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The Trope Thesaurus: Fantasy and Science Fiction: An Author Resource Guide
Crafting beloved fantasy or science fiction requires a plan.
Sure, we can create gorgons and gargoyles who control gravity (especially when our current manuscript is waiting), but getting from a concept to a finished story requires persistence and a plan.
Let me help you with the planning part by using tropes.
Tropes? Yes, tropes.
Tropes help us hook readers because we entice them with a promise of an emotional journey. Tropes are the breadcrumbs that pull our readers deeper into our stories because they are familiar concepts. As authors, we need to embed tropes into our stories.
How do we do that?
Think about these orphan, forced proximity, and forbidden love. Gideon the Ninth, Star Wars, and Guardians of the Galaxy share these exact tropes, but their story flavors differ vastly.
Their stories demonstrate found families, conflict, and transformation. These relationships resonate because we struggle with these same human emotions daily. Reality sucks. The fantasy and science fiction genres help us transcend the grind but retain the relationships. That's the key. It’s how the tropes are developed that makes the difference.
Don’t just use tropes; own them.
They work for you, let me show you how.
In Trope Thesaurus Fantasy and Science Fiction , we’ll explore how Goal, Motivation, and Conflict work with tropes. We’ll discuss the reader's expectations for fantasy and science fiction. After all, we need to know what our audiences expect so we can deliver the goods but with our unique twists!
Plus, we’ll examine the
1) How to avoid dreaded stereotypes and cliches.
2) How to layer tropes to create more conflict.
3) How analyzing tropes makes them our storytelling superpower.
Trope Thesaurus Fantasy and Science Fiction examines how popular genre movies, books, and streaming series use tropes. We’ll look at how tropes are developed in the specific examples to fit that particular story and ways we can identify those tropes to use in our work. It’s an essential guide to creating your best fantasy and science fiction!
Sure, we can create gorgons and gargoyles who control gravity (especially when our current manuscript is waiting), but getting from a concept to a finished story requires persistence and a plan.
Let me help you with the planning part by using tropes.
Tropes? Yes, tropes.
Tropes help us hook readers because we entice them with a promise of an emotional journey. Tropes are the breadcrumbs that pull our readers deeper into our stories because they are familiar concepts. As authors, we need to embed tropes into our stories.
How do we do that?
Think about these orphan, forced proximity, and forbidden love. Gideon the Ninth, Star Wars, and Guardians of the Galaxy share these exact tropes, but their story flavors differ vastly.
Their stories demonstrate found families, conflict, and transformation. These relationships resonate because we struggle with these same human emotions daily. Reality sucks. The fantasy and science fiction genres help us transcend the grind but retain the relationships. That's the key. It’s how the tropes are developed that makes the difference.
Don’t just use tropes; own them.
They work for you, let me show you how.
In Trope Thesaurus Fantasy and Science Fiction , we’ll explore how Goal, Motivation, and Conflict work with tropes. We’ll discuss the reader's expectations for fantasy and science fiction. After all, we need to know what our audiences expect so we can deliver the goods but with our unique twists!
Plus, we’ll examine the
1) How to avoid dreaded stereotypes and cliches.
2) How to layer tropes to create more conflict.
3) How analyzing tropes makes them our storytelling superpower.
Trope Thesaurus Fantasy and Science Fiction examines how popular genre movies, books, and streaming series use tropes. We’ll look at how tropes are developed in the specific examples to fit that particular story and ways we can identify those tropes to use in our work. It’s an essential guide to creating your best fantasy and science fiction!
- GenresNonfiction
312 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 5, 2024
48 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 13, 2026
3.5/5. Very comprehensive with the tropes provided with examples from other books and TV shows, but there could have been more actual explanation of each trope. Still, this will be a good resource for future writing projects!
November 24, 2025
Overall, the book contains valuable information but it should have been edited better. Typos, missing words, and other errors pop up frequently.
March 31, 2025
Wow. I had high hopes for this book, but I was really disappointed. The first few chapters featured discussion of character goal, motivation and plot, and were interesting enough. But when it came to the actual tropes, there was very little in actual content. The trope definitions provided barely any explanation, and most of the book was devoted to long and involved synopses of random books and television shows. Lots of white space and repetition.
June 4, 2025
A great follow-up
Hilt expands on her original Trope Thesaurus with a focus on two of my favorite genres. The insights into how tropes play into familiar stories makes the concepts relatable, and the tips on using tropes has definitely broadened my approach to outlining my own work.
Hilt expands on her original Trope Thesaurus with a focus on two of my favorite genres. The insights into how tropes play into familiar stories makes the concepts relatable, and the tips on using tropes has definitely broadened my approach to outlining my own work.
March 3, 2025
I enjoyed it, but I found the romance Trope Thesaurus that Jennifer Hilt wrote to be even more engaging. That book had more variation of examples, whereas this one stuck to a few of the same ones. Both are helpful reference books for writers, however.
June 28, 2025
Interesting read.
I enjoyed reading this book. It has a lot of interesting and useful ideas and advice. The examples were easy to understand and associate with. This book is definitely worth checking out.
I enjoyed reading this book. It has a lot of interesting and useful ideas and advice. The examples were easy to understand and associate with. This book is definitely worth checking out.
May 13, 2024
Disappointingly light on actual content.
August 10, 2024
awesome in-depth book on so many tropes
I am so impressed that the author,Jen Hilt, put so much time exploring and then explaining tropes in so many books and films
Her research provides endless ways to expand and explore a writer’s storytelling. Thanks for all your hard work.
I am so impressed that the author,Jen Hilt, put so much time exploring and then explaining tropes in so many books and films
Her research provides endless ways to expand and explore a writer’s storytelling. Thanks for all your hard work.
December 10, 2025
Only for beginners. You can find this stuff anywhere.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews