Our Retreat includes amazing sessions taught by wonderful professional writers. We are very fortunate to host Rashida J. Smith in person for a session! We’ve never had a tropes class before and we know this will be absolutely fascinating for participants! You don’t want to miss this one!
Our in-person sessions will be on September 9th at MIT’s Endicott House in Dedham! Want to attend our in-person sessions? Purchase a FULL Retreat ticket!
The Chosen One, the Last Girl, and the Anti-Hero walk into a Coffee Shop… Knowing how to use (and subvert) recurring conventions in settings and characters can add nuance to our stories. But over-reliance on built-in expectations robs both of their texture. In this 90-minute introductory class, we’ll discuss what makes a trope, identify a few common tropes in popular media, and discuss strategies to avoid the dreaded cliché. We’ll cover instances when tropes can be hurtful or harmful and why subversion isn’t always as easy as flipping the trope. Finally, we’ll dive into our story ideas or works-in-progress with a few short exercises to help identify, use, or subvert tropes to deepen characterization and delight our readers. Writers should come ready to think and talk about their work or their favorite books, movies, or tv shows. No additional preparation is necessary.
This session is only available to Retreat ticket holders. Want to join us for our Fall Retreat? Purchase your ticket today!
The last day to order tickets is Friday, September 1st