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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/45443
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

What are the recognizable tropes to a "train heist", or more broadly **the action sequences where a protagonist boards a moving train in order to stop it**?

My protagonist is the unreliable _guile heroine_ who has been _playing at hero_ the entire book. She typically over-inflates intrigue, misreads clues, and bumbles her way through moral conundrums. She alternates between 4D chess and being able to manipulate people by reading their reactions – meaning she has been making it up as she goes. At this point she's no longer sure if she's running a _long con_ or actually becoming a hero, but she knows she's not going to be left out.

Unfortunately I have plotted a very trope-y action climax, but now that I write it, I realize the standard action-hero tone feels wrong so I need to identify the main tropes in order to subvert them. To be clear the protagonists _do_ board the train and it does stop – that still has to happen so it's not a _failed trope_.

## How do I subvert the tropes of a train heist?

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The responses are becoming random so I've picked the top answer which addresses the question about **train heist tropes**.

The question is about **identifying established tropes** in order to invoke and subvert them, not asking to suggest random _surprise endings_ that avoid these story elements altogether – which would be too broad for this site anyway.

Original score: 18