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7 Annoying and Repeating Story Tropes & Go-tos

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Some tropes, scenes, and character reactions are so prevalent in TV series, movies, and novels that they transcend genres.

They are everywhere, and I’m not sure anyone likes them or needs them.

These are not complete deal-breakers. If the thing you are watching or reading is satisfactory in other ways, you can let this go. But it’s tiresome to see them over and over again.

Read on and see if you agree.

– Characters who say “Speak English” to the tech geek; The Geek that babbles on forever

I first met my babbling geek in Marshall in the JJ Abrams hit Alias. That is my favorite show of all time (at least when we speak of the first 3 seasons), and I love that show with all my heart.

And because Marshall is my first babbling geek, I was fine watching him.

You know how the scene goes. Usually appearing in stories with sci-fi elements or action genres with spies using tons of gadgets, there is this brilliant geek. He/she is super nice and friendly. He talks more than you and your best friends combined, and he gives way too many details and uses so much jargon that he’s often told to speak English and/or cut it short.

For once, I want to see a well-adjusted, jargon-free geek who is not that excited about the gadgets. Like, where is this person? Please recommend me the fiction with this kind of geek.

Iron Man sort of side-steps this because he is also a handsome rich playboy, but he and Bruce Banner are in heaven together in Avengers: two handsome geeks geeking away and potentially boring the hell out of Thor, Captain America, and other non-techy folk.

Actually, more than the geek geeking out, my problem is the character who tells them to speak English.

We get it. You are cool. You don’t have time. You don’t care about the process. Maybe use another line next time.

– Feeling something intense? The Character throws up.

Has your character got anxiety? Stress? Disgust?

Have they drunk too much?

Or maybe you just want to make the audience laugh.

Great, but please don’t make your character shit their pants for comedy.

And please don’t make your character throw up for every time something major happens.

Seen dead bodies? Had a major traumatic moment? Got seasick? Got too drunk? Food poisoning?

I mean granted, I’ll give you food poisoning and too much alcohol, but you don’t have to show the contents of the stomach to me. The sound is enough.

I have gastritis. I have felt sick in the stomach too many times, and I’ve been hospitalized due to food poisoning. I have a sensitive stomach, folks.

Now, I am not that sensitive an audience.

I’ll watch murder mysteries and serial killer thrillers for breakfast, but please, stop making your characters throw up.

And if they have to, can you please just give the sound and avoid the visuals spilling out?

In case my advice has you feeling blocked, here are some other things that happen to your body when you are anxious/afraid/disgusted/hungover:

– lack of appetite/ too much appetite

– migraine/headache

– lack of sleep/insomnia/sleep full of nightmares and unintended breaks

– depression

– anger

-withdrawal from the world

– frequent colds (because your immune system gets weaker)

– breaking out in pimples/hives/cold sores

The human body does more than throw up as an intense reaction, is all I’m saying.

Also, how is everyone super fine after throwing up? But that’s another thing entirely.

– Tough guy/gal who strips off the IV and checks out of the hospital before the doctor drops by.

Ah yes. Who needs doctors and meds when (checks her notes) you were admitted to a hospital after a major trauma/accident/attack/fall?

The next scene usually is the character falling down/fainting or going about his/her way as if nothing happened two minutes ago, and is tougher and stronger than ever. In a Mission Impossible movie, I will allow it because we accept the masks. What is a little hospital escape?

But if you are putting this character behavior in the story, give me a person who at least acknowledges this is stupid. Or maybe tell us doing this is the only option:

Maybe they can’t afford the treatment, or maybe someone is coming to the hospital to murder them. Then by all means. Escape to survive.

But don’t do it just to make your character look though. If they have full medical insurance, supporting family nearby and they are fairly intelligent folk, this move makes them look horrible. Not cool, brave or tough.

– Character says “Hello?” to a potential intruder/murderer/creep/psycho

Ah, yes. The inexplicable urge of thriller movie/TV characters to greet their murderers. How quaint.

