#plot arcs

[vivsinkpot]

Freytag’s Triangle: Classic Plot Structure in a Modern World

If you’ve ever studied storytelling, you’ve probably come across Freytag’s Triangle — a classic way to map out the plot of a story. But is it still relevant today? And how can you use it without feeling boxed in? Let’s dive in!

🔺 What Is Freytag’s Triangle?

Created by 19th-century German playwright Gustav Freytag, the triangle breaks down a story into five key parts:

Exposition – Introduce characters, setting, and background

Rising Action – Build conflict and tension

Climax – The story’s turning point, biggest conflict

Falling Action – Consequences of the climax unfold

Denouement/Resolution – Loose ends tie up, story concludes

This structure was originally used to analyse classic tragedies and dramas — think Shakespeare, Greek plays, or 19th-century novels.

⏳ Is It Still Relevant in Modern Storytelling?

Yes and no. Freytag’s Triangle is a useful tool, not a rulebook. Here’s why:

Why It Helps:

It gives you a clear roadmap to pacing and tension, especially if you’re new to plotting.

Many popular stories — from thrillers to romances — still loosely follow this arc because it reflects how we naturally process conflict and resolution.

It’s great for traditional narratives with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Why It Limits:

Modern stories often experiment with non-linear timelines, multiple perspectives, or open endings that don��t fit neatly into the triangle.

Some genres (literary fiction, slice-of-life, experimental) focus more on mood, character, or theme rather than a tight plot arc.

Over-relying on it can make stories feel predictable or formulaic.

🎨 Using Freytag’s Triangle Creatively

You don’t have to follow it rigidly! Here’s how to use Freytag’s Triangle in more abstract or modern ways:

Flip the triangle — Start with the climax and then explore what led there (think In medias res).

Multiple triangles — For stories with several plotlines, map out mini-arcs for each character or subplot.

Soft arcs — Instead of a big climax, focus on emotional or thematic “turning points” that aren’t as dramatic but still give a sense of movement.

Fragmented structure — Use flashbacks, unreliable narrators, or nonlinear timelines that loosely echo the triangle’s beats but aren’t bound by them.

✏️ Final Thoughts

Freytag’s Triangle is a classic storytelling compass — great for understanding structure and tension — but it’s not the only way to tell a story. Use it as a guide, a starting point, or even something to play with and subvert. Your story’s shape should fit your creative vision, not the other way around.

[ruindunburnit]

Making this a separate post, but I still deeply hate how Neferet’s takedown was handled.

( @cuttoncandyhair would love to hear what you think!)

Someone whose whole arc was "everyone failed me and so did Nyx, so I will become a better goddess than her, and all will worship me", to end up as "taking over downtown Tulsa from my swanky penthouse suite is a fine goal to have", just so an overpowered teen can defeat her without having to put in some hard graft, is quite honestly insulting to the intelligence of the characters the authors have given us, not to mention the reader.

I don't necessarily disagree that it would be Neferet’s own actions leading to her downfall, but if I may, I think it would ideally have a lot more to do with her own mounting ambitions and fatal flaws, than being nerfed by the plot out of convenience. I also think it would have been better served to demonstrate the flaws in the system that allowed her to get as far as she did -- flaws where high priestesses are so respected as to be seen as nigh infallible, where professors are expected to always agree and never be seen complaining about the high priestess.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if Neferet is an allegory for the priests who attacked children with reckless abandon, then at least show us the system that allowed her to do that! Otherwise, it would be tantamount to calling the professors we're supposed to respect and admire utterly useless for seeing nothing, saying nothing, and failing to act. And if that's the case anyway, I want to see those professors examined as flawed people! I want that flawed nature to be shown as a feature, not a bug we hand-waved away!

