Category: Blog

U Is For… Unicorns – a Search for Magic in the Madness!

Contributed by Karen Ferguson.

So here we are in 2020, which couldn’t get more bizarre if it tried. One moment I was wondering how much I could squeeze into one suitcase as I packed to immigrate to a little island in the Caribbean, and the next I was sitting in the Kruger National Park of South Africa in a 5-week national lockdown. Boom. Talk about a change of plans.

But everything was going to be okay because I had unicorns around me. And they brought messages for us.

Derived from the Latin word unicornis, it literally means ‘single horn’ and it all started about 2400 years ago when the historian Ctesias laid eyes on an Indian Rhino for the very first time and described it as being the size of a horse, white in color with a purple head and blue eyes, and a single large horn protruding from the forehead.

Wait, whaaaat?

Yes, abracadabra, the unicorn is born and for centuries we’ve been enthralled. And why not? How could such a creature not be pure magic? The horn itself held its own powers and those who drank from it were believed to be protected from stomach ailments, epilepsy and poison.

Similarly, the rhino’s horn has been both its blessing and its curse and has made them a target for hundreds of years. Around 130BC it was widely believed in China that drinking from a cup made of rhino horn could literally save one’s life by detecting poison as the liquid would fizz. In today’s world it’s believed to be a cure for many things from impotence to cancer and rhinos are dying at an unsustainable rate.

*sigh

Back to the magic though. And the fact that I’ll never think of a rhino as a rhino again. Being largely solitary animals, these unicorns ‘listen more than they speak’. I’ve been around them more times than I can count and never have I heard them make a single sound.

The message…

Create a Space for Silence

‘The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.’ – Rumi

Find a space that can be dedicated solely to some daily quiet time. I picked an outside deck supposed to have been a bathroom for a treehouse, but nobody ever got that far and it’s now the loveliest yoga studio in all the universes. I keep my yoga mat ready and whenever I can, I take a few minutes to just sit and breathe. My 8-year old does it with me (for two to five minutes at a time) and so does my husband (we started with five and worked our way up to fifteen minutes).

TRY THIS:

Sit in a comfortable position with your back straight and your eyes closed. Breathe deeply and count slowly to three as you inhale and to four as you exhale. Extend that to five on the in-breath and six on the out-breath.

When you feel relaxed and your breathing is deep and even, start listening to what is around you. Identify as many sounds as you can. When you hear something pleasant, follow it for a few seconds before switching to another.

Meditation 101. Because the family that meditates together, stays together.

Seen as a symbol of stability, the African unicorn asks us to shift our thinking from a place of fear to one of adaptation.

The message…

Live with a Sense of Normality

‘Maybe it’s time to find a new normal.’ – Trish Doller

Because we simply feel better when our days have some kind of purpose. Make your bed in the morning, shower and get dressed just as if it was any normal day in the life of you.

Wear your bangles and put on a little lippy, and if you don’t have some kind of daily routine, create one!

TRY THIS:

When you wake up, pour hot water into a cup and squeeze the juice from half a lemon into the water. Sit in your favorite morning spot and drink your lemon-magic while pondering over three concepts. If you like journaling, even better:

*Think of three things you’re grateful for.

*Think of three things you’d love to get done.

*Think of three blessings for specific friends or family members.

Keep doing the little things that make you feel in control like a simple morning routine.

Even though they’re gentle, unicorns are immensely powerful and they remind us that we’re stronger than we think.

The message…

Use your Strength Wisely

‘Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you thought you couldn’t.’ – Unknown

Being the queen of trying new things, I think I’ve done them all. And most of it in my forties! I took drumming lessons and found yoga. I taught myself to sew with Aunty Google’s help, started an art journal, and went back to school. I got a helix piercing, immersed myself in sound healing and the art of manifesting, hosted five spiritual retreats in distant places like Morocco and Mykonos, and learned how to cook. For real.

