Tropes We Love and Hate: What Makes a Story Work?

Delve into the upsides and downsides of using tropes in stories.  The Creatinuum Podcast Episode 48: Does It Click or Make You Tick?  unpacks how to use them effectively to craft standout stories.

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Tropes have the ability to add layers and depth to a story and the characters. It  keeps us hooked until the end, if used correctly, even when it’s been used and done before. So what makes a trope feel reinvented rather than repeated?

The Power of Tropes in Storytelling

Despite tropes being often reduced to tired storytelling crutches, they still exist for a reason: to support storytelling, not to dictate it. A strong and compelling story isn’t built around a trope—it uses them as tools to show character personality, deepen themes, and drive the story forward rather than the story existing for a trope to happen. 

Environmental Storytelling

An immersive setting in a fiction—mostly fantasy and science fiction, including its subgenres—prerequisite. As readers, we need to read the story believing the world is real. As storytellers, we need to make the setting vivid and alive. There have been cases where the setting itself is an essential character of the story.

Think of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, the cursed castle in Beauty and the Beast, the eerie town of Westview in WandaVision, or the deadly, mysterious town of Fromville in From. These settings are more than just a stage for the characters, they are woven into the narrative, actively affecting the characters, which keeps the plot alive and engaging.

Archetypes and Stereotypes

For lead characters to break out of tropes and become archetypes, they need a sense of agency that goes beyond fulfilling a narrative function. Their struggles and choices shape their journey, letting tropes emerge naturally rather than feeling forced.

Modern storytelling has steered away from the clear-cut good versus evil dynamic, favoring characters that think morality are mere suggestions. They don’t always make the “right” choice, but that’s exactly what makes them feel real.

Take Kuvira in The Legend of Korra, a villain with a compelling backstory, or Kaz Brekker in Six of Crows, an antihero driven by both ego and ambition. Though they fall into familiar tropes, they keep us hooked because of their depth and contradictions.

Whether it’s the underdog, the antihero, the arrogant genius, or the disgraced knight,   the most compelling characters feel human—even when they’re anything but.

Social Critiques Shaping Fiction

We’ve always been drawn toward stories that challenge power structures as they resonate within us. It took hold in YA dystopias like Suzane Collins’s The Hunger Games and Veronica Roth’s Divergent Trilogy. It eventually cultivated the “eat the rich” narrative we know today in movies like Parasite and The Platform, gaining worldwide recognition for its sharp social critique. From the satisfying downfall of an oppressive structure and the deeply felt universal frustration with inequality, it’s more than just a trope of vengeance. It’s a reminder that power imbalances aren’t abstract concepts but lived realities. 

Let the Story Guide the Tropes

The storytelling is what brings the tropes to life, arising from the natural progression of character arcs and themes. Even when using familiar patterns, stories will feel immersive, emotionally compelling, even fresh and original if the tropes are integrated thoughtfully.

Listen in full to Creatinuum Episode 48 Does It Click or Make You Tick? available on Simplecast, Spotify, Apple, and other platforms.