Tropes and why maybe I should take them as a sign. In the writers' online meeting we were talking tropes and I admitted I do not like two big ones in romance 'enemies to lovers' and 'fake dating' (if you like them, fantastic, they're just not me). I think they were horrified that I don't like them and it got me thinking, maybe this is why I don't sell as well as I probably should. I am not fond of a lot of romance tropes so I'm not likely to write them. It's even why I shied away from
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duckprintspress LGBT reading challenge on storygraph (something I was like whee new and then forgot about 2 weeks later). It's heavy on the tropes (but it looks like a great challenge and I recommend it. It's just not a me challenge but I might look at it again to see where I can slot some of my reads into)
Not following the tropes might turn off some readers. They're there for the comforting formula. Even in my fandom challenge
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unconventionalcourtship the blurb I chose did include fake dating and I'm like yep let me dance around that. I would like to think, however, that there is plenty of room for other not as tropey stuff (I just know every one of my novels has absolutely flatlined no matter how much effort went into the marketing. It has pretty much killed my desire to continue on as Jana).
How about you? What are your favorite tropes (Hurt/Comfort for me, found family)? Which ones do you write? Which ones have you subverted? How did that work? (and let's not yuck on someone's yum please). How well do you play with tropes? Apparently I play poorly with romance ones at least.
Open Calls
Tractor Beam Issue 2 Soilpunk (sci-fi involving soil) with the theme of ‘The Garden’ Caveat by me - no one is sure if the 1,200$ is split between all the authors or per story (my bet is on the former). I checked the webpage and it's weird, made by Tractor Beverages, some organic juice thing. I'm like i have a story that fits this but....
Archive of the Odd #7 stories told in the style of found footage, also known epistolary, neo-epistolary, found file, or found document fiction. Essentially, stories told in the form of other documents.
Bizarro Circus of Madness Bizarro
Neurodiversity and the More-Than-Human Neurodiversity and the More-Than-Human
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