Come on! Why would you anyone do this? The answer from the other person is never going to be. “Oh, I’m here to kidnap you. I’m answering so that you definitely know where I am and you can get a better chance to run.”

Eye roll.

There are a billion things an anxious/scared/suspicious character can do and say if they suspect someone is where they shouldn’t be.

Sending greetings isn’t one of them.

And while there are necessary cliches in all genres, shouting hello to villains doesn’t qualify as such.

– Character 1 has a secret and wants to spill it. Character 2 doesn’t let them speak on numerous occasions. Character 2  gets pissed when they find out and say “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Another huge pet peeve of mine.

Characters with secrets are good story fodder. They cause wonderfully complicated conflicts. They threaten happy endings.

What’s not great, however, is the handling of the secret this way.

Here’s the situation as you read in the potentially too long subheading:

Character 1 has a secret. They want to come clean. But for some reason, character 2 doesn’t let them. Either they are too worried or too happy or too horny.

Character 1 is stopped a few times. And then when they finally get the chance to fess up or the secret comes out another way, character 2 is upset. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Maybe because you never let them?

The revelation of a secret will always create conflict, but maybe we can handle it without the character 2 getting in the way of it too many times?

Because often, character 2 gets also upset the secret has been kept from them for too long when they’ve actively contributed to the length of the time the secret has been kept.

Not a huge deal, but maybe don’t make the secret-learner annoying.

– The character who never learns. Never. Ever. Ever.

One of my favorite crime thriller dramas now has fans fast-forwarding scenes with the female protagonist because she is a gold-medalist at never learning.

Now, if this was real life, her consequences would probably be not that big. We all make mistakes and we keep making them, especially the small ones. Because let’s be honest,  it is hard to change.

It’s hard to go against our own nature. And in the grand scheme of things, you can forgive yourself because how much does it really affect you when you constantly give in to something like bedtime revenge procrastination?

Here’s what’s happens during my revenge bedtime procrastination:

– I look at cute animals and funny memes.

– I receive the news from funny people like Trevor Noah so I’m informed but not depressed.

– I rewatch favorite scenes from films and TV series. And while they entertain me, they also make me a better writer.

– My dreams are super vivid and entertaining, with a more or less logical plot.

So yeah, my quality of sleep is affected a bit, but in the grand scheme of things, I am fine. Because, and I can’t stress this enough, I don’t live in a horror movie or a thriller.

Back to this crime drama/thriller character that I referred to: She has been driving us crazy because she constantly puts herself in mortal danger, risks her career and those she loves, screws up relationships and then gets super sad and upset.

Then all you can do is mentally do the disappointed sports fan meme.

It’s hard to root for, like, and emphasize with a character when everything is her fault and she damn well knows it.

This is one of the reasons I might not return to the show for its second season, even though I was one of its biggest fans for a while.

This is one example, but I can bet you can think of many characters like this. They create their own hell. They are not irrational or stupid once or twice. They are like this all the time.

How many characters, books, shows, and movies have you given up on because of this kind of character?

It’s one big annoying loop. Don’t do this to your characters, or your audience.

When the stakes are everything, let them learn. Let them get a little smarter.

Yes, characters shouldn’t be perfect. But their flaws should know some bounds.

– The character is smart only because everyone else is stupid, naïve, or both.

Smart characters are awesome. They are always up to something interesting. They fascinate, inform and entertain. But before you write your smart character, check if they are really smart.

Because sometimes a character’s “clever” ideas and plans are only working because other people are just too naïve or stupid. Then this just alienates the audience.

Of course, there are exceptions. But if your story is set in a cutthroat world, the people at the top didn’t get there by being idiots. Maybe one was super lucky or privileged, but it can’t be all the characters. And let’s face it, even if you are lucky and/or privileged, staying at the top takes effort and brains.

Twists are wonderful. So are evil villains.

