SFF Tropes: Name Your Fave!

If you love some Romance with or alongside your SFF, my publisher is doing this fab giveaway of new releases to celebrate Romance Awareness Month! Note that my book, THE FIERY CROWN, is included :D 

Our topic at the SFF Seven this month is our favorite SFF Tropes.

For those who might not know, a trope is simply a story element. I've noticed that some in SFF circles tend to be resistant to discussing tropes - as if they're a negative or unoriginal aspect of storytelling - where Romance readers are very open about embracing and searching out their favorite tropes. In truth, tropes are inevitable and wonderful parts of recognizing what kinds of stories we love. If you want a broad overview of tropes - and you're not afraid of a rabbit hole, because this site WILL take you down one - check out TVtropes. Despite the somewhat misleading title, this site is super useful for researching story tropes from all creative media. 

If you want to peruse just SFF tropes - maybe look for your personal fave! - I did the search for you.

A lot of the time, what people identify as tropes are those story elements that have become cliche. The Chosen One is a somewhat cliche trope in Fantasy that can make us roll our eyes if it's not handled well. Usually handled badly with this trope means that the Chosen One is a white boy prodigy (Orson Scott Card anyone?) with no indication whatsoever what makes them so freaking special except that they are Special. And no, making your Chosen One a brown girl instead doesn't automagically solve the problem.

But, what are MY FAVORITE SFF TROPES?

You all know me: enemies to allies/lovers and marriage of state/convenience are right up there for me. They also happen to be grand crossovers to Romance, so they work well for me. 

I also love me an underestimated heroine with hidden talents, magical or otherwise. I love an embattled ruler, almost always a queen for me. The Hero's Journey is a favorite, though I almost always give it to a female character. That goes well with the magic worker struggling to control growing powers. The alpha male with a cinnamon roll heart always works for me. 

Amusingly enough, all of those tropes are in THE FIERY CROWN. Go figure.

What about you - fave SFF tropes???

 

The Care and Feeding of the Writer in Your LIfe

I was away at MileHi Con this weekend and missed posting yesterday, but since James is on leave, I thought I'd cross-post my podcast, First Cup of Coffee, here. I address this week's topic at the SFF Seven: the care and feeding of the writer in your life. 

About MileHi Con and more on success as the progressive realization of a goal. Also on the care and feeding of the writer in your life - and Exciting News on the Frolic Podcast Network! Article here. https://deadline.com/2019/10/frolic-podcast-network-romance-genre-launch-1202764475/

First Cup of Coffee is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. You can find more outstanding podcasts to subscribe to at Frolic.media/podcasts! 

What Goes Around Comes Around

Please welcome the fabulous Jennifer Estep to the SFF Seven! I loved her fantasy (with an awesome slow-burn romance) KILL THE QUEEN, and now the sequel, PROTECT THE PRINCE has released and hit the USAT bestseller list! Highly recommend you check this series out. 

Jennifer is guest-posting this week's theme: Genre predictions – where is SFF headed?

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Hello! First of all, I want to thank Jeffe for inviting me to guest blog. Thanks, Jeffe! J

Where are the science-fiction and fantasy genres headed? Ah, that’s the million-dollar question, especially if you write science-fiction and/or fantasy books.

My first book, Karma Girl, a paranormal romance, was published in 2007. Back then, paranormal romance was *the* hot genre. Everybody was writing about vampires, werewolves, witches, and more.

But like many things, publishing is cyclical. When a genre suddenly becomes popular, publishers want to buy books in that genre. But as more and more books in a particular genre hit shelves, the genre quickly gets oversaturated. It becomes harder and harder for new/debut and even established authors to stand out, and sales of that genre often start to wane as readers turn to other books. Then another genre will suddenly become “hot,” and the cycle will start all over again.

It happened with paranormal romance. These days, you would probably have a much harder time selling a paranormal romance than you would have 10 years ago when the genre was hot.

I’ve seen several genres come and go over the years. After paranormal romance, urban fantasy was hugely popular for several years. Then it was young-adult books. Then new-adult books. In more recent years, thrillers/psychological suspense books have been extremely popular, and 2019 seems to be the year of the rom-com.

