Trope
The term “trope” refers to a word or expression used in a figurative sense. It can also refer to an overused person or movie theme. For example, if a boy liked to skip, a person would say, “Skipping is his trope.” Unfortunately, people often use this term as a putdown similar to cliché. I took a deep blog dive into why I did not like the term cliché here:
For some reason, the term “trope” has become popular, and reviewers love using it. It is challenging for writers to develop new ideas, and there are only so many plot themes. How many love stories can there be? I can think of five, and if I wrote about #1, a critic would say, “Character A falls in love with poor Character B. Standard love trope. Nothing new.” I would argue that there are fantastic stores with this “trope.” The moves Titanic, Overboard, Pretty in Pink, and The Notebook all come to mind.
Writing experts did not initially mean trope to be a putdown. It was supposed to be a technical writing term. For example, “In the third scene, we see the love trope coming into play.” However, the meaning has negatively transformed. I wish people were more considerate and would stop bashing writers. Yet, there have to be critics, and there are many works that need a good bashing.
Do I wish the term trope would disappear? It would be nice if this term slipped back into obscurity. With that in mind, I would appreciate it if my four blog readers would not point out my blog trope.

You’re the best -Bill
November 24, 2021
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