Back to Neferet. I know the books upped the ante by killing off the High Priestess of Vampyres, Shekinah, never mind that we the readers were given no reason to care about her other than "she's the vampyre pope and Neferet just lanced her like a damn zit", and nor are we given a reason to think she's more powerful than any other vampyre, other than her being older than most vampyres and good enough at the Voice to land her a spot with the Bene Gesserit. (That especially sucks because it wastes a fascinating character for the Big Bad's power moment). But I honestly think it would have been better to have Neferet stick to the original plan, in killing expendable professors in gradually extensive and cruel ways and blaming it on the People of Faith until she could spark a big enough uprising, eventually baiting actual People of Faith to kill a vampyre in front of witnesses. From there, she could use the media spotlight to incite that uprising into action. She would be a likely winsome face of the movement, and I don't doubt she could manipulate the Circle to be her poster kids to the same end.

(The question there is, would that narrative bring up problematic implications? Would that suggest that civil rights movements are based around hatred (in the sense that the media framed such as MLK and Malcolm X as threats to (white) peace before assassinating them), or bring up that there have indeed been bad actors and grifters manipulating the oppressed, who have used movements for human and civil rights for their own ends, or leaders for peace who have turned out to be violent (say, Aung San Suu Kyi, who led Myanmar in committing genocide against the Rohingya people)? I suppose that would lay with how that narrative was handled.)

What would undo Neferet then would be her fatal flaws, such as her ego and pride.

This isn't a new or non-canon compliant thing, I don't think. Neferet is the type of person who has such utter confidence in her ability to do anything she sets her mind to, with such inimitable conviction, that she is both unable to conceive of the slightest possibility that she might fail and unable to consider for even a moment that she could possibly be wrong in taking that path in the first place.

This is why she had the professors killed in crueler, more drawn out ways each time, by the way: as a reminder, she had Patricia Nolan beheaded and her head on a spike before nailing her to a cross, whereas Loren Blake was disemboweled first. Naturally, we can assume she meant to show that the People of Faith were more and more emboldened to attack vampyres without fear of getting caught (or the consequences if they were).

That is, were this story to stick to the original arc progression, based on her characterisation, there are two possible avenues that will lead to her getting caught:

1, As careful as she is capable of being, her egotism means that she would kill her colleagues in more and more cruel and drawn out ways -- yes, to emulate an emboldened People of Faith, but also without heed of the notion that she might get caught in the process -- until her or a lackey is caught in the act, or a victim lives long enough to tell someone who attacked them.

2, Again due to her egotism, she is so convinced of her own importance that when authorities do start investigating, it is not guilt that causes her to slip, but her paranoid certainty that such as the FBI are on her tail and looking into her every move -- because surely they would send their best after her! Now, it doesn't matter where that paranoia is coming from, it is still paranoia, and it can still make a murderer slip.

As to whether there are other factors involved that could cause that downfall, I do think she has an accomplice, and possibly one other than Loren Blake. This is based on the fact that both Loren and Patricia's murders seem to have involved wooden crucifixes (I say "seem"; the writers are a bit shaky on the canon details), and vampyre or no, there are three things I know:

- You need more than two hands to incapacitate a victim and stabilise a cross (Jesus had more than one Roman with him at Golgatha, after all).

- The Casts are fully the type to take a girl power stance in their fantasy matriarchy while also assuming that a woman alone isn't strong enough to murder anyone.

- You don't send a poet to do an assassin's job.

Next, given that the warriors didn't show up until after Patricia's murder, not least the fact that the more people you have involved in your conspiracy, the quicker it fails to remain one, there's enough reason to doubt that Neferet had Loren assist with murder 1, then brought someone in (say, a warrior) for murder 2. I personally reckon, unless there's a big piece I'm missing here, that Neferet had an accomplice, and the writers decided that this person's role no longer mattered right around the end of book 4. Which sucks.

I think the only thing that the books and I agree on is that Neferet would absolutely employ the power of a bigger divine bad in order to make herself a goddess, out of the belief that she could fully quell and manipulate whatever that bigger bad was. Why? For one, it plays into her fatal flaws (see above). The issue I have though is that Neferet would not be defeated once, then settle for a smaller domain to call her own. Again, this is not someone who thinks she can be defeated, and this is also someone who believed she could inspire all of vampyre society to take the world back; she would have taken any small defeat as a sign to aim bigger and higher. To not be goddess-like, but be *the* goddess. Nothing less would do.

