A Writer's Tropes?

 Tropes are a thing at the moment - grumpy/sunshine, only one bed, fake fiance - you know the list. Writers do their best to fulfil readers' expectations in respect of these themes - but it occurred to me the other day that there are a few things that you might call writer's tropes - ideas that form a backbone or scaffolding for creating a story. I've started a list;

Who's the Daddy? 

Paternity issues often loom large - the mystery of an absent unknown father; children who are not the actual offspring of the person they though they were, opening all sorts of cans of worms, and catnip for an author; late discovery of paternal responsibility - I rather like that one, when the hapless unwitting dad find himself suddenly in charge of a child if something has happened to the mother.  

Return to Sender

Letters. We've spoken about these before. One of the big backbones. Everyone knows my dislike of the letter that is read but it's contents not disclosed to the reader - that one gets the book aimed straight at the wall. I'm uneasy too of the letter that is put away that would have ended the book right there if it had been opened. There had better  be a good reason for that, but I am OK if there is a good reason. And, as we know, a letter is often the only way the past can 'talk'  to the present. And that bundle of old love notes, tied with ribbon and scented with lavender ...

Fish out of water

This one sometimes features as a reader trope too. moving a character out of their comfort zone - from city to small town. to a new country, from rags to riches, or the other way around - a good start point for a novel working with the character to cope with a whole new world - and one that the reader might well identify with.

Violence  

The shock factor. A requirement for most crime and thriller stories, presented in different ways of course, but also an element of other kinds of story - a romance can begin with a violent act or event that has tragic consequences that kick start the story. Not just the body in the Library, although that is more or less a given for cosy crime. A fatal plane, car or train crash, a suicide, an unexpected death, even if a natural one, all with life changing implications for other people surrounding the person who dies.

There are probably many more, and I'll add them if I think of them. The big thing is that they are a pivot  - an agent for change - a place where a story starts or moves to a new track.

 And that's where it gets interesting ...