Tropes We Want To See More of in Fantasy Books

Guest post by Jacklyn Walters

We read books for adventure. We read books for escape. We read books for… the tropes.

I’m not here to yuck your yum (or to yum your yuck for that matter), but some of these tropes are getting out of hand. FMCs can’t swing a sword these days without hitting a shadow daddy with it.

All of this is to say, there are some tropes that even I’m getting sick of. But I’m a solutions guy! So here are some of the tropes I want to see more of in fantasy novels, and a couple books that actually knock them out of the park. Stick around ’til the end for an extra special look at a few things I’m hating on right now as well.

No matter your summer-girl archetype, we have the perfect fantasy novels for your TBR.

Sunshine MMCs

I love a little danger. My type is a man who looks like he could kill you. But sometimes you just want an MMC who’s going to make a nice little cup of tea and be truly, honestly, deeply vulnerable.

Someone like The Hunger Games’ Peeta Mellark. Peeta, you sweet boy. Named after bread and as precious as pan dulce. “You're a painter. You're a baker. You like to sleep with the windows open. You never take sugar in your tea. And you always double-knot your shoelaces.”

You were our sunshine MMC before we knew what a sunshine MMC was. And we want more men like you in our stories. Nay, we need more men like you in our stories.

Actual Slow Burns

The last four fantasy novels I picked up introduced the love interest on page one. PAGE ONE. Maybe I’ve just been unlucky, but insta love seems to be all the rage these days. It’s fun at first, but insta love lacks the depth we (or at least I) crave.

The magic of a fantasy novel is in the unravelling. Getting to know the characters, exploring the world, embarking on the first quest. Meeting the final love interest in the first act isn’t just typical these days, it’s boring. I know how this is going to end. Sure, there might be a few arguments in the middle, maybe even a brush with death. But at the end of the day, I’m certain our MCs are going to ride off into the sunset with each other.

The best part about a climax is the build up. The yearning. The antici…

…pation.

Please, let us yearn. Make us burn. Slowly.

Animal Companions

We’re seeing a ton of dragons and wyverns these days. It’s fantastic, keep the dragons coming. Many series (Fourth Wing and Throne of Glass included) do a great job of integrating the characters’ winged counterparts into the storyline.

But isn’t there a white knight upon a fiery steed?

There always seems to be a setback with animal companions of late. Dragons are too big to take everywhere, so they aren’t integrated into the more intimate parts of the storyline. Dogs are almost exclusively shown as pets.

I want more AMCs (animal main characters).

Let’s bring back animal besties. I’m talking Maximus and Pascal from “Tangled” levels of involvement. I want personality. I want heroic tendencies. I want camaraderie. I want a witch and her familiar. They don’t even need to talk. Bonus points if they communicate primarily via facial expressions.

Unique Magic Systems

Magic is a tricky thing to write, not only because we have so many established magical systems but because truly inventing a new way of magicking things requires more than a healthy imagination. Aside from physics, we don’t really have a lot of magic in our own world. But that doesn’t mean we should always fall back on the tried and true methods of witchcraft and wizardry.

There are a few ways this can be done, including but not exclusive to the following:

• Really Specific Magic

  • We have a lot of I-can-do-all-things magic going on these days. Telepathy and telekinesis. Potions and hexes. The omnipotence makes characters foreboding, certainly. But when all of the characters have all sorts of powers, it levels the playing field. It makes magic feel run of the mill when it should feel, well, magical.

    I’d like to see something weirdly niche. Like a character who can only talk to crows. Or someone with mind control but they can only use it to convince people to dance. Obviously I’m just spit balling here, but let’s back our characters into more corners and see how they navigate a world with real adversity.

• Magic That Comes At a Cost

  • Some of the most alluring fantasy novels are those where performing magic comes at a cost. (More than just draining energy.) It begs the question: what are our characters willing to sacrifice? Is the magic worth it? And if not, how will they overcome without it?

    We’ve seen magic that removes years off a character’s life, magic that drains parts of someone’s soul, magic that fundamentally changes who a character is. That’s the good stuff—when there’s a meaningful give and take. When a character needs to choose.

• Earth-Based Magic Systems

  • Very similar to the above, let’s dive into more earth-based magic. What if we saw a character whose magic was intrinsically connected to the weather? When it rains, they have water magic. When it’s sunny, healing magic. When it’s snowing, ice magic.

    A system like this could create a character who isn’t quite all powerful. Someone whose magic changes based on external factors. Someone who has to learn not only to control their powers, but to communicate with nature.

    Aside from that ultra-specific scenario, elemental powers are a great exploration of this as well.

• Acquired Powers

  • Many fantasy novels play with magic given at birth. Gifted-by-the-gods magic. Hidden-for-the-sake-of-safety magic. I want a Spider-Man situation. Give me a character who got slapped by magic and has to learn to navigate their life with this newfound power.