By having her take herself down to smaller goals, we lost a chance to see Zoey and her friends work harder and become stronger and more skilled through their graft. Call me brainwashed from a childhood of watching Dragonball Z and Avatar: The Last Airbender, but what's the point in rooting for main characters who don't have to do much of anything for victory?

Goku is a great protagonist because he trained, he gained, and he gave *everything* in his battles, for his friends and the planet. His victories meant so much because he earned them with blood, sweat, tears, and no less than one dead Yamcha (one of his oldest friends, btw!). Frieza's defeat meant so much to us because he kept aiming higher, upping his power levels and metamorphosising to match. He didn't stop with any small defeat - he got stronger and worse. By the end of it, we wanted him *dead.* This was no longer business -- this was PERSONAL, and with the high cost, so was Goku's victory on planet Namek.

Aang was the same way: he gave nothing but his best, and he did it when Fire Lord Ozai had crowned himself the Phoenix King and had Sozin's comet boosting his own firebending, when he was at his strongest. When Aang defeated him, after all he'd lost, he didn't even need to kill him to do it -- he not only took away his bending and humiliated a fascist dictator in the process, but preserved his cultural heritage (the heritage of a genocided culture) and kept his hands clean. He won not only a physical victory, but a spiritual one, too, and you cannot help but love it.

With House of Night, there's none of that. There's no hard fought battle because it was barely fought. With no training of the heroes, no heightening in power, there's nothing to be invested in, no sense that we fought *with* Zoey and her circle, and so no reason to care. And with Neferet having to lose her own power and position before the final battle, with no thanks to Zoey's efforts, well, why did we put a 12-book series into a big(ish) bad that Buffy could have packed up in a two-episode season finale?

And that's really the moral of the story, isn't it? I love the potential of the world, but for what we have on the page, why.... should we care?

[rae-butter]

Honestly, I love it when characters relapse. When someone who’s gotten over their anger issues falls into a situation so out of their depth they fall back on their old habits. When someone who’s learned to open up becomes a recluse again in order to cope with something outside their control.

There’s just something so horrible, so toxic, about watching a character grow and then slip back into their old selves in order to cope, bc you know they still care, that they’re the same inside, but watching them hurt so hard they don’t know what else to do brings a sense of catharsis.

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

🧩 How to Outline Without Feeling Like You’re Dying

(a non-suffering writer’s guide to structure, sanity, and staying mildly hydrated)

Hey besties. Let’s talk outlines. Specifically: how to do them without crawling into the floorboards and screaming like a Victorian ghost.

If just hearing the word “outline” sends your brain into chaos-mode, welcome. You’re not broken, you’re just a writer whose process has been hijacked by Very Serious Advice™ that doesn’t fit you. You don’t need to build a military-grade beat sheet. You don’t need a sixteen-tab spreadsheet. You don’t need to suffer to be legitimate. You just need a structure that feels like it’s helping you, not haunting you.

So. Here’s how to outline your book without losing your soul (or all your serotonin).

—

🍓 1. Stop thinking of it as “outlining.” That word is cursed. Try “story sketch.” “Narrative roadmap.” “Planning soup.” Whatever gets your brain to chill out. The goal here is to understand your story, not architect it to death.

Outlining isn’t predicting everything. It’s just building a scaffold so your plot doesn't fall over mid-draft.

—

🧠 2. Find your plot skeleton. There are lots of plot structures floating around: 3-Act. Save the Cat. Hero’s Journey. Take what helps, ignore the rest.

If all else fails, try this dirt-simple one I use when my brain is mush:

Act I: What’s the problem?

Act II: Why can’t we fix it?

Act III: What finally makes us change?

Ending: What does that change cost?

You don’t need to fill in every detail. You just need to know what’s driving your character, what’s blocking them, and what choices will change them.

—

🛒 3. Make a “scene bucket list.” Before you start plotting in order, write down a list of scenes you know you want: key vibes, emotional beats, dramatic reveals, whatever.

