Are you considering writing a fantasy novel and wondering whether your storyline is as unique as you think? We have listed below three overdone fantasy tropes that you might want to avoid.
However, before we proceed, it is important to know that apart from choosing the right trope, you must also ensure that you have the perfect opening pages or hook for your fantasy book. If the reader doesn’t like the opening, they are more likely to put the book aside and rummage through other books to find something more intriguing.
Apart from working on your opening or hook, you must also pay close attention to the title and cover of your book – because, believe it or not, people do judge a book by its cover. That said, you might as well hire the best freelance fantasy book cover designers to ensure that you impress the readers.
Now that we have covered the basics, let us explore three fantasy tropes that are so overdone that no literary agent would be interested in publishing your book.
The Quest
In this fantasy trope, the protagonist goes on a journey to complete a goal or task. The protagonist and a few side characters go on a quest to complete a specific goal.
In typical scenarios, the goal includes saving a distressed princess, defeating a dragon, overthrowing a villain, destroying an evil and dark artifact, finding someone, and so on. You get the main ideas that work underneath such quests.
If you look at this trope from the writer’s perspective, you see that the quest is a very easy plot structure. Usually, at the very start of the fantasy trope, you have this character who is an heir or has magical powers while they are oblivious to it.
If the protagonist isn’t attacked by evil creatures and their power is revealed, a wise wizard might appear and guide the protagonist about things – just in time before they (the wise wizard) pass away.
Once the protagonist learns about their hidden powers, they must leave their old life while they embark on a quest. While the protagonist leaves for the quest, they must go through a set of obstacles (usually three) before they come face-to-face with the antagonist.
Many newbie writers are tempted to write this fantasy trope with a quest because it has a quite easy structure.
The Chosen One
The chosen one is a protagonist who is chosen by destiny to venture out and go on a quest. The chosen one might as well be destined to defeat the dragon or whoever the bad guy is in the story. A very popular example of this fantasy trope and this kind of protagonist are Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and Red Queen.
If you opt for this sort of fantasy trope, then the stakes are unusually high, and you must really support the main character throughout the book as the chosen one is the only character who can defeat the villain. Also, your readers must want to support the chosen one along their journey.
Also, if you opt for this trope, you must ensure that your protagonist takes all the right actions – else, the entire world could be at stake.
Since we are discussing depicting the main character as the chosen one, we might as well refer to another related overdone fantasy trope that you might want to avoid – the dark lord. If you think about this kind of antagonist, you are mainly thinking about someone who is doing evil because they like it.
Usually, a dark lord from the fantasy genre has no personal motivation – they are doing evil because they want to do bad things. Again, you can find a great example of this fantasy trope in the Harry Potter series, where Lord Voldemort is truly the dark lord – in all aspects.
The thing about the dark lord fantasy trope is that it lays the perfect foundation for the typical good guy vs bad guy storyline. So, from the reader’s perspective, there is a good side that the reader ideally supports, and then there is the bad side that the reader should be against.
This way, the reader cheers and votes for the chosen one – the protagonist because they are doing their best to defeat the dark lord who is doing their best to destroy the world.
The Smart Wizard
Another potential fantasy trope that is greatly overdone is the story that revolves around the wise wizard. You might think of it in the following manner – there is an absence of a parental figure to guide the protagonist, and within the story, there is some smart guiding figure around who also happens to be a wizard.
Another cliché development of this trope is that the wise wizard dies at some point – typically earlier on in the story. Eventually, the protagonist must make crucial decisions while they see help and guidance from the type of information that the wizards provided.
This development is crucial to get the plot moving – the protagonist works on the information while the wizard dies, and meanwhile, there is loads of character development happening regarding the protagonist.
This kind of trope has its importance in a way that you can guide the protagonist towards their destiny. Initially, the protagonist has no roadmap or information to work on or start with – usually at the start of the story.
However, then the wise wizard pops up, and the protagonist now has a direction. An ideal example of this would be Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. Usually, the wise wizard has information that the protagonist needs to defeat the bad guy or win their quest.
Final Thoughts
Now you know three of the most overdone tropes – while it is perfectly okay to use these tropes, the only thing is that you must be very careful about what is commonplace. If this is your first time writing a fantasy book, then you might want to explore the trope of your interest so you know what is typical and how you can incorporate your own voice into the story,
