Hello, writers. Last week we talked about tropes, those building blocks of plot that get used again and again and that readers like to see.
Naturally this got me thinking about giant cockroaches.
With the obvious
exception, books and stories containing giant cockroaches tend not to do very well. And yet writers keep writing them. Somehow the Giant Cockroach trope has gotten into the hive story, and keeps emerging in the form of manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts actually get published. Most do not.
See the thing is, you don’t just have to please agents and editors by your flowing sentences, your brilliant use of imagery, and your witty dialogue. You also have to please them by telling a story (fiction or nonfiction) that they enjoy reading.
That doesn’t mean your work has to be all fluff and bunny rabbits. But it does mean that it probably should not contain giant cockroaches.
If you really have some giant cockroaches to get out of your system, then by all means write about them—but be aware that what you’re writing probably won’t appeal to a wide audience.
Now I may have an unfair prejudice against giant cockroaches because
1. As a child, I read J.T. McIntosh’s otherwise-forgettable (and forgotten) 50’s sf novel The Fittest, which gave me nightmares about giant insects for years.
2. I once woke up in the middle of the night to find an enormous Florida cockroach crawling across my upper lip.
But let me ask you—is there a trope that you think should die a horrible death and never get written about again?
Tonight’s challenge:
Perhaps I’ve been unfair to giant cockroaches. Write a scene in which a giant cockroach is warm, lovable, helpful, and/or a godsend.
Here’s the setup—
Wally and Ethel have gotten separated from their tour group in the Roman catacombs. They are so lost. Night is drawing in. Fortunately, Ethel’s brought a flashlight. Unfortunately, the batteries are almost dead. There’s a scrabbling sound up ahead of them in the dark.
Don’t forget to engage at least three senses.
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