These are your anchors. Even if you don’t know where they go yet, they’re proof your story already exists, it just needs connecting tissue.

Bonus: when you inevitably get stuck later, one of these might be the scene that pulls you back in.

—

🧩 4. Start with 5 key scenes. That’s it. Here’s a minimalist approach that won’t kill your momentum:

Opening (what sucks about their world?)

Catalyst (what throws them off course?)

Midpoint (what makes them confront themselves?)

Climax (what breaks or remakes them?)

Ending (what’s changed?)

Plot the spaces between those after you’ve nailed these. Think of it like nailing down corners of a poster before smoothing the rest.

You’re not “doing it wrong” if you start messy. A messy start is a start.

—

🔧 5. Use the outline to ask questions, not just answer them. Every section of your outline should provoke a question that the scene must answer.

Instead of: — “Chapter 5: Sarah finds a journal.”

Try: — “Chapter 5: What truth does Sarah find that complicates her next move?”

This makes your story active, not just a list of stuff that happens. Outlines aren’t just there to record, they’re tools for curiosity.

—

🪤 6. Beware of the Perfectionist Trap™. You will not get the entire plot perfect before you write. Don’t stall your momentum waiting for a divine lightning bolt of Clarity. You get clarity by writing.

Think of your outline as a map drawn in pencil, not ink. It’s allowed to evolve. It should evolve.

You’re not building a museum exhibit. You’re making a prototype.

—

🧼 7. Clean up after you start drafting. Here’s the secret: the first draft will teach you what the story’s actually about. You can go back and revise the outline to fit that. It’s not wasted work, it’s evolving scaffolding.

You don’t have to build the house before you live in it. You can live in the mess while you figure out where the kitchen goes.

—

🛟 8. If you’re a discovery writer, hybrid it. A lot of “pantsers” aren’t anti-outline, they’re just anti-stiff-outline. That’s fair.

Try using “signposts,” not full scenes:

Here’s a secret someone’s hiding.

Here’s the emotional breakdown scene.

Here’s a betrayal. Maybe not sure by who yet.

Let the plot breathe. Let the characters argue with your outline. That tension is where the fun happens.

—

🪴 TL;DR but emotionally: You don’t need a flawless outline to write a good book. You just need a loose net of ideas, a couple of emotional anchors, and the willingness to pivot when your story teaches you something new.

Outlines should support you, not suffocate you.

Let yourself try. Let it be imperfect. That’s where the good stuff lives.

Go forth and outline like a gently chaotic legend 🧃

— written with snacks in hand by Rin T. @ thewriteadviceforwriters 🍓🧠✍️

Sometimes the problem isn’t your plot. It’s your first 5 pages. Fix it here → 🖤 Free eBook: 5 Opening Pages Mistakes to Stop Making:

[starlingfawn]

through starless sky to blackest ground

[salarymanwaka]

[deikshen]

One day, Shen Qingqiu comes from the city with a little baby in his arms. He says: "His mother died during childbirth and I am taking care of him." He names the child Shen Yuan when he is old enough to give him a name, and the child grows up in Qing Jing.

Everyone, absolutely everyone, believes that Shen Qingqiu is the biological father of that child. Only have to LOOK at them both and see the resemblance: the same eyes, the same hair, the same facial structure, the same lips, even the same angry pout. Rumors - Shen Qingqiu had a child with a prostitute who died and now he is taking care of him!! - are open secrets.

Shen Qingqiu, as usual, ignores them. He cares for his little one, raising him with the closest thing other Peak Lords can call love. Impeccable robes, the best meals, the best early education. Shen Yuan grows up as a polite, gentle, kind-hearted, sweet-faced child. He frees insects before killing them, isn't afraid to dirty his robes if he must go after someone, and has an avid interest in beasts and monsters beyond comprehension. The Peak Lords jokingly think: this child has taken his father's face and surely the good heart of his mother, may she rest in peace.

When he comes of age, he doesn't even have to dig a hole to be chosen for Qing Jing Peak - everyone knows that Shen Qingqiu has already made a place for him there. However, Shen Yuan insists on doing it on his own! He wants to earn his place. The Peak Lords respect him for it, and there are various interests, but he still ends up in Qing Jing Peak.

And Shen Yuan becomes Shen Qingqiu's clear first disciple. He is a skilled scholar, excellent martial artist who is not afraid to tear someone rude with foul words, but with an almost natural disposition to be kind, sweet and gentle with those who deserve and require it.

It is then that Luo Binghe arrives at Qing Jing Peak.

The Peak Lords hear of the rumors and they spread them like pollen in spring: apparently there has been a HUGE discussion between Shen Qingqiu and his spoiled son! Something involving a child with water burns, a beating, and a woodshed. No one understands what happened, but a day later, Shen Yuan completely disappeared from the Cang Qiong Sect.

And he has taken a young disciple with him.

Shen Qingqiu begins to act as if he never had a son - as if his whole life has been all about him, hostile and unpleasant. His mood is worse than ever and his cruelty is undeniable. No one understands what has happened between father and son, but these are rumors that even if whispered, bring the very bad faces of Shen Qingqiu. And no one wants to be behind Shen Qingqiu's wrath when it is unleashed.

(Shen Yuan had transmigrated. Into a baby! Into Shen Qingqiu's son! Yes, indeed his memories had been gradually unlocked, thank god. It would have been so weird to be a baby with the mindset of an adult... And he had believed, for a long time, that perhaps Shen Qingqiu could change. That loving him and caring for him would make him better when Luo Binghe reached Cang Qiong.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

So, Shen Qingqiu can hate him for this reason if he wants! But Shen Yuan has to leave there and take Luo Binghe with him. He will teach him cultivation and do everything to make him become a powerful cultivator before his demonic seal is unleashed, he will do everything possible to prevent him from the Endless Abyss, and will prevent Shen Qingqiu from being turned into a human stick.

Probably, a single night of punishment and humiliation wasn’t enough for Luo Binghe to want revenge so hard. Actually?? He just would save the lives of all his martial uncles and his father in the process to kindly educate Luo Binghe and make him as powerful yet happy as possible. They should thank him!! He's sacrificing himself, his comforts, and his reputation to save everyone's asses!!!)

...

(Although Shang Qinghua had wanted to give Shen Qingqiu a son - a magical pollen pregnancy between Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu, which Shen Qingqiu would NEVER tell Yue Qingyuan was his child until the very last moment - for the drama and secondary revenge and angst 7/9, that had been a damn draft!!! He didn't even get to develop the background of Yue Qingyuan and Shen Jiu!!! And now that son ran away with his Protagonist!? System, what's going on!? Why do HE make sure the Endless Abyss arc be completed!? He doesn't even fucking know where the protagonist is!!! System have mercy on AND HELP!!!)

[taraxippos]

I think people tend to assume that any criticism of worldbuilding is ultimately a demand for a story to grind itself to a halt and give the reader 20 paragraphs of exposition, and like. Most of the time good-faith criticism of this nature is coming from a core aspect of the story not being grounded in the setting in a way that outright detracts from the story's quality. You fix it not by Explaining but by Showing it passively in the makeup of the world.

Like the last instance I saw this critique in was like 'you can't expect an author to stop and exposit the nuances of gender roles/Queerness in a fictional society' and it's like yeah I don't, and in fact this is actually one of the easiest things to show in the text without exposition. If a society has gender norms to begin with you'll see aspects of these norms baked into EVERYTHING. You'll see it in its stories, its religion, its taboos, its etiquette, its clothing, its family structures, its language, its insults, its labor, its leadership, etc. It will have massive impacts on how characters interact with one another and how they perceive themselves. It will help Shape your characters.

If you do this legwork to begin with for the core facets of your story, you will find very natural places for these concepts to be demonstrated without derailing the plot and with little to no exposition. THAT sort of thing is what's being asked of you.

[weepynymph]

are people seriously not understanding that the whole point of colin's arc this season is him trying to be something he's not??

like sure the brothel scenes are a little weird and jarring but like they're meant to be??? because he's not actually that into it, he's just trying to do what all the other men his age are doing so he can fit in??

the writers aren't trying to 'turn him into anthony or simon' or make him a rake because that's what we're used to - HE'S trying to turn HIMSELF into anthony or simon or basically any of the other guys who this comes naturally to; who enjoy sleeping with lots of different people somewhat emotionlessly and don't get lonely because of it (and no judgement to that it's just not him)

he literally kisses Pen ONCE and absolutely loses his mind over it because its obviously never felt like that for him before. that moment is his 'oh so that's what that's supposed to feel like' moment and that's how he knows he's in love with her its literally so good???

i understand people feel like its rushed but honestly to me it feels perfectly in character for him to discover the solution to his loneliness he's been searching for all this time and immediately dive into it headfirst. that moment right at the end of ep4 where he asks her to marry him is the most authentic colin i think we've seen all season. he's sweet and funny and playful and passionate and impulsive - he's finally stopped trying to be someone he's not and now that he knows who he is and what he wants he's all in.

[mari-lair]

AU where Gon was raised on Greed Island instead of Whale Island.

More info on it here

[tea-cat-arts]

Lin Ling's arc was about establishing what the rules of the world even were

Yang Cheng’s arc was about how malicious actors can use those rules/ others' compliance with the rules to screw people over

Cyan's arc was about how the rules aren't set in stone and that a happy ending is still possible

Liu Yuwei's arc was about how by forming genuine connections and building up a real support system, you can put yourself in a position to reforge the rules entirely

In this essay I will-

[teehee-vibes]

Hey gang. What if Indie Cross was a Dungeons and Dragons campaign?

[theabsolutebuffoon]

Noticed some similarities between my main pairings from my last 3 hyperfixations

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: The Shape of Story

by Christina Wodtke 

Start with Conflicted Characters

The character needs a goal, a motivation and a conflict.

The goal can be alien to your audience,

but the motivation must be shared by them, and

the conflict creates struggles that increase engagement.

Paint a Picture

Details transport you into the story.

The world disappears and you have a story play in your head.

Even though there are no literal pictures.

But be careful—Too many details and the story gets bogged down.

Make the Protagonist Suffer

“Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them - in order that the reader may see what they are made of.” (Kurt Vonnegut, How to Write a Great Story)

And when it can’t get any worse, make it worse before it gets better

The two key moments that create the peak of excitement in a story is the darkness before the dawn, and the dawn. 

The climax is the moment when the protagonist is either rescued or rescues themself.

In older tales, we saw a lot of Deux ex Machina (the hand of god) rescuing the hero. A hero could be rescued by luck, a partner, another hero…but modern audiences strongly prefer stories where the protagonist helps themself.

Resolution is Boring, Keep it Short

Interest grows with every additional conflict, but once the hero figures out the solution, our fascination collapses.

Don’t natter on while the audience’s mind is drifting.

Also Consider:

You need a good inciting incident to move your protagonist to action.

A setting is more than a place, it’s a situation and a moment in time. A vivid place has details.

Modern audiences prefer “return home changed” to “return home the same.”

EXAMPLES: ARCHETYPAL PLOTS ALONG THE ARC

Boy Meets Girl

Internal conflict is always satisfactory (e.g., she believes love interferes with his career, he believes love interferes with his beer.)

The crises usually revolves around betrayal — lying, cheating — and the climax shows it was a misunderstanding or we get atonement.

The struggle is always about them being separated.

The resolution is about binding them more tightly together than ever.

The Quest

You seek things, and find yourself.

Return home changed and don’t pass go.

Common elements include companions, a mentor, great losses and extreme character arcs.

The Underdog

Even though they do not have a shot in hell, the underdog wants something. They want it so bad.

Common elements include an enemy who blocks their path, and a coach who helps them forward.

In this case, they do not return home changed but rather move into a new life that fits their changed self.

Coming of Age

Naive person has the world teaches them a hard lesson, and they become a better person for it.

