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MaxFlorschutzAMA OP t1_iy5al6p wrote

Reply to comment by starion832000 in I am Max Florschutz, author of Science-Fiction and Fantasy, back again to celebrate the launch of my latest book, Starforge! by MaxFlorschutzAMA

The thing to remember with tropes is twofold: They're inevitable and they're just tools. A cliché is really just a trope used poorly, to put things in a very simple context. You can write a thrilling Sci-Fi Epic that is just all the classic tropes we know and love. At the same time, if you want to subvert the tropes with a "But what if—?" (something I like to do) you need to both know them and set them up.

If you attempt to write a story by avoiding all tropes, you'll just end up with a mess. The trick is to understand what the tropes are doing for your story and how to use them as the tools that they are, whether you're playing them straight or subverting them.

No story will be free of tropes, or it won't be a story and instead just a collection of words that don't really make any sense.

But I do enjoy subverting tropes. Sometimes in familiar ways, sometimes not.

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starion832000 t1_iy5tcqa wrote

Thank you for the great answer! I can see how tropes are a necessary short hand to bring the reader along for the ride.

Has there ever been a story line you had to abandon because you strayed too far from a recognizable setup?

Have you ever considered producing any of your books into audio? Have you considered who you would choose as a narrator?

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MaxFlorschutzAMA OP t1_iy5u9bx wrote

> Thank you for the great answer! I can see how tropes are a necessary short hand to bring the reader along for the ride.

You're welcome, but note that it's not just that they're necessary shorthand, but that they're fundamental structure. You want a team of characters for any reason? That's a trope. The only way not to have it is to have only one character. But that's also a trope. "Eliminating tropes" is like saying you want to build a bridge but without any atoms. It's just not feasible. Understanding tropes is akin to understanding your building materials and using them properly or in clever ways.

> Has there ever been a story line you had to abandon because you strayed too far from a recognizable setup?

In that regard, no. I've had to abandon a few because plots or characters didn't work the way I'd hoped, or not been as fun as I'd imagined. There's a whole completed manuscript on my drive that never got published because it was just too rough, and I'm not sure it'll ever be (I'll likely just take stuff from it for other stories).

> Looking through your library I can't see if you're working with a publisher. Are you freelance?

I'm Indie, yes. I prefer the freedom.

> Have you ever considered producing any of your books into audio? Have you considered who you would choose as a narrator?

This is a common question, but the answer is always "cost, cost cost." Audiobooks aren't cheap to produce, especially big ones. Someday I hope to, but until I'm selling a few thousand copies a week it's going to remain a pipe dream. As far as who I'd pick for a narrator it'd depend on the book.

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Amlethus t1_iy9t4sg wrote

This is great advice, thank you for sharing!

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