TRY ONE OF THESE:

*Do an online course on something you’ve always been interested in, or finally take the time to practice the art of practicing: drumming or baking or yoga or cross-stitch or a French braid (yup that was on my list).

*Declutter your home by doing one room or area or drawer every day.

*Make your own body lotion.

*Learn to paint with watercolors.

*Plan a herb garden.

*Teach yourself tai chi.

Whatever it is you’ve always wanted to do… do that!

None of us know how this is going to end. The only thing we have is today. For some that looks better than for others, but in the midst of it all the sun still rises and sets, our children still can’t find their shoes, dishes need washing, and how we deal with one of the biggest challenges we’ll ever get to face during this lifetime still remains a choice.

I choose to search for a little magic in the madness. Just me and the unicorns.

April 24, 2020
T Is For… Talent – Natural or Learned?

Contributed by Leisa Bye.

Talent. Do you think you ‘have a talent’ or are ‘talented’ at something? I’m surprised by the number of people who don’t feel as if they do. However, I believe that everyone has talent, some have many. Talent comes in various forms. The Arts, sport, academia … life!

What is YOUR talent?

Some would say they don’t have a ‘talent’, but even if it’s not something that stands out as what you would perceive as a ‘talent’, there are people who are just better at some things than others. To me, this is talent. YOU are talented. I may even argue that your specific talent is that you are you!

I sometimes wonder is there a difference between a natural talent, or a learned talent? Is talent something we naturally have? We’re born with it – some may use the term God given. Or is it something we can learn over time. I think both kinds exist. But even if you’re born with it, you still need to craft it, right? Still need to learn ‘how to use it’? Still need to put it into practice so you get better at it? A violinist may have the natural essence of a player, and play with feeling and have an ability on picking the instrument up, but they still need to learn ‘how’ to play it, right? An athlete may be naturally gifted, but they still need to train, right?

Using myself as an example. I’m an award winning singer and yodeller … now! I’ve been singing since I was 12. But I wasn’t always able to do what I do now, I didn’t always win awards. When I first started, I was terrible. Actually, I was TERRIBLE. It deserves the capitals! I couldn’t sing in key, I couldn’t sing in time, I had no idea how to stick to a melody… but when it came to stage performance and confidence, I had tonnes!

I was told by a number of people that I should just stop singing. That I wasn’t talented. I actually had people tell me I was terrible. To be blunt it was quite obvious that I wasn’t good. But I had confidence on my side, and I didn’t think I could be as bad as what everyone was telling me I was, surely! So I kept going, I didn’t give up. I knew I wasn’t good, but I wanted to do it. I had the drive to do it. I practiced, I probably should have had some lessons, but practice I did. For three whole years I competed in singing competitions without winning a single award, then one day, they gave me an encouragement award – for yodelling!

I had two people in my life who were the major reasons I continued to persevere to learn my talent. My mother, and the president of the country music club we were members of. My brother was a fabulous singer, he was able to just sing, he had a beautiful voice. So we were always around music. But this man told my mother that ‘if that little girl wants to sing, we’ll do everything we can so she can sing’. And once a week she took me to his family’s home and he tried to find keys, helped me with timing, made me feel like I mattered, and that me wanting to sing also mattered. Someone took the time to want to help me. He told me as an adult that he wanted to put the guitar down and give up sometimes, but he’s so glad that he didn’t, and so am I. Thank you, Hughie.

As an adult I am the prime example of someone who people perceive as being talented. Yet I didn’t always have it, I learned it over time.

My mother is also the same. She sings and has a beautiful voice. But when she was in Year 4 at school she took up the violin. The Nuns at her school hit her hands and told her she wasn’t allowed to continue as she was tone deaf. It wasn’t until she was in her 40’s that she tried music, this time singing, again. She has now been enjoying performing (singing and playing guitar) for over 25 years. And she is wonderful!

It makes me wonder how many out there have been told something similar in their lives. That they’re not good at something, so they don’t continue with it. Yes, talent can be natural, but it can also be learned. Our world is enriched by the talent of others.

So next time you think there’s something you don’t like that someone else does, maybe keep that opinion close to your chest, as you never know talent you may stifle in someone.

We need to celebrate everyone’s unique abilities – their talent!

Thank you, Hughie, for sticking with me!

That very first award, a yodelling encouragement … after competing for three years.

4 years after that first award.

And MANY years on from that first award.

April 23, 2020
S Is For… Solution Focused!

Contributed by Coach Jonni.

You might have heard all the kerfuffle in recent years about Positive Psychology and happiness.

Good stuff! And let’s be realistic, happiness is internal; it comes from within you right?

Even though happiness can show as a smile on your face, a brightening of the eyes, happiness is all about your body naturally producing pleasure chemicals to make you feel extra good.

Okay, so, since we cannot always control what’s happening around us (like a pandemic, for instance), how can we dwell on solutions rather than focus on problems?

How do you create your positive solution focus?

Move toward instead of away from something. Instead of I don’t want to feel cooped up during shelter-in-place, how about I will be energetic and joyful during quarantine? Picture yourself being energetic and joyful and then live it.

Or use an if/when then statement: If I get stuck during a work assignment then I will take a 20 minute break in order to get back to productive work. Or When I catch myself reaching for an unhealthy snack then I will go for fresh fruit instead.

Proven effective, reframing a negative goal (I want to stop doing something) to a positive statement (I am going to do something) tells your brain chemicals to be more positive.

Have a wonderful time creating your own internal positive solutions instead of concentrating on negative problems!

Bio:

Jonni Lukenbill-Bowles is a Career Counselor and Lifestyle Coach in the midwestern United States. See more about Jonni on sageprairie.net and her blog at sageprairiestudio.com . Write to Jonni at CoachJonni AT CoachJonni DOT com.

April 22, 2020
R Is For… Reiki – Reality or Rubbish

Contributed by Victoria.

I am Victoria. I am a Reiki Master Practitioner and Teacher. I am.

Reiki is a word comprised of two Japanese words, Rei – meaning Higher Knowledge or Wisdom and Ki – Life Force or Light Energy. Reiki, the technique I am discussing, is a form of vibrational healing.

When I began my journey into the realm of Reiki, I truly thought it was rubbish… I found myself unable to come to terms with anyone not medically trained being able to promote healing in themselves or another living being. But I wanted to believe! I was open to sitting amongst other men and women of varying ages, listening to stories about fasting, and messages from the Divine. I was fascinated by the prospect of someone running energy through their own body to benefit another person. Part of my training included a process called an Attunement… Where Source Energy that has been passed down from Teacher – to Student, who becomes Teacher – to Student (Reiki Lineage) was then shared with me. The Student.

I half expected nothing to happen – I half expected my world to turn upside down. What happened was somewhere in the middle. During my initial Attunement, I felt awash in a feeling of safety and well-being – of what I imagine Peace to be. I witnessed my first Animal guide – which, I have to say, I was initially quite disappointed with. As the Attunement was being done, I saw multiple colors then quite clearly, a Salmon jumped before me…. You read that correctly. A Salmon. Not a Dolphin, or Whale, not a Bear or a Deer or an Eagle. A Salmon. I quickly realized this was a wonderful gift, but my initial reaction was more along the lines of “Of course it is an animal that spends it’s time swimming up-stream – how fitting” Alas, that is a story for another day.

I began practicing the skills I had been taught, breathing exercises, visualization, meditation, hand placements… and I realized I felt better than I could ever remember feeling. I had suffered chronic headaches since I was a child. Not a day went by that I didn’t suffer with head pain… sometimes at the base of my skull, sometimes directly behind my eyes, sometimes Migraine. Every. Single. Day. After a week of daily practice, my headaches were gone. For the first time in my memory, I didn’t wake up and immediately grab for my medication.

Normally Students will take 6 months to a year between Reiki I and Reiki II trainings however, I was determined to learn as much and as quickly as I possibly could. I began my Reiki II training just 3 months later. I learned various techniques and experienced feelings, visions, emotions and knowing such as never before. I have always been intuitive, sensitive / borderline batshit crazy (and I say this with love and affection, as I know Mental capacities are different for everyone) – I began experiencing all those magnified. Reiki opened a door I had long ago closed. I began to see things in my life as they were, not as I had wanted them to be. This started me on a journey of self-discovery, of facing hard truths and of the most amazing, soul deep healing I never imagined.

This second course hit me so intensely in fact, that I shut it down after about 3 months of intense daily work. It frightened me. The strength of my own experiences was simply too much. For almost two years, I waited. When I contacted my Reiki Master / Teacher to ask about additional training, she wasn’t surprised. She had been waiting for my call. She knew I would be back when I was ready.

Ready. I was ready. I was hungry for more. I felt called to pursue the ability to share my experience with others… I also figured if I was going to be seeing, feeling, hearing, and knowing things, I better figure out how to work with them. That’s exactly what I’ve done. I am now a Certified Reiki Master and Teacher myself. While I still live with migraine headaches, I don’t have a continuous headache every day. I am no longer afraid of my own Shadow – theoretically speaking, I like her! I have a keen connection with animals and have been able to assist many of them past issues that had kept them from experiencing the trust in humans they so desperately need. I see people for who they are – not as who they present themselves to be. I can speak publicly without crying. I assist others on their own journey to sort or their own rubbish to the reality they were born for.

If you doubt the ‘power’ of Reiki, do what I did…. Learn it, practice, then tell me what you’ve decided.

Find Victoria online, here.

April 21, 2020
Q is for Queer (Sci Fi)

Contributed by J. Scott Coatsworth, author, publisher, and community organizer.

When ACatherine Noon asked me to write something for the Writer Zen Garden, I had no idea what I should write about. And she was no help whatsoever, giving me only the letter Q as a prompt.

Fortunately the word “queer” came to the rescue.

Queer has a long history in Western Culture. Probably coming from the German word “quer,” it meant something odd or perverse. It wasn’t until the 1900s that it became attached to sexual orientation, specifically gay men, and by the 1950’s it was a fairly widespread slur for men who preferred the company of other men.

As such, it became a source of great pain for gay men who grew up in that era, and who heard it sneered at them by straight men, often accompanied with threats of violence, or worse.

I was born in 1968, and grew up after the word queer had fallen out of general use as a slur in most places. The word faggot took its place for my generation, and I still have a hard time even writing that vile word. So it gives me a window into how the word “queer” makes the baby boomer generation feel even now.

In the 1980’s the gay and lesbian community (later the GLB, GLBT, LGBT, LGBTQ, and LGBTIQA, but that’s a whole ‘nuther conversation about evolution and inclusivity) decided it wanted to reclaim the word, and began using it themselves to remove the sting. Even so, it’s still fraught for many folks to this day.

Marissa Higgins at “Bustle” describes the inherent difficulties in the use of the word well:

“As I remarked before, whether or not someone identifies with and uses the word “queer” is an intensely personal decision. For myself personally, the word ‘queer’ is one I use comfortably when it comes to academic discourse and discussing the ‘community.’ I avoid using it as a way of describing others, and generally avoid using it as a way to describe my own orientation, as I prefer a more specific label. Admittedly, as a woman of the Millennial generation who grew up in a relatively liberal area, I never experienced ‘queer’ as a slur, so I have fewer negative feelings attached to it than many of my peers, especially those in the older generation.”

When I created Queer Sci Fi in 2014, I was looking for a word that would encompass the entire community. I chose “queer” because “rainbow” and “lavender” were so overdone, LGBT seemed insufficient for inclusivity, and LGBTIQA was such a mouthful.

But the generational divide over the word is real and persistent. I’ve had some of the older folks in the community take great offense at the use of the word “queer” in the Queer Sci Fi moniker. It hasn’t happened in a while, but a discussion in 2018 about which words we should use as a community showed that there was still a fair amount of disgust with the word “queer” among our elders.

I am a big fan of reclamation, and also of inclusion. “Queer” serves both those purposes, and so It works for Queer Sci Fi and QueeRomance Ink.

But we must always be mindful of the history of it, and the harm it once did to our community.

We still have a lot of work to do.

April 20, 2020
P Is For… Poetry! … Or Is It?

Contributed by Jessica Lea.

P is for poetry, my current passion. But, of course, P also stands for PANDEMIC. Which I don’t want to write about…but how can it be avoided? Worlds turned upside down – or inside (not out).

Everywhere I turn, there it is. An infestation tainting art, music, poetry. News. I am just so tired and want to escape, read my books about the fae and dream about hiding in a forest wearing these incredible handcrafted shoes I can order from Australia that look like leaves.

My seven-year-old daughter and I are roommates now because she can’t fall asleep, stay asleep, or have a good night’s sleep without waking with nightmares. I am in an alternative universe – the separation of work and home gone replaced by four furry co-workers and two students. Everything is in slow motion. And I don’t have extra time on my hands – just extra responsibilities. And anxiety.

Former in person meetings and classes are now on Zoom. All screens flash with free art and writing classes, museum and zoo tours, authors reading their work. Expectations that we artists should be (even more) productive proportionate to the increase in free time due to being “stuck” at home. So many options to spend this elusive increase in time being creative that it is completely overwhelming.

It’s National Poetry Month and I had a very serious goal to write at least one poem. Every. Single. Day. Newsflash: goals may not reflect reality despite the encouragement and good intentions of books, blogs, social media, email lists, and meditation apps. I am not helping to pave that road.

So, I have done some things. Maybe not as much as I expected or pressured myself to. I am enough. I am going to go at my own pace – and this is your permission to go at yours.

April 18, 2020
O Is For… Out of the Box!

Contributed by Suzie Brown.

I grew grew up very much in the box, many of them actually. The Christian box. The perfect daughter box. The A student box. The best friend sister box. As I grew older, it seems, I grew more boxes too. The perfect mom and wife box. The nurse box. The martyr for everyone box.

There were always little cracks in these boxes and I worked hard to hide them, to fix them. I had premarital sex, bad. I hated housekeeping and cooking, so bad. I cheated on my husband, practically evil.

Until one day my boxes just exploded. I left my husband in a spur of the moment decision. My kids stayed with their dad and I was no longer behind any walls. I started drinking, doing drugs, and sleeping around, a lot. I was so far out of the boxes of my past that I got totally lost.

After about a year Walter and I found each other. I truly believe we saved each other. With Walter and I there are no more boxes. I feel free to do and study whatever I want. I’m free to re-invent myself and my world however I want. I’m now the wife, the mom, the nurse, and the spiritual being I’ve always wanted to be. I’m doing, learning, and believing many things that those still in their boxes don’t understand.

The best thing about about being out of the box is that I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I’m free to be me without walls and I can honestly say I’ve never been happier. So if you, too, are peeking out of the little cracks in your box, trying to find the real you, I hope you find the strength and courage to explore the world outside your box. If you do or don’t know that I will love you just as you are.

Peace!!

April 17, 2020
N Is For… Needs, Noodles and Nowhere…Living in the time of COVID-19

Contributed by Piper Strick.

First, let me tell you who I am and what I do for a living. That will set the stage for what’s to follow. At my core, I’m a helper! I try to help people see new perspectives, try new behaviors, examine their thinking, be more effective…essentially become a better version of themselves. My job requires this of me as I’m responsible for talent management and development. Even some of my friends and family have come to rely on me for these skills. What’s been interesting recently is the need to learn to help MYSELF. For some reason, that’s harder…much harder. So I’ve employed a journal and some guided exercises from the experts. Here are some of my lessons from working in a world with Coronavirus over the past several weeks.

Needs

At the start of all this, five weeks or so ago, I found myself whining a bit. My mental monologue included statements of fact like, “But I NEED to be with people!” “I need to wear all the cute shoes in my closet.” “I need to be somewhere other than my house.” Pretty quickly I found that my perspective was quite negative. And upon examination, I realized these weren’t actually needs but wants. From then on, when I feel like I’m missing out on something I ask myself, “Is this a need to have or a nice to have?” If it’s merely a nice to have, I put it on a list to keep track of it for when I can do that thing or have that thing again. If it’s a need to have, I ask the next question. “Do I need this now, or in the near future?” If now, I figure out a way to get it, or at least something close to it. These questions have allowed me to let go of the expectations that aren’t realistic during a time of crisis and stay at home orders.

Noodles

I’ve found food to be important for my mental health as well so with NO guilt, I’m eating what makes me feel good (in moderation). What can I say? Noodles are delicious and make me happy. So do nachos, nectarines, and nuts. I make sure to get the healthy stuff in my diet regularly, too, of course. Recognizing how the foods I eat affect my mood and my body has been quite helpful. When I know I feel better after eating a salad than I do after eating a toaster strudel, I make a better, more conscious choice. But, don’t get me wrong, noodles are necessary!

Nowhere

Often these days I feel like I’m going nowhere. I’m sequestered and feel that my freedom has been taken away. What has helped with this is taking a few minutes at the end of each day to write about what I’m grateful for in my journal. It helps me realize that I DO have choice, over many things. And whenever I feel stuck I go outside because nature is beautiful. Soak it in. Recognize it. Revel in the wonder of a night sky. I hope this post has given you something to noodle about (see what I did there?).

April 16, 2020
M Is For… Motivation!

Is there such a thing as self-motivation? Perhaps, but a shared load is halved, right?

It’s tough enough to stay motivated on a good day; shelter-in-place is making it harder for most of us.

How do we motivate when our new normal is commuting 20 feet to the home office? Except for a few video conferences most of us are cut off from motivational confabs with the coworkers.

I know of one executive who is attempting to make a go of it in a more excellent way than just getting through another day. His wife also is working from home and they have small children who need to get schoolwork done. They motivate each other by keeping a routine: wake and sleep times have stayed the same as before with both spouses taking turns keeping the kids moving while the adults work through their day. Easy? Not really, but definitely stimulating.

I keep a routine as best I can (never have been good at it). My husband and I lavish motivational praise on each other for completing even the most mundane tasks. Keeps us going!

I also make it a point to share motivational texts with a few besties during the day: quick snappy messages that are joyful and encouraging. Keeping it short can still connect you without being disruptive of your work schedule. You can always have a longer, more relaxed chat after the workday is done.

So, who can you share a motivational moment with? What positive reinforcement can you gift someone?

You’ll feel less isolated and more productive by sharing motivational forces with your household loved ones and your remote partners-in-captivity.

Go on, enjoy sharing some positive motivation, have a delightfully productive day.

Bio:

Jonni Lukenbill-Bowles is a Career Counselor and Lifestyle Coach in the midwestern United States. See more about Jonni on sageprairie.net and her blog at sageprairiestudio.com . Write to Jonni at CoachJonni AT CoachJonni DOT com.

April 15, 2020
L Is For… Learning About Tropes; and Theme vs Trope vs Motif, and What About How?

Contributed by Sela Carsen.

I’ve been writing romance for… well, let’s just say a long time. A very long time. I write this genre because I love it. For all the ups and downs and ins and outs, the vast variety of stories speaks to me.

But that doesn’t mean that I’m done learning. Even things that sound simple aren’t always easily understood, so it’s important to constantly study. Just last week, I had an epiphany around a word I thought I knew, until I began to examine it more closely.

Let’s talk about tropes. But to do that, we’re going to work our way through motifs and themes first.

Thesis: I’ve come to believe that we typically call a “trope” might be more usefully defined (at least for my own purposes) as a plot motif.

Theme: What’s the heart-meaning of this story?

Motif: What symbols, metaphors, or characters can I use to reinforce and illustrate that meaning?

Trope: What commonly identifiable plot structures can I use to reinforce and illustrate that meaning?

To take an example that’s commonly misidentified as a trope: “billionaire romance.” This is, in fact, a motif, but it is neither a theme nor a trope.

“Billionaire romance” hinges on a commonly recurring character, so it’s sort of a motif, but really, it’s little more than a job description that we use as shorthand for a specific type of character. It’s not even a particular archetype of a character, except as “hero,” and then it doesn’t really define which type of hero very well. Is he the hard working and polite hero? The trickster rogue hero? The hero who was born under a lucky star?

It says nothing about the story itself. It’s just… a guy with money, which isn’t especially heroic, in and of itself, but it’s often touted as a romance trope. How does “guy with money” make the leap to being called a trope?

It doesn’t. It’s just a character. A character is not a trope, and it’s only a motif inasmuch as the character archetype illustrates the theme of the story.

By that reasoning, then, we can take away all the “this type of character” elements of romance that we love – biker, geeky heroine, virgin hero, boy next door, kickass heroine – and put them aside as Motifs, Not Tropes.

So how does a trope compare to a theme? Are they the same thing?

Nope. Theme is more like “what’s the meaning of this story?” Is it trying to teach a lesson, or illustrate an element of human nature, or, to use that high school lit class question, is it man vs man, man vs nature, man vs himself, etc?

The literary world uses the word “theme” like a 20-lb sledge hammer. “But what does it MEAN?” they ask, as if the question itself has meaning.

“Is it about how beauty rots from the inside?”

“Does it boil down to the meaningless nature of life?”

Oy. Some people need to get over themselves.

But the sharp stick up the literati’s collective ass doesn’t negate the idea that a lot of romance is based on the central themes of Hope or Redemption or Truth or any number of wonderfully positive ideals.

But an ideal or a theme doesn’t tell you how the story is going to go. That’s where plot comes in. And that’s where tropes come in. If we take the idea that a trope is really a plot motif that fortifies the theme, let’s work it out with some examples.

Let’s take the theme of “Truth.”

One way you could illustrate the theme is by using the trope of “Fake Dating.” It’s usually employed because one or both parties want to pull the wool over someone else’s eyes. They’re lying and the plot hinges on them working their way up to telling the truth – to themselves, to each other, to everyone else.

You could also illustrate the theme of Truth by using the tropes of “Marriage of Convenience” or “Love Triangle” or “Secret Baby.” Those are the vehicles you use to get to the main idea of Truth.

Let’s do another one. Say, “Redemption.”

My favorite Redemption storyline is “Beauty and the Beast.” The Beast can only be redeemed – become human again – by learning self-sacrifice and pure, giving love. So the trope, the storyline, the plot of Beauty and the Beast is one way to illustrate the theme of Redemption.

Another possible trope/plot motif to illustrate the same theme would be “Second Chance.” One or both of them screwed up earlier and now they have to forgive. They have to redeem their chance to love again.

So there are many different tools that can be used to illustrate the same theme. A trope is simply the commonly identifiable plot structure you use to get there.

Bio: Sela Carsen is an award-winning author of paranormal and sci-fi romance — with or without sex and dead bodies. Your pick. She maintains a permanent nerd-on for fairytales and mythology, and openly hoards reference books about obscure folklore. Born a wanderer, she and her family have finally settled in the Midwest. Until they move again, at least.

April 14, 2020