A lot of modern storytellers, critics, and reviewer types lament these things called tropes, literary and rhetorical devices which appear frequently enough to be recognizable. The same goes for archetypes, characters of certain frequencies types (wise old granny, etc). Thread:
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Humans need familiar touchstones to feel immersed in a story without having to constantly pause and remember new facts. But how much familiarity? Too much and we become bored. More than that: Not enough depth creates lack of motivation to learn.
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The lesson here for authors is there’s a long spectrum running from shallow archetypes & tropes to abrasively avant garde. The key ingredient: Depth. You start with an archetype. What’s under the surface? What human experiences made them into that archetype? How will they grow?
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Dynamic characters who have a reason to be their archetype and eventually grow beyond their archetype are absolutely adored. Harry Potter is a classic example of a sad orphan abused by unloving people. An archetype. Gandalf is an archetype. Ned Stark. Superman. Then a twist.
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This is where so many creators go wrong. They twist too far and make the character alien and unrelatable. Or they don’t twist far enough and the character feels flat and stale. The twist should either arise from their backstory for being the archetype or should interplay with it
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Harry’s twist is that he’s a wizard. This arises from the reason he’s an unloved orphan archetype abused by a cruel system. It also interacts with that backstory by shaping what kind of man he becomes as he makes choices on morality.
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The best characters do both because the twist forces them to confront their past and mindfully shape their future. And this is why we really need that familiarity. Because the story needs to ring true, and that means we need to know what we believe the character SHOULD do.
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Consistent cries of “It doesn’t make sense that the character did that” arise from too much alienation in the familiarity window. People can predict what should happen for that archetype. They WANT to see it fulfilled. Like a destiny. It’s satisfying.
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So in summation, if you want to appeal to a wide audience: Mind the opposing pull between familiar and new. Provide a familiar entry for your audience. Twist in such a way it makes sense for past and future. Provide dynamic depth without alienating.
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End of conversation
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So many current sci-fi novels spend so much time with boring world-building that they forget to tell a story. They’re too busy trying to be “unique”
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