But it really is more fun if the smart character is truly smart, and is not getting away with murder because everyone else doesn’t have a working brain cell between them.

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So far, these are the tropes that I see often that make the stories fail or live up to their standards. Or at the very least, they give out a Deja Vu vibe so strong that the viewer & reader starts fantasizing what would happen if they got a penny every time they saw the same thing…

Do you agree with these? What are the most annoying and repetitive tropes and other things for you?

Interview with Author Carrie Lowrence: Author of Someone to Catch My Teardrops

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My good friend, poet and author Carrie Lowrence has just released her clean romance novel Someone to Catch My TearDrops, so of course, I interviewed her about her book and all things writing. Over to Carrie…

  1. Can you tell us how you started writing?

I started writing as a child. I lived on a highway in Pennsylvania and even though I saw my friends it wasn’t like I saw them all the time, like I would if  I lived in town. I would spend many days writing stories.

  1. When did you know you had to be a writer? 

I’ve known I wanted to be a writer since I was nine years old. That is when I really started writing a lot and knew that this is what I wanted to do as a career when I grew up. It’s the only thing I feel alive doing.

  1. What genres do you write in and why? 

I write in the genres of poetry, children, and romance. I started my author journey publishing poetry because that is what I wrote the most of at the time. Then I shifted to children’s books and wrote two of those while working in daycare because I was inspired by my kids. I love writing for kids and watching my story come to life through illustration. It is such a cool process.

I recently decided that I needed to stop genre-hopping and choose a lane to stick to. As cliché as it may sound I chose romance. Yes, I know, isn’t that what everyone wants to write? For me, I chose romance because the stories I have for my upcoming series won’t let me go. I have to write them, it’s like breathing to me.

  1. How do you find inspiration for your stories and poems?

I find my inspiration from life, people I know or have known. Situations I have been in or others have. Plus a good dose of fiction, of course. 🙂

  1. Can you tell us about your latest release?

Someone To Catch My Teardrops is the first book in my Steele Family Saga series. It’s about a country music singer who loses it all and has to claw his way back into the spotlight.

Grantland Steele is the first-born son of Sterling and Haven Steele. He is on top of the world until a personal tragedy hits him hard and he loses it all-his recording contract, his staff, and his career is put on hold indefinitely.

The same night, McRae Torrinson suffers a loss of her own. McRae has loved Grantland for years but he never knew she existed. Both are back in their small hometown and have to figure out what their next steps are.

McRae takes a job working at the local grocery store but it’s not enough. Desperate to make ends meet, she signs on as a personal chef for a local family.  Little does she know that her new employer is none other than Grantland Steele..her college crush. Can these two lost souls heal each other’s hearts, and finally find love…

Well, you’ll have to read the book and find out. 😉

I enjoyed writing Grantland and McRae’s story. I hope that others will enjoy it as well.

  1. What do you consider the best part of having a writing career? And what do you dislike about this profession?

The best part of having a writing career, especially an indie writing career, is that you are on your own timeline and you have control over everything. You call the shots, I love that.

I dislike editing, it’s a bear. Even with software, it can be so tedious and time-consuming but is a necessary evil. I also don’t like having to do everything. It can get exhausting when you have to write, keep up on your social media, market, come up with your social media calendar, etc. But still, I wouldn’t trade writing for anything.

  1. Do you have a writing routine?

This is something I need to work on.  I don’t have a writing routine. I need to find the balance between getting up early to write before I go to work but not getting up so early that I’m tired all day.

I recently read a book called The Miracle Morning For Writers and it was an awesome book. I’m going to put what I learned into practice. Things like getting up an hour earlier, having some quiet time, reading books on writing, etc. If you are a writer and haven’t read this book, you need to.

  1. Do you have a marketing routine?

No, marketing is another beast I’m trying to tame. I try to schedule all my graphics on social media ahead of time so all I have to do is manually upload my videos. I also try to plan my social media calendar in advance. I usually post three times a week.

