide, tired phrase, worn phrase
- fiction writingfiction, novels, plot, chapters, character
- film termsfilm, auteur, genre, celluloid, mise-en-scene
- Greek wordsalpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon
tropeinnovation
Creating something original
novelty · originality · subversion · fresh take · deconstruction
- tropical islandWarm-climate landmass surrounded by ocean
- tropical fruitWarm-region edible plant product
- tropical beachWarm coastal sandy area
- tropical stormOrganized oceanic wind system
- tropical rainfallPrecipitation in hot regions
- tropical paradiseIdyllic warm coastal locale
tropical, tropic, entropy, tropes, tropism, heliotrope, atrophic, hypertrophic, entropic