Genres and Tropes, Continued: The "Coming-of-Age" story

Previously:  Romance, Horror, Paranormal, Science Fiction, Fantasy

A “trope,” not to be confused with nor transformed into a cliché, is an element a reader expects as a characteristic of a genre (such as magical creatures or talismans in a fantasy story).  A cliché, on the other hand, occurs when you take a trope too far (rich-boy-loves-poor-girl romance, for example). The material difference between the two is what fresh, new characters, settings, or magical canon you bring to a familiar element.
Disclaimer: For reference and guidance only.  And the “possible conflicts” are just suggestions as well.


Coming-of-age story:

Can be combined with any of the other genres fantasy, dystopia, historical fiction, and sci-fi, as in the Harry Potter and Hunger Games books), but there are many books (The Yearling, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Secret Life of Bees, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) that don’t really contain elements of any other genre.
--Young person faces problem(s)/obstacle(s) and overcomes it/them.  The journey or quest is mostly psychological unless combined with adventure, such as in Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet.
--Young person loses innocence in one way or another (has to confront racism/prejudice, for example).
--Young person is faced with questions about life or human nature and has to find his or her own answers to those questions.
--Young person may have to confront a person of authority or stand up to a bully, or face the consequences of his or her choices as part of the “growing up” process.

The transition from childhood to adulthood, from innocence to awareness (at least on some level or as regards certain circumstances) is addressed in the story.

Endings are usually more “hopeful” than “happy.” The protagonist has gained knowledge or wisdom about the world or about him/herself and is usually a more tolerant or open-minded person as a result of his/her experiences; but because coming-of-age fits with realistic or literary fiction more than any other genre, the growing-up process is rarely complete by the end of the story.  Some endings are not so hopeful; sometimes the contact with reality and the adult world causes the protagonist to decide that the world is a mean and horrible place, that humans are not worthy of redemption.  Holden Caulfield in J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is an example.

Possible conflicts:  All four.

On books and reading and what's on your shelves

The last time our family moved house, we had something like 100 boxes.  Some 73 of them contained books.  As a child, I was read to, I was enrolled in a children's book club, and I had my own bookshelf in my bedroom.  Sometime in kindergarten, the strange-looking characters separated themselves into words and I no longer had to wait for a parent or a babysitter to come and read to me. I have been a bookworm ever since.

After one of our many moves, some neighbors dropped in to welcome us to the neighborhood.  The bookshelves were up and loaded.  One of the women, after looking at the titles and seeing Stendahl and Dickens and Austen, asked, "Have you read all these?" with a slight edge to her voice.  "Not yet" was my reply.  "Oh." Pause. "I like that." I think she was trying to accuse us of being pretentious or something.

So today I found justification for having unread books on my shelves.


People sometimes act as though owning books you haven’t read constitutes a charade or pretense, but for me, there’s a lovely mystery and pregnancy about a book that hasn’t given itself over to you yet — sometimes I’m the most inspired by imagining what the contents of an unread book might be.” ~Jonathan Lethem


I also encourage my students to read widely so as to be better- informed writers:


My life was changed. The books she gave me opened my mind to the simple realization that there is in the world such a thing as truly great literature; and that I would never discover it by mere hit-or-miss, or by reading only what interested me. ~Stephen Carter


How does the reading feed into the writing, and vice versa? Continually, continuously, promiscuously, in a million ways.” ~ Philip Pullman


Sometimes this means reading less-than-stellar books.  Only after having a mediocre marinara sauce on your pasta can you truly appreciate a fresh, homemade, flavorful marinara.  It is the same with literature:


Some books are just crap and have to be thrown out. But some crappy books remind you of certain times in your life and have to be kept. In the closet.” ~ Gary Shteyngart


I hope to be back next week with more tropes.  In the meantime, I wish you all happy holidays.


Thanks for stopping by.

Genres and Tropes, Continued: Fantasy

Previously: Romance, Horror, Paranormal, Science Fiction

A “trope,” not to be confused with nor transformed into a cliché, is an element a reader expects as a characteristic of a genre (such as magical creatures or talismans in a fantasy story).  A cliché, on the other hand, occurs when you take a trope too far (rich-boy-loves-poor-girl romance, for example). The material difference between the two is what fresh, new characters, settings, or magical canon you bring to a familiar element.
Disclaimer: For reference and guidance only.  And the “possible conflicts” are just suggestions as well.

I got a little ranty on fantasy a couple of weeks ago. This post is a bit more objective. Mostly.

Student defines poetry

I had to share this. My creative writing students have begun the poetry unit, and today I asked them to define "poetry."  Of course there were the usual elements named--rhyme, rhythm, simile, metaphor.  Nobody brought up anything about it being an art form.  Then a student said:


"It's like when the words make no sense at first, but then they get inside your head and go BLAM!"


Poetry:  Words that go BLAM!


Awesome.

Genres and Tropes, continued: Love conquers all. If you suspend your disbelief.

Previously:  science fiction, paranormal and horror

A “trope,” not to be confused with nor transformed into a cliché, is an element a reader expects as a characteristic of a genre (such as magical creatures or talismans in a fantasy story).  A cliché, on the other hand, occurs when you take a trope too far (rich-boy-loves-poor-girl romance, for example). The material difference between the two is what fresh, new characters, settings, or magical canon you bring to the already-familiar.
The usual disclaimer: For reference and guidance only.  The “possible conflicts” are just suggestions as well.

(Nerd alert!)  Read poetry from the literary Romantic Movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries (Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, et. al) and you’ll see that romanticism in literature dealt with emotions, the metaphysical, and nature.  Romantics were more like proto-hippies.  America had its own version in Henry David Thoreau. Over in England, Alexander Pope probably turned over in his grave at the idea of poets writing about hearts dancing with daffodils.  

The “romance” genre is based more on romantic notions such as two people meeting--and meeting their destinies, that some sort of cosmic or mystical “thing” is happening. The term "romance" causes confusion because what began as romantic tropes evolved into a genre dedicated to idealized love stories. Most of us try to preserve the distinction by referring to the Romantic Movement as Romanticism and the genre of fiction as Romance. But mention the clash of realism and romanticism in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and you're likely to get either blank stares or "Huck had a girlfriend?"

I’m trying to to remove my tongue from my cheek as I write about this genre, but I personally find most of what’s published in it to be trite and formulaic.  I understand that fans read them for their escapist value.  What worries me is when the people who read them consider them an attainable or desirable reality.