This will be my first “official” book launch so it will be a learning process for me but I’m trying. The thing is, this author stuff is a constant journey of learning and most things are fixable, thank God.

  1. What wisdom would you like to impart on writers who are only just beginning?

Just start. Don’t worry about being perfect. The thing is, you are going to make mistakes, this is just part of it.

Learn all you can about writing and publishing and marketing, it’s the only way you will grow. Also, there are a “ton’ of publishing experts and gurus out there. Do your research and choose no more than three that you listen to. Make sure you resonate with them and that they are living the life that you want to live.

Connect with other writers, this is so, so important. Writing can be a solitary activity but we need community and you will need other writers. We are a different breed and not everyone understands us. You are going to need that support to ask questions, laugh with, and cry with.

  1. Where can we find you on the web?

Instagram: @carrielowrance

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarrieLowranceBooks

Website: www.carrielowrance.com

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You can check out Someone to Catch My Teardrops on Amazon.

 

How to Know If Having An Accountability Partner Will Work for Your Writing Goals

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First things first: What’s an accountability partner?

Chances are you know exactly what this term means, but let’s define it anyway.

An accountability partner is someone who holds you accountable for reaching your goals.

Do you want to publish 2 novels this year? Do you intend to write 1000 words every day? Do you need to send 50 pitches every day? Or maybe, you have a problem with marketing, and your need someone to help you on the right track.

Whatever you need to accomplish in your writing (or non-writing life), an accountability partner might help you reach those goals.

Why did I say might?

Because not everyone needs an accountability partner. And not everyone will benefit from an accountability partner.

Could you benefit from an accountability partner?

To determine this, you need to examine your personality type when it comes to habits. And as it’s my favorite book on habits, I’ll refer to Gretchen Rubin’s book Better Than Before (aff.link) again.

Maybe my favorite book ever on habits, Rubin’s book takes personality into account.

In the book, Gretchen talks about four types of personality: Upholder, Obliger, Questioner, and Rebel.

Upholders tend to meet both inner and outer expectations while obligers are more likely to meet outer expectations. Questioners will question whether something is necessary and useful, while Rebels will resist both inner and outer expectations.

How do you know which group you belong to? It’s easy. Do you set goals for yourself and then stick to them without much friction and don’t need an outside party to check on you? You’re an Upholder. An accountability partner might work for you, but there is a chance you won’t need one.

If you are someone who only meets let’s say fitness goals under the watchful eye of a trainer or the insistence of a friend, then you are an Obliger, and you’ll most definitely benefit from an accountability partner.

Questioners will need to be persuaded about the need for an accountability partner, so if you are constantly questioning things, you might do better with a trial run. See if this works for you.

Rebels…well, rebels will fight you and themselves on all expectations, so an accountability partner might not work.

I’m a Rebel/Questioner. Most people fall into more than one category, and your type can change depending on the subject matter at hand.

Do I have an accountability partner? Well, yes and no. I have close writer friends and we constantly check up on each other. It’s not however about keeping each other accountable, but rather feeling motivated, inspired, seen, and understood.

One of my closest writer friends is Olga Mecking, the author of Niksen: Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing Nothing (aff.link). Olga is a successful freelance writer, journalist, author, and novelist. She is also married with three kids, lives in the Netherlands as an expat, and has several health issues.

So we celebrate each other on successes and productive days, while also helping one another embrace the not-so-productive ones.

Some days are just 0-word days and it is okay. Some days are 500- word days and a few are 5,000. Having someone always asking me about daily word counts would just give me anxiety, and that just doesn’t work.

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For more and better information on these personality types and how to form and keep the habits you want, I strongly recommend you read Rubin’s Better Than Before. She also wrote a whole book on these personality types alone: The Four Tendencies.

 

Do you have what it takes to be an accountability partner?

