First, regular commenter Victoria Caswell (aka aspiring_x), who won my book Life, Liberty, and Pursuit in the newsletter contest, posted a tremendously sweet review over at her blog Hairnet and Hopes. Thanks, Vic!!
Some of the best ideas for posts come from commenters and followers. Yesterday, a Facebook friend asked if I thought her MG story idea was overdone or fresh for the market.
How I wish I knew the answer to that question!
Seriously, I think we all want to know (or at least should be asking) is my story marketable?*
*Unless you’re writing just for your own pleasure, which is infinitely cool, and in which case the market is YOU and you have no one to please but yourself.
Lacking an answer, I told her how I “research the market.” Basically I read, see what’s on the shelves, and mine TV Tropes for all it’s worth.
There’s no substitute for reading in your genre. But it’s also impossible to read every faery book (if you’re thinking of writing one) or robot book (if you want to write one of those) or every realistic MG fiction book. Or even the most popular ones. There just isn’t time.
This is where TV Tropes is your friend. In spite of the name, TV Tropes isn’t all about television. It gives hilarious and insightful and incredibly thorough reviews of all kinds of story tropes across media (movies, books, games, TV). My friend Adam Heine has the definitive post on TV Tropes, so I won’t try to duplicate.
Before you wade into the depths of TV Tropes, it’s important to know the difference between tropes and cliches, which TV Tropes helpfully points out on the front page:
Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members’ minds and expectations. On the whole, tropes are not clichés. The word clichéd means “stereotyped and trite.” In other words, dull and uninteresting. We are not looking for dull and uninteresting entries. We are here to recognize tropes and play with them, not to make fun of them.
I use TV Tropes to explore the basic story idea of my novel, but also the underlying themes. Sometimes I know the theme vaguely, around the edges, and then I stumble across Romanticism vs. Enlightenment and viola! The theme becomes more clear in my mind. Or perhaps I need a quick refresher on the difference between androids and cyborgs (or some other ridiculously human robot). Yanno, just cuz.
As long as you don’t get lost in the TV Tropes wilderness, you will emerge with a better understanding of what fiction went before you and which giant’s shoulders you are standing on – which almost guarantees you’ll write something more fresh and marketable.
Or you could just get lost in the Periodic Table of Storytelling:
How much do you research before you pull the trigger and say “Yes!” to a storyline?
p.s. UPDATE: This post from Mandy Hubbard on trends in YA/MG may be helpful as well!
I put it through a lot of tests. Basically a lot of prewriting and plotting and making it bigger to see if I truly have the passion for a project that will take a full year!
Hhmmm…great post, Sue. I haven't heard of this. Thank you for sharing.
jiminey… i haven't even thought about this kind of thing… i'll have to add that to my research tools list.
glad you liked the review! i liked the book! 🙂
@Everyone UPDATE: This post from Mandy Hubbard on trends in YA/MG may be helpful as well!
@Laura Testing by plotting – I like it! Although I have to admit, I'm usually sold on a storyline long before I have done any plotting – and by then it's hard to pull back.
@Sheri You haven't heard of TV Tropes?? 🙂 Well, I probably should apologize, because it can be a giant time suck! 🙂
@aspiring That review totally made my day (quite possibly my week)! 🙂
I too am sold on a storyline before plotting, Susan. When people ask me if I think their idea is a good one, I often tell them "if it's done well – many ideas can be good ideas if they are done well".
I try to keep up to date with what's out there. Fortunately I don't write your typical YA paranormal or contemp novels, so I'm still an original. But my heart does stop for a moment when I check out a blurb for a book that sounds like it could be similar to mine.
Holy cow, Susan. I've never heard of TV Tropes and that Periodic Table of Storytelling is awesome. I guess I have my homework for the weekend. 🙂
I pull the trigger when the story's got its emotional hooks in me. When I need to get to that place with those characters, whether it's redemption or clarity or failure.
If that makes any sense.
And yeah, you should apologize for unleashing the timesuck of TV Tropes on an unsuspecting audience… 🙂
I let story ideas percolate for a long time (excepting flash fiction). Novel ideas need a lot of momentum. That has to build up in my mind while the various elements come together. Eventually the idea boils and reaches critical point. And then I get the words on the page.
@Rebecca A good storyteller can make crossing the street sound interesting, whereas a bad one can make a heart attack sound banal. Someone said that before me, I just can't remember who!
@Stina I swear I had a mini-heart attack when I saw a Blockbuster movie that seemed to have the same particulars as my novel. But then I realized that even if it was the exact same story (which it wasn't, of course) that it's all in the telling.
@Shannon Wow! And another apology to you, for the giant time-suck this weekend!!
@L. LOL! I should put a warning sign up at the top! And I know what you mean about the emotional hooks!
@Bryan I love the organic way your mind works. I think I'm part android. 🙂
Hmm, I'm not sure how much I actually research before I decide whether a story is good enough to actually make into novel/novella form. I think it's more if something won't leave me alone, like a particular character pops into my head. Then I might have the urge to write a story including him/her/it. I love the periodic table! That was amazingly detailed.
@Sarah Up until my most recent story, that's pretty much how I did it too. Now I'm much more into plotting/pre-planning, so this approach is working for me. And my husband would look at that Periodic Table and say "Why in the world would someone spend so much time on that?" To which I say, "But it's cool!" 🙂 Happy Weekend!
This is so cool!
Luckily, androids probably have much cleaner houses.
Oh wow, what a treasure trove of new information! Already had the BEST FUN reading the TV Trope on LOVE TRIANGLES (and you thought geometry was complicated!!!)
Not long ago I wrote a review of Falling Under and said something like "it had a unique spin on the Twilight trope" – and I don't even KNOW where I dug up that word trope from my subconscious, but instinctively knew it was different from cliche – but little did I know how distinct and interesting "tropes" actually were! Thank you! Now, off to peruse that periodic table closer… wow!
Choosing a story is always exciting. I tend to listen the the one screaming the loudest, then mull it over for a few days – see if it's going to work out.
@Natasha Thanks!
@Bryan Well, that rules out the part-android theory!
@Margo Oh my. I'm going to have to look up the LOVE TRIANGLE trope (sometime when I have an hour to kill). And I love the things that pop up from the subconscious!
@Jemi I like the intuitive approach too – sometimes our minds integrate things in ways we don't really understand until afterwards.
I rarely plan my stories out ahead of time, and when I do I only plan a few aspects and very general things. Reminds me of your Plotting vs Pantsing post which I happened to see. I am definetly a pantser (which BTW is a weird word I've never heard before, where did you get it?)
@liramor Pantser refers to "by the seat of your pants" – I'm not sure who made up the original term! One of those amorphous things floating around the interwebs…
Oh, I like the Periodic Table of Storytelling.
Way cool. I hadn't heard of TV Tropes. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
@Myrna If you really study it (yeah, I did #nerd), it's amazing.
@Leisha And my apologies for sucking you into the TVTropes-verse. 🙂
I am totally tripping on the Periodic Table of Storytelling. I prefer it to the actual Periodic Table. I write stories that keep pinging on my brain and won't leave me alone. Thanks for trop-o-phying me.
That's amazing! I'd never heard of the TV Tropes, so this is a new trick for me. Thanks, Susan!
And you're right. The only way to know is to read~ <3