In my experience, the best authors enhance their stories by building on a variety of elements from existing worlds, so that the reader is both pulled in by familiarity and captivated by the novelty of ...

It’s the work of James Harris, who took 176 story-telling tropes — ranging from Etw (evil twin) to Ir (no, not Iridium, intrepid reporter) — and organized them all into a grouped table.