Struggle revolve around life sucking and then sucking more.

The hero grows and becomes better because of it, and via new understandings becomes competent.

In some tragedies, the world breaks them.

They can return home changed, but more often they move to a new life they have earned.

More Examples. Justice & Pursuit:

Weaving Multiple Plots:

Weaving multiple plots together to make subplots can further increase tension.

Multiple plots woven together makes the whole story not only unique but very compelling.

Writing Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[yazmati]

the c plot of guilty gear xrd revelator

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

📊 How to Use Tropes Without Turning Your Story into a YA Checklist

You can tell when a book was written by vibes and TVTropes alone.

It’s got: ☑️ the reluctant chosen one ☑️ the love triangle ☑️ the mysterious brooding boy™ ☑️ the sassy best friend ☑️ the dead parents ☑️ the villain with daddy issues ☑️ the scene where someone says “you don’t know what I’m capable of” and walks away dramatically

And like… that’s fine.

Tropes are tools. But here’s the thing: they are starting points, not story goals.

If your plot reads like it was drafted by a checklist in a Pinterest caption, it might be time to recalibrate. Here's how to actually use tropes without turning your book into a YA Mad Libs generator:

─────── ✦ ───────

🧩 Tropes Are Patterns--Not Presets

A trope is a pattern, not a requirement. It’s not a law. It’s not a plug-and-play feature. And it’s definitely not your plot.

The “enemies-to-lovers” arc? That’s a container. What you put inside it, that’s where the originality lives.

The goal isn’t to avoid tropes. It’s to do something interesting with them.

→ Why are they enemies? → What does the “love” cost them? → What happens if they fail to become lovers?

Tropes don’t carry the story. The conflict does.

─────── ✦ ───────

⚔️ Complicate the Familiar

Here’s a trick: if a trope feels too easy, break it in half.

Examples: → “Reluctant chosen one” → okay, but what if they wanted it, and then hated it once they got it? → “The mentor dies” → cool, but what if the mentor fakes their death to manipulate the protagonist? → “Sassy best friend” → no. Make them real. Give them pain. Give them depth. No more walking punchlines.

Tropes are scaffolding, not shortcuts. Add weight. Add doubt. Add betrayal.

─────── ✦ ───────

🕳️ Interrogate Why You’re Using It

Ask yourself: → Do I love this trope or do I feel like I have to include it? → Am I doing this because I’ve seen it done… or because it serves my story? → Is this trope the only interesting thing about this scene?

If your answer is “because that’s what YA stories do,” delete it. Go deeper.

─────── ✦ ───────

💔 Tropes Aren’t Substitutes for Character Arcs

You can’t use “grumpy x sunshine” and call it development. Tropes are flavors, not meals.

Give us: → Choices with consequences. → Conflicting values. → Character growth that costs something.

Otherwise? Your grumpy guy is just a Pinterest moodboard with a pulse.

─────── ✦ ───────

🧨 Use Reader Expectations Against Them

You want to use a trope and not make it predictable? Weaponize it.

Example: → Start with a love triangle. Let the MC fall hard. Then have both love interests realize they’re in love with each other. → Use the “chosen one” trope… but make it about dismantling that myth entirely. → Introduce the “villain redemption arc” and let them choose to stay bad because it makes more sense for them.

Set up the pattern. Then snap it in half. That’s how you surprise a jaded reader.

─────── ✦ ───────

Final thoughts from your local trope goblin:

→ Tropes aren’t the problem. It’s treating them like a checklist instead of a narrative engine. → A good trope doesn’t make your story good. How you twist it does. → If a story reads like it was built from Tumblr quotes and nothing else—it’s gonna flop.

So go ahead. Use the trope. Then ruin it. Make it weird. Make it hurt. Make it yours.

—rin t. // story mechanic. trope thief. YA bingo card burner. // thewriteadviceforwriters

Sometimes the problem isn’t your plot. It’s your first 5 pages. Fix it here → 🖤 Free eBook: 5 Opening Pages Mistakes to Stop Making:

🕯️ download the pack & write something cursed: