Subverting the trope versus being the trope

To answer that, I would first start with the definition of a subverted trope.

I would then point out that the line between subverting a trope and using a trope really isn't all that fine to begin with. Either the trope is used or it isn't. See this helpful explanation of things you can do with tropes for more help with this.

Since both subverting and using a trope require you to first set up the trope, the easiest way to avoid both of these options is to simply avert the trope altogether by not setting it up in the first place.

But since you specifically asked how to do one without doing the other, I think you're just really overthinking this. By definition, if you do one you haven't done the other, unless you double-subvert the trope - but that depends on what you're trying to do in the first place. And now I'm rambling a bit, so I'll just point you to the links and hope TVTropes is more help than I am.

Harlequin said:

I feel like this is a fine line to walk, here.

How do you do the one without sliding into the other?

Click to expand...

Whenever I read a trope, I can't help but try to subvert or parody it. So, I try not to read tropes. It's helpful to know and avoid the clichés of whatever genre you're writing in, but if you get too hung up on tropes, you're never going to get anything done.

Harlequin said:

I feel like this is a fine line to walk, here.

How do you do the one without sliding into the other?

Click to expand...

I think there's actually three directions here.

There's writing a trope while not realizing it's a trope, but unconsciously following the pattern. End result might be something that feels tired and lazy. Not always, though. A good writer can spin silk out of the most common fiber.

There's writing a trope in order to subvert it (change it, twist it, turn it upside down).

And then there's writing trope deliberately with the intent of milking it for all it's worth. Owning it, in other words. Having fun with it.

And a final comment: Just about everything we write has some sort of trope in it. As King Solomon said, there's no new thing under the sun. What matters is what you do with it.

Everything is a trope; audiences and readers in some sense seek out tropes. They want a novel about a feisty heroine, or a morally ambiguous anti-hero. Don't try to subvert the trope just for the sake of it or to prove you can but if you've found something interesting in the trope that inspires you to put your own take on it, trust in your inspiration.

The Urban Spaceman said:

Whenever I read a trope, I can't help but try to subvert or parody it. So, I try not to read tropes. It's helpful to know and avoid the clichés of whatever genre you're writing in, but if you get too hung up on tropes, you're never going to get anything done.

Click to expand...

And I on the other hand love reading about tropes because I see them as the ingredients to the recipe of story-telling Are the contestants on Iron Chef "unoriginal" and "uncreative" because they use familiar ingredients in unique ways instead of inventing every single ingredient from scratch?