Tropes to be tired of

Bookish has just published a column called “Tired of Tropes: Authors Dish on the Tropes They’re Sick Of.” The tropes include justifiable homicide, damsels in distress, brooding writers as main characters, and detectives carrying purses (apparently they don’t do that on duty).

Here’s what I’d say if I were asked:

What’s your magical superpower?
• Have your immortal gifts allowed you to breathe elemental forces into a hero’s sword and rescue the thrice-cursed island from the burgeoning darkness of the Sorcerers of Chaos?
• Did your mysterious visions and prophesies give you the wisdom to combat the deception of the shadowy spirits inhabiting the ancient forest before they brought death and destruction to the spirit-plane realm of the dragons?
• Has your secret faerie (note spelling) destiny led you on a quest as a silent, solitary warrior against the demons whose blood could restore the shapeshifter king to his honor?
• Did the inscrutable lords of the night hire you for your alchemist-fueled telepathy to wreak revenge against the mythical incubus bandit and her soulless minions, only to betray you?
If so, perhaps you could forgo writing your autobiography as a fictionalized epic trilogy during 2018.

What tropes are you tired of?

— Sue Burke