So what does that mean for SFF authors? It’s hard to say. There will always be a market for science-fiction and epic-fantasy books, especially since those are the two mainstays and cornerstones of the SFF genre. As for what other SFF subgenres might rise in popularity, well, that is anyone’s guess. We won’t know until it happens.

However, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see other genres/tropes start to mix in more with SFF books, especially epic-fantasy books. For example, I think we could see a melding of urban fantasy and epic fantasy. Kill the Queen and Protect the Prince in my Crown of Shards series both feature a first-person, urban-fantasy-type voice, but in an epic-fantasy world/setting. I certainly hope those kinds of books become more popular. Fingers crossed! LOL.

But I could see other genres merging with SFF – like a whodunit murder mystery set in a castle, or a heist book set in space. Or a dozen other different genre combinations. I also think that SFF romance will become more popular – books that give readers all the action, adventure, and world building of a traditional science-fiction or epic-fantasy book, but with more romance/relationships and happier endings for the characters.

And it’s not to say that these kinds of books don’t already exist – they do. I know several authors, including Jeffe, who write fantasy romance, among other things. But I think publishers will be looking for more and more unique and interesting twists on the SFF genre and that readers will be searching for books that give them more than one sort of story/reading experience – again, something like an epic-fantasy mystery or a sci-fi heist book.

There are no guarantees in publishing, and trying to predict trends is a tricky business, at best. The only thing that is certain is that trends come and go, and that a genre that seems dead right now will probably rise from the ashes like a phoenix a few years down the road.

All it takes is one book to start a trend, so I say write the SFF book that *you* want to write. Who knows, maybe your book will be the trendsetter that ushers in a new wave of popularity for SFF books.

Happy writing and reading! J

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Jennifer Estep is a New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea. 

Jennifer writes the Crown of Shards epic fantasy series. Protect the Prince, book #2, was released on July 2. 

Jennifer is also the author of the Elemental Assassin, Mythos Academy, Bigtime, and Black Blade fantasy series.  

For more information on Jennifer and her books, visit www.jenniferestep.com or follow Jennifer on Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter. You can also sign up for her newsletter,

Website: http://www.jenniferestep.com/ 

Blog: http://www.jenniferestep.com/blog/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JenniferEstepAuthor?fref=ts 

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Jennifer_Estep  (@Jennifer_Estep)

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/580315.Jennifer_Estep

Newsletter signup: http://www.jenniferestep.com/contact-jennifer/newsletter/ 

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jennifer-estep

Amazon author page: https://amzn.to/2QeDW4j 

The Future of SFF is a Reaction to Current Real World Events

Where is SFF headed? I think we're going to continue to see more stories rooted in non-western cultures. I think we're going to see more robust casts where the straight white guy is the token (and not as the Great White Savior). I don't think diverse stories are a passing fad, rather they're a change in consumer demand encouraged by Hollywood making consumers aware that representative entertainment is available to the mainstream.

I think as long as real-world politics is shit, that'll the demand for HEA in SFF is going to increase; that includes breaking grimdark's stranglehold on the bestseller lists and waning popularity of irredeemable anti-heroes. I think there will be an uptick in mass-anarchy themes, where the quests change a nation rather than bestow individual glory. I also think humorists are going to come back to SFF to shine a shaming light on the corruption and frustrations of the real world.

I'm looking forward to all of it, as a reader and a writer.

Where Is SFF Headed?

This week, the SFF Seven contemplate the SFF genre and where it's headed.

Coincidentally enough, I just returned from San Diego Comic Con and - wow! - was that an education in fandom. Of all the conferences I have attended, this one had the most wildly enthusiastic fans who were excited to put their money into those fandoms.

Sure, there was a lot of Game of Thrones cosplay - the above Daenerys was my favorite - and Marvel, but also characters from every SFF, and SFF-adjacent, storyline you can think of. The SFF publishers had booths that crawled with readers. Grace Draven and I both did signings with long lines and books that practically evaporated. In my signing, person after person told me how excited they were about THE ORCHID THRONE and how much they appreciated authors coming to comic con.

