My students are young--seventh and eighth-graders--and few of them have thought about genres and tropes as they relate to story structure. I began working on a cheat sheet to help them with story elements in the hopes of jump-starting their writing and thought maybe it would help the readers of this blog (all three of you, heh). The cheat sheet became a tome, so I will serialize it for you here, one genre at a time. Up first: Science Fiction.
Science Fiction
Possible tropes:
--Alien invasions: The aliens can be an advanced species who share their advanced technology and cultural mindset, teaching us how to live better lives, or they can be malicious and bent on conquest and exploitation.
--Advanced technology and how it affects the people who use it (upsides and downsides—there should be both)
--Space travel, time travel. Unlimited possibilities here.
--Take current scientific knowledge and advance it, such as: growing new organs for transplantation in laboratories, etc.
--Advanced technology and how it affects the people who use it (upsides and downsides—there should be both)
--Space travel, time travel. Unlimited possibilities here.
--Take current scientific knowledge and advance it, such as: growing new organs for transplantation in laboratories, etc.
Abuse of power is a common theme.
Steampunk is a sub-genre of sci-fi. Often set during the Industrial Revolution (Victorian era through World War I), sometimes described as “retro futurism,” steampunk combines elements of Victorian design and sensibility with alternate or more modern technologies. If you saw the version of “Sherlock Holmes” starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law and paid attention to the gadgetry used in the film, you have an idea of what steampunk gadgets look like. Jules Verne’s novels were considered science fiction in their time, but the combination of nuclear power (very futuristic) and a submarine (very contemporary) in the 1880’s is a steampunk-y one. Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series and Michael Moorcock’s Oswald Bastable books are some examples of steampunk, as are the Girl Genius graphic novels (and ongoing webcomic) by Kaja and Phil Foglio. Both Westerfeld’s and Moorcock’s books depict an alternate history of World War I. For fun, Google some photographs of steampunk art.
Steampunk is a sub-genre of sci-fi. Often set during the Industrial Revolution (Victorian era through World War I), sometimes described as “retro futurism,” steampunk combines elements of Victorian design and sensibility with alternate or more modern technologies. If you saw the version of “Sherlock Holmes” starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law and paid attention to the gadgetry used in the film, you have an idea of what steampunk gadgets look like. Jules Verne’s novels were considered science fiction in their time, but the combination of nuclear power (very futuristic) and a submarine (very contemporary) in the 1880’s is a steampunk-y one. Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series and Michael Moorcock’s Oswald Bastable books are some examples of steampunk, as are the Girl Genius graphic novels (and ongoing webcomic) by Kaja and Phil Foglio. Both Westerfeld’s and Moorcock’s books depict an alternate history of World War I. For fun, Google some photographs of steampunk art.
Dystopian: a relatively new sub-genre, usually containing elements of science fiction.
Possible tropes: Not a wide selection of tropes, but endless possibilities for portraying the society these people live in.
If there is advanced technology, it is generally abused. There may be drugs to prevent cancer, but they'll also be used to keep citizens compliant; cosmetic surgery to repair disfigurement, but also to implant a diamond in the iris of a character’s eye or to turn somebody’s skin emerald green merely for the sake of vanity.
People in dystopic novels live in a society that makes great demands on its people and/or exerts extreme amounts of control over them. Examples are Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series (a world in which people’s physical appearances are controlled by the government and cosmetic surgery is required of all citizens), Lois Lowry’s The Giver (a society where people went to extremes to ensure security—everyone’s profession is chosen for them, marriages are arranged, people required to take medications to control emotions and even basic human impulses such as sex drive), and, most recently, Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games and Ally Condie's Matched series.
The most common trope is that these stories are set in post-apocalyptic worlds. The “apocalypse” might include World War III or global nuclear war or some other kind of major catastrophe, either natural or man-made. Novels such as 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury were written in response to the Cold War and the nuclear arms race.
Dystopic novels become cautionary tales to present-day readers, warning that if we continue to kill each other over natural resources or skin color or belief systems, if we continue to treat each other and our planet’s natural resources carelessly, we might end up residents of places like The Community, New Pretty Town, or Panem.
Characters in a dystopic story rebel against the system or some aspect of it, either as an individual or as the leader of a group.
Conflicts for Science Fiction and its sub-genres: Any combination of the four..
If there is advanced technology, it is generally abused. There may be drugs to prevent cancer, but they'll also be used to keep citizens compliant; cosmetic surgery to repair disfigurement, but also to implant a diamond in the iris of a character’s eye or to turn somebody’s skin emerald green merely for the sake of vanity.
People in dystopic novels live in a society that makes great demands on its people and/or exerts extreme amounts of control over them. Examples are Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series (a world in which people’s physical appearances are controlled by the government and cosmetic surgery is required of all citizens), Lois Lowry’s The Giver (a society where people went to extremes to ensure security—everyone’s profession is chosen for them, marriages are arranged, people required to take medications to control emotions and even basic human impulses such as sex drive), and, most recently, Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games and Ally Condie's Matched series.
The most common trope is that these stories are set in post-apocalyptic worlds. The “apocalypse” might include World War III or global nuclear war or some other kind of major catastrophe, either natural or man-made. Novels such as 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury were written in response to the Cold War and the nuclear arms race.
Dystopic novels become cautionary tales to present-day readers, warning that if we continue to kill each other over natural resources or skin color or belief systems, if we continue to treat each other and our planet’s natural resources carelessly, we might end up residents of places like The Community, New Pretty Town, or Panem.
Characters in a dystopic story rebel against the system or some aspect of it, either as an individual or as the leader of a group.
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