Michael Evans (speaker) advises writers to use instincts and to treat tropes as structural tools rather than constraints. He recommends keeping core trope functions but applying slight, creative spins to generate fresh combinations, arguing this approach is empowering and opens up many storytelling possibilities.
Oh, Thinking of, like, setting tropes, object tropes. Oh, okay. Now we put a slight spin on something, and that slight spin is actually everything. And I think that's such a fascinating way of looking at it, because I know. I think some writers can feel trapped by tropes. I've heard, like, conversations of, oh, my God, all the viewers, all the readers want is just tropes. And it can feel, like, formulaic, right? I have to put X, Y, Z in my book to get this type of sales. I have to put this in my film. And it's. No, that's not what you're saying. What you're saying is that actually, first of all, use your instincts, right? And then, second of all, fall back on if something's not working. There's these really important trope structures, but innovate, get creative and try and do something that hasn't been done before, but that still hits these core structural trope points. I think that's so empowering, because it's like, there's literally infinite combinations of these core tropes.