I'm thinking... these kinds of events are where it's at.

Sure, there's a lot of stuff focused on games, movie, and streaming franchises - but in the minds of people who love the stuff, it's all intertwined.

It puts me in mind of a conference I attended back in something like 2012. I asked a panel of TOR editors if they thought the HBO Game of Thrones series would galvanize popular interest in fantasy novels. (Yes - a totally self-interested question.) They were junior editors, but all looked startled, maybe even a little confused, and finally answered.... Maybe? Then they explained that they'd of course known about the A Song of Ice and Fire books by George RR Martin for so long that it hadn't really occurred to them that this could have a *new* impact.

Even then I thought... REALLY? Because I think it's obvious now that the hunger for SFF in all its forms is growing.

So where do I think the genre is headed? I think it's going to be about multi-media. I think the subgenres will continue to proliferate and blur, and that the craving for more stories with fabulous worlds of all kinds will continue to grow.

I'm definitely planning to attend more comic cons!

Being Proud of Being Different

I'm just back from #WorldCon76, which was a whirlwind of great stuff. I caught a moment of downtime at the lovely Fairmont pool, including a much-needed nap.

This week at the SFF Seven, we're asking "What are you most proud about with regards to your writing?"

It's an interesting question for me, coming out of WorldCon, which is the World Science Fiction convention. While there is some fantasy representation, the con is heavily focused on Science Fiction fandom. It's also an older institution and seems to attract a lot of the "purists" in the field.

SFF fandom can be weird that way, at least to me - and I often feel like an outsider. I sometimes joke that I'm an exoplanet. It's funny to me to discover that I'm as serious a Trekkie as any, though I never got involved in that community. And for me, coming from this blend of SFF and Romance, I'm not really what people who are solidly SSF expect.

And yeah, there's an ongoing perception of Romance Cooties. This one gal came by my autographing table and tried to explain how the romance tropes in Paranormal Romance just hit her all wrong. I explained that I don't write Paranormal Romance - and that it's quite different from Fantasy Romance - and she said "I know, but still."

There's a lot to unpack that way - about reader expectations, internalized misogyny, the perception that positive emotions are less important, that male-gaze sex and romance are fine but the female-gaze versions are "icky" - and none of that is all that relevant to this post. Except to say that it can be easy to from that kind of convention feeling "less than."

Really, any of us can find opportunities to feel that way, right?

Because, the next person to come up to my table said "I didn't know you'd be here or I would've brought all my copies of your books." Then she bought copies of all three that I had so I could sign them for her, and had me sign bookplates for the rest.

It's easy to focus on the negatives and forget the positives. I received a whole lot of positives at WorldCon. People saying I did a fantastic job on a panel, even that I was the best one on it. My fellow SFWA Board members taking time to say how much they appreciate my input on the board. Meetings with friends and fans who think I'm special.

I think that being proud of what we write takes constant reaffirmation. Like renewing vows in a marriage. I've known from the beginning that my choices would make my career more difficult. "Like wading through hip-deep snow," Catherine Asaro told me, way back before I published my first book. I could've tried to change this about myself - or at least about what I write.

I've repeatedly chosen not to. And I am proud of that.

While I'd love to have lines out the door like Seanan McGuire, I also don't want to write what she writes. I love to read her October Daye series. I don't want to write that.

So, what am I most proud of in my writing? I'm proud that I am writing the stories that I really want to tell. I've been called stubborn, but I think my tenacity has paid off and I've found an audience - one that's growing all the time. It's not easy to stand up to the pressure to fit in with the more mainstream, more successful stuff. I feel it in myself all the time. Every time someone says "Romance" with that eye-roll and sneer, I feel it. Every time someone wants to read my books and someone else warns them off because it's too sexy, I feel that pressure to change.

That's part of creating art, whatever kind beckons to us. Creating means bringing something into the world that wasn't there before - so sometimes people don't recognize right away. Or only some do.

And that's okay, too.