I honestly believe anyone can be an accountability partner, as long as you are both clear on what to expect from each other, and how to deliver it.

But I suspect a Rebel and an Upholder would probably not be a match made in heaven, though you’d have to test this yourself.

The takeaway  

– Not everyone needs an accountability partner.

– You can and should define the relationship with your accountability partner, should you decide to have fun.

– Having writer friends you talk to regularly about anything and everything can work much better for you than simply having someone checking up on your goals.

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What about you? Do you have an accountability partner? What strategies and tips do you have for accomplishing your goals?

 

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How to Write Newsletter Subject Lines

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I don’t have an insanely big email list. I am not an expert on making the most sales through an email list.

But I’m subscribed to many newsletters. And I’m good at empathy, recognizing reader behavior, ignoring, and unsubscribing.

I’m pretty sure no one has unsubscribed from my list because I bombard them with too frequent newsletters, which is the number one reason I hit unsubscribe.

I love reading about newsletters: How to get subscribers, how to make sales, how to turn your readers into fans, how to write subject lines…

But you see, some of the newsletter experts (or at least people we follow because they have exponentially more people on their lists than we do) aren’t as good as creating intriguing subject lines as they think.

Here are some actual newsletter subject lines that made me delete the email with a shrug:

  • “My mission.”

I’m sure it is super meaningful and helpful to others, but the subject line doesn’t help me at all.

  • “Can you join us for this?”

What is “this?”

I have no idea. I know it is about writing/writers/books, but it is too vague. Even John Grisham can’t make me open such vagueness. And Grisham is my favorite author.

I’d like to think if he was signing books all over in Europe in person, he (or more likely his team) would add this to the subject line.

Even if he didn’t, you can bet my country would let me know, so I have no reason to open that newsletter. And this is an author whose books I buy with a spring in my step.

Two more examples of emails I didn’t open:

  • “It’s Here!”
  • “What happened was…”

What is here? As much as I willingly subscribed to the email list, I don’t have the brain space to remember what the previous email was about.

Yes, I don’t remember the subject lines or the project names of John Grisham’s emails either.

 

Actual Email Subject Lines That Made Me Open

Now that we covered what doesn’t work, let’s focus on what works.

  • “Sell books on Social Media.”

It’s not original or funny. But it touches a pain point and tells me what it is about. I’m there for it!

  • “Book Marketing Strategies to Improve Your Website Performance”

Tell me more!

  • “From social worker to sleeping in Tom Hanks’ bed.”

Ok, this one is super interesting and original. But also, this is from a travel writer I follow. So it is still very much on-topic. Lindy Alexander writes super useful and engaging emails and blog posts if you want to check her out.

  • “Blurbs and Books Readers Crave.”

OK, this is from Bryan Cohen, and I do like his copywriting and webinars. I even hired his company to rewrite my blurb and ad copy, and I was happy with the result. But from an originality/excitement standpoint, it is pretty ordinary. One well-selected verb, and the rest just describes what’s in it for you in simple terms. Great!

  • “Most Used Norwegian Words”

I’m learning Norwegian, and courses are expensive. So I’m trying to get to a certain level so that I can get the most out of courses, and I appreciate free, useful resources. Most used words? Yeah, sign me up! You bet I opened the email and I’m keeping it.

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There you have it. Email subject line swipe files and power words are great. But at the end of the day, if you are in doubt, get back to the basics.

3 Tips to Get Your Newsletter Emails Opened

  • Don’t be vague.
  • Be concise. Say what you need to in as few words as possible. But if a few don’t get your message across, add some more.
  • Descriptive beats exciting, creative, funny or intriguing.

It’s awesome if you can be concise, descriptive, creative, exciting, and funny all at once of course. But if you have to choose, descriptive has the highest priority.

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And if you need more tips on how to write newsletters that work, read this: Newsletter Writing 101: The Dos and Don’ts

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What about you? What makes you open emails?

 

 

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