    This creates an opportunity for some really cool—and really weird—concepts. And that’s what fantasy is all about. You don’t have to be hot and strong and charming and ultra-magical to be a fantasy MC. Getting bitten by a bat will do.

New Settings

I love the medieval forest probably more than most. But let’s do something different. (She writes, with pure hatred for Crescent City in her heart.) It’s about time someone wrote a fantasy novel in a land I’ve never imagined, not rural Colorado.

Fantasy writers: I implore you to delve into the depths of your imagination for your settings. Outside of what the land looks like, what does it feel like? Is the air crisp and smooth or heavy and sticky? What texture is the dirt? Is there a sun that rises and sets? What types of creatures exist there, and are they friend or foe? What languages are spoken and do characters have different dialects and accents?

This will, hopefully, encourage us to give characters of color their time to shine, too. Not as supporting characters or the MC’s best friend. Not confined to one corner of the map. Front and center. Maybe in space. Okay maybe not in space because that pushes us over the edge into sci-fi but I think this could really go somewhere. Somewhere we haven’t been before, ideally.

Evil Step Mothers & Fairy God Mothers

Honestly, these are two sides of the same coin.

Some of our favorite fairytales have some real sinister bitches in charge. And it’s so fun! It is so fun to watch someone be so truly evil. A story is only as good as its villain—a character who is fully developed, who has their own storylines and motivations outside of the protagonist's story.

The evil step mother fulfills this very specifically, in that she lives in our MC’s home. She might even control aspects of their current or future life. She isn’t blood, so they don’t need to worry about becoming like her, but there’s an extra layer of choice there, too. Someone chose this woman to be in the family. This woman chose to be here. Why? Let’s unpack those motivations. Let’s throw some familial drama back in the fantasy mix.

And who better to soften the blow of a raggedy hag running your household than a fairy godmother? She is soft. She is kind. She is maybe a little pushy. She might be even better as a gay man. The fairy godmother role (whether held by a man or woman) is one that brings nurturance into our MC’s life. Someone to talk to who makes the world feel peaceful and full of possibility, if only for a moment. Ultimately, she reminds us all that we’re worthy of love and that we’re strong enough to take care of ourselves.

The Books That Pull Them Off:

• The Prison Healer—not quite an MMC, but the inner circle is honestly full of sunshine men who emanate joy. It’s really cute.

• Assistant to the Villain has a fun little animal companion arc in there. A Fate Inked in Blood (book 2) also has a small cameo for an animal companion.

• Serpent & Dove has a really cool magic system with two different types of sacrifice and connections to the earth.

• A Court of Silver Flames does a good job with acquired powers and resistance to them. Personally, I’d like something a little weirder, but Miss Maas does write a great training sequence.

• Not to be that guy, but the Bridgerton series’ An Offer From a Gentleman kills it with the evil stepmother. I know it isn’t fantasy but it is romance and I highly suggest you read it for a fun little period-piece interlude.

Things We Want Less Of:

• Miscommunication tropes—these enrage me like no other. I know enough men in real life, I don’t need to be rage baited in my fantasy reads too.

• Don’t make me say it. Fae. We have so many fae! Let’s let fae be side characters in something. Faeries feel like an all-powerful copout.

• Shadow daddies. They’re played out and they all feel the same. No matter who you’re reading about you’ll always be comparing them to insert your favorite shadow daddy here.

• Everyone being so beautiful??? Like we get it, everyone’s hot and super healthy and they have a ton of sex all of the time. But this perpetuates the very real life stereotype that pretty people are good and ugly people are bad. Most people are not strikingly beautiful and strong and sculpted. Most people are just middle of the road. They have to curl their eyelashes. Their hair is messy and not in a cute way. They worry about their bellies rolling over their waist bands. Don’t make me aspire to be a poverty-thin heroine. Let me look up to a fat woman!

At the end of the day, fantasy novels are an exploration of human tendencies without the bounds of Earth-based existence. They’re meant to be fun. So if that means I’m only reading about the same 10 tropes until the day I die, I’m content with that. But once we step onto the page, we step away from Earth and into a place where magic is real. When I pick up my next fantasy book, I’d like to step into a place where imagination and fantasy tropes have no limits.

Guest post by Jacklyn Walters

Jacklyn Walters spends more time in the imaginary than the real world, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Like Belle, Jacklyn prefers to live “with a dreamy far-off look, and her nose stuck in a book.” She has always found escape in reading. Ironic, since the books she read as a teen were primarily dystopian novels. But they lit up something in her. They showed her that being a strong-willed woman doesn’t mean you’re difficult, it means you’re going to save the world.

Now her passions lie in creating and making sure others can tell their stories, too.

When she isn’t working on marketing campaigns, Jacklyn can be found exploring local parks, planning grand adventures, laughing with friends, and, of course, reading.