Tropes play a big role in defining a novel’s potential appeal to a chosen readership, with a menu-like rollout of definitions often used in a book’s current day marketing. 

But what happens when an author takes those tropes and turns them on their head? We asked our authors how they love to take the familiar and make it strange...

Nathan Greaves / Stars Apart

Destiny

Whether one refers to it as Destiny’s design or a Divine plan, the idea that events are pre-ordained and purposeful is an enduring trope, in real life and fiction alike. So many other concepts are wrapped up in this: the idea of soulmates, of prophecy, of chosen ones, of destiny.

Some stories subvert these ideas by having the chosen figure fail, by hiding double meanings in their prophecies, or demonstrating that fate can be cheated. Personally, though, I feel like leaning too heavily into this trope can raise uncomfortable questions about the free will and agency of characters. Do they truly have any control over their lives, or are they pawns of a plan decided long ago? Are there any real stakes if the hero was always destined to win? I find it’s sometimes better to leave these things a little mysterious, and let readers draw their own conclusions. 

Humans naturally want to form connections, want to find meaning in events, want to believe that there’s a point to it all… and rather than giving a definitive answer, I’m happy to let them wonder. In Stars Apart, one character holds to the mantra that ‘everything happens for a reason’. Another believes that her ward is destined for greatness. The antagonist justifies his actions through the belief that the future he foresees is inevitable. But whether any of these characters are correct in their conjectures is left up for debate (and the sequel). Is there a greater force at play in the world of the Seven Systems, or is believing there’s one simply how the characters cope with their insignificance in face of the universe’s vastness? 

Jonathan Maloney / Beasts of London & Lady of Brass

Prophecy and Expectations

For myself, there are two tropes that I thoroughly enjoy seeing be subverted; the first has already been touched upon, but I would like to expand on it somewhat; one of the series that truly solidified fantasy as a genre I wanted to partake in was a fantasy epic, where the cast was busy trying to fulfil a prophecy to prevent a terrible calamity coming to pass – until, at the very conclusion, someone asked the question that had never yet been considered – how did they know the prophecy was talking to them?  In the end, it was horrifically revealed that their desperate, blood soaked efforts to fulfil the prophecy had not only failed to prevent the catastrophe, but had in fact fully facilitated it coming about. In this case, they had free will, but just as I had failed to do while reading the story until that point, they had forgotten to use that very will to question. Both audience and characters were thoroughly hoodwinked, and upon re-reading the story the warning signs became so clear it made one wonder how it was missed.

Likewise, I continue to enjoy asking the question of expectations, and how they can be either reversed, rejected or altered; this is a core subversion of my own work, for in Method of the Kill, we follow a cadre of monster hunters – monsters who are, in fact, struggling to survive in a world that no longer has a space for them to exist. This has resulted in change in expectation and action, and it is that change which is a core cause of friction between the cast and the world they exist in, springing forth tragedy and empathy in those that we would otherwise fear. Part of the question asked in Method of the Kill is to ask who is more worthy of being feared – and learning that simply because something is unknown, or even dangerous, it should yet be afforded dignity.  And that power is never a dictate of righteousness.

Annika Howells / Storm Girls (forthcoming)

Magical Girl Transformation

The magical girl transformation is a crucial element of magical girl manga and anime. The plucky teen heroes will activate their enchanted device or call out their catchphrase, then they fly through the air surrounded by stars and rainbows and ribbons. Shedding their ordinary clothes, the girls transform into their beautiful battle gear, ready to take on their enemies in style. It’s a beautiful, sparkly celebration of girl power and feminine energy.

But what if it could be something more?

Girlhood and womanhood are full of transformations, from puberty to pregnancy to perimenopause*. These transformations don’t come with sparkles; they are painful, challenging, full of blood and rage even when they are ultimately empowering. But women rarely get to express that side of their experience in media. Instead, we smile through the pain and wrap our femininity up in pretty bows, safe and sanitised, so we don’t frighten anyone.

In my upcoming novel Storm Girls, the protagonist and her friends become magical girls with the power to grow bird wings. I wanted to take the magical girl transformation trope and turn it into something darker. I wondered what would it would look like if you took away the sparkles and replaced it with raw, feral body horror, more akin to a werewolf transformation. What if their magical wings didn’t appear in a flurry of glitter, but had to be forced out of their flesh as newly grown appendages? What if they had to feel every feather break through their skin like needles? What if, in order to defeat the monsters, they had to become monsters too?

Storm Girls isn’t a horror book, but I believe there is a little bit of horror in being a teenage girl. By reclaiming that pain and ugliness in their transformation, my magical girls can only grow more powerful.

*Not all women will experience these but that doesn’t make their experience as women any less valid

Margaret M. MacDonald / Path to Pandora (forthcoming)

Purity

Pure good, pure evil, pure spirits and even pure love may seem like strong story elements, but they are ultimately unrelatable. A flawless hero with nothing but shining, self-sacrificial qualities isn’t someone you want to befriend. They would just make you feel inadequate. An evil overlord whose every action causes pain, heartache and destruction, begs the question; but what’s your motivation? Even the purest of souls, often sought after for one world-saving ritual or another, have occasion to be angry or selfish. Innocence comes hand in hand with frustration and confusion about everything that is its antithesis. And love doesn’t become a wonderful, rewarding, cathartic, happy ending without some heart ache along the way.

Immersing into a fantasy world only happens when that world and its characters are believable. Pure is rarely believable. We live in a world where star athletes get the yips, where politicians argue through the grey mush of policymaking, and where every relationship that touches our hearts also has occasion to squash them.

Heroes need to falter. Antagonists need to make you wonder if they might be right. Innocence needs to be corruptible. And love is best when discovered at the end of a long, twisty road through uncertainty. Messy is relatable. Letting your worlds and the characters within be messy will draw audiences in far more than any beacon of purity.

Renee April / Her Crown of Fire & His Throne of Embers

Chosen One

I love the chosen one trope - and I love it even more when it's twisted and used to a character's advantage. Because why wouldn’t an ambitious person eye the vacated spot, dress themselves in omens, and proclaim themselves the saviour of their society? 

The communities and organisations that await their prophesied One leave themselves vulnerable to the twisted machinations of a passer-by with a healthy dose of gumption and a disguise kit. What does a good person do within the mantle of messiah? How long can they resist the siren’s call of power? And what happens if their treachery is uncovered?

And yes, I love Dune.

Gone are the days of our orphan boys on a coming of age journey with their aged mentor who passes tragically to motivate them to their final battle. Bring on the usurpers, the power-hungry, and the dangerous. They’re so much more interesting to watch…

What tropes do you enjoy seeing subverted? Let us know in the comments below!