Some writer friends have asked me to list what I definitely will not include in my stories and what I am likely to include in my stories in regards to themes and tropes and just general stuff.
Apparently it is a thing that’s going around where writers are starting to share that sort of thing? Ok, here goes…
Too many romance scenes (sex scenes in my adult works possibly but not romance, gooey eye rolling load of old trollop nah huh ) – this is not for me and won’t be in my stories much if at all! But do expect sex scenes frequenting some of my adult works!
Unless the story has historical scenes, it is unlikely there will be silly gossiping women, I hate gossip! The only time this is acceptable in my works is at the ladies cream tea afternoons in a Victoriana setting, but I do find writing these things cringe worthy, being a gossip is generally cringe worthy as it is!
Technological explanations and scientific terminologies – I don’t have the brain for it – it will be basic stuff! Oh this big blue square button does that and this round yellow one does this, character pushes said button and hey presto, that’s as nerdy as I get!
Helpless women who lose their mind over men and forget to defend themselves because their love is in danger – the women in my stories generally have their heads together! I mean I know for sure if I was a character in some of these books I have read, my reaction would be “I have my own problems, wait you wuss”!
Stereotypical monsters that just do evil because… hey… they’re monsters! So overdone and totally unfair! Not to mention, highly discriminating and endorsing discrimination… just saying!
Emotionally bland or emotionally devoid scripts – I have read hundreds of pages of emotionally dead characters who keep on telling me about why they need to do something and get somewhere, but there is no real descriptive emotional output at all – it’s like, it’s their duty to have to think this way because it is expected, but generally there is no real feeling behind the words… you get me? If you get me, you’ll see that I mean to say, that the character makes you feel like they are lying to both themselves and you as a reader!
Mindless barbarians bonking heads for no other reason than they’re simply bored or want to be barbaric. There is always a motive behind an action, tell me about it… not just the mindless violence!
Slow paced stories, there has been books I have read where nothing at all moves the plot forward more than six pages at a time and that’s being optimistic! I need something to happen on every page, it’s not hard to do! No one wants the second scene to happen fifteen minutes later!
Repeating scenes already seen in the story or having characters lull over past memories again and again – yawns, boring!
Constantly reminding the readers how emotionally affected the person is about so and so, it is OK to mention it around three maybe four times in the whole book but please don’t take us back there in every single chapter! We know, we read and understood it – doing this makes your readers feel like you think they are idiots who just do not understand – don’t do that to them!
Other than generalising height as short, tall etc and the build of the person as well as the colour of the hair or skin, please leave other things to the imagination unless those other features deeply affect the story in some way – like an eye patch or a scar on the chin which is why there is a revenge plot or something – but generally, let people use their own imaginations about who they want to play the part in their heads based on who they know with general outlines.
I love to write very descriptive body horror scenes because I love grossing people out, I understand this is not everyone’s cup of tea – but it’s what I do in my adult horror stories!
I love found family tropes and close family tropes, I love tropes where there is a small team working together towards the same goal!
I like write historical scenes and be descriptive about the environment and landscape around the character!
I write a lot about isolation and abuse, because it is something I have experienced a lot over the years, therefore I feel it is easy to write in a believable way.
I am very good at understanding the hidden aspects of society, the things that people can hide from others, the secrets, the lies, the behind closed doors of Mr and Mrs Ideal-Citizen, the underground stuff, the dirty nitty gritty aspects of life.
I am very good at writing different points of view because I have had a very rich life regards to socialising with different classes and types of people just by being moved from relative to relative. I have lived with rich aunts and certain members of the aristocracy because on one side of my family we have a very old family – on another side of my family they are gypsies and farmers – another side were refugees, lots of different religions and class systems. The list goes on!
I find it easy to write from the perspective of a social worker and a teacher who is worried about their abused pupil/client and then write from the perspective of a junkie about to lose their child – I have seen these things unfold right before my eyes time and time again growing up!
One thing I have experienced time and time again from lots of different people and classes is suicide and sudden loss due to murder.
I have a huge interest in environmentalism, so pollution and innovation is something I like to put in most of my books.
Because I love comedy and prefer books and movies with comedy aspects, I do tend to like to throw in humour whenever I can, including in my darkest horror stories – I can’t help it; it always gets in there somehow!
I do love vampires and I have to say at least a third of my work will have some kind of vampire in there!
I love animal companions and so that will be a thing – particularly fond of anthropomorphic animals pretending to be human or whatever.
I like over the top comic hero and villain tropes, so that is another thing that will be seen a bit in my works.
There is likely to be someone who is rather off key in my stories, a batty old aunt, a batty young aunt, the green juice hippy weirdo and the generally bonkers type of person – or the harsh out of touch with their emotions type who is learning to soften themselves down a bit.
There will be women who save themselves and maybe even male characters!
There will be lots of free range children living independently and causing chaos or massive changes in their communities.
There will be a lot of subterranean places too; in fact this is something that is seen in half of my stories so far!
People who are incredibly lucky when things aren’t really going for them!
Also, I will always end up being just ever so slightly corny…
So that’s what you can expect from me… I won’t say anything else on the matter, so please stop poking around…
Thanks for reading!