forum "Dead mother" - overused trope?

Started June 09, 2019 by @Kinarymo

tune

I want some opinions regarding the "dead mother" trope. Do you feel like it's overused? And if so, what would you recommend instead?

Hey, @Kohaku! Nice to meet you, I'm L.C!

I just wanted to say that while I do feel that the dead parent(s) trope is extremely common, I don't feel that it's a necessarily bad thing. As you know, there is nothing new under the sun, but this trope does and have a reason to be so common.

As a fellow writer, I'm sure you understand that to make a story interesting to its readers is having stakes. Most stories involve medium to high stakes… This isn't to say that stories with low stakes aren't interesting, but they do take lots of work to pull off convincingly.

I guess what I mean to say is that stories need stakes, if the situation your character faces is dangerous, most parents would pull their child away from those dangerous situations that they presumably aren't prepared for. Many writers choose to remedy this problem by simply killing off the parents.

As for any suggestions on alternatives: this is what I can come up with for right now. Anyone else can add onto this if they would like, since I feel like you'll want as many options as possible to consider!

• Lenient (maybe a little bit too lenient) parents.
• The child decides to go against their parent's wishes.

Okay, now I would like to add my disclaimer here: I don't know too much about your story, so please disregard this reply if it doesn't fit your story! <3

I wish you luck moving forward in your project, friend!

–L.C.

Usually, the reason why this trope exists is that the existence of the parents in the story in seen as arbitrary. The Mother is a figure in many people's lives who can shape them and has a connection easier established than the Father. Many people know how important the parents are in life, and killing one or both off makes for a very easy to understand character motivation, ie "This asshole killed [insert parental guardian here], so I'm going to defeat them in battle". It also changes the direction of the story and makes things personal in an interesting way.

Also, dont forget the old,
Kid is destined to defeat evil
evil hunts prophecy kid
attacks family
parents die protecting kid
VIOLA~! No parents.

It is an easy way out of brainstorming creative emotional tension/stakes/drama/motivations. I'm not a HUGE fan of it, but I'm not a huge fan of any trope. It depends on how well it is written and how much relevance it has in the story. Like, have I seen dozens and dozens of characters whose sole motivation is "I have to take down generic villain because my parents were killed by said evil!" However, that doesn't make it inherently wrong. Anything, regardless of how played out it is, can feel new and interesting in the hands of a gifted writer. But to answer your question…yeah, it's overused. What can you use instead?

1. Abusive or negligent parents.
2. Parents who were forced to give up their child because of some extenuating circumstance.
3. Parents who became shut off and emotionally distant because of some trauma (maybe a dead sibling).

The possibilities are endless. There are other ways to create an emotionally tense story besides a dead mom.