“It’s a grumpy/sunshine book, and there’s only one bed! Eeeeeek!”
Ever feel like book reviews or BookToks are speaking in a cryptic code that you can’t decipher? Something that goes beyond mere skibidi youth slang and “we’re-all-in-a-hurry” shortcuts like comps? There is one culprit for that, and it isn’t going anywhere: tropes.
What’s a trope?
In literary terms, a trope is a plot device or character attribute that is (over)used so commonly in a genre that it’s seen as commonplace, conventional or even cliché.
It’s a romance and the two protagonists who can’t stand each other pretend to be in a relationship for the sake of appearances? Guess what, they’re getting together for real and you can’t stop them. Are you currently reading a superhero book? There’s probably a villain who wants to take over the world, right?
Tropes are very useful to both writer and readers. They are so ubiquitous they cannot be copyrighted, so all the plagiarism scandals about one author using the other author’s “idea”, which turns out to be a basic love triangle trope, are just silly.
Not many books will achieve greatness by just stringing a bunch of tropes together, however. A wise author will use tropes as a jumping point and play with (or against) them as much as their creativity allows, to avoid a stale, predictable manuscript. House Andrews basically have trope torture chambers, you can hear the poor twisted things crying for mercy in each book, and that’s why I love them.
For us readers, tropes are an invaluable tool when we look for our next adventure. I always want romances with Cinnamon Roll heroes, will rarely pick up a Second Chance novel and can’t abide a miscommunication trope.
Tropes are also a way to ease us into a story with something familiar. “A book with magical detectives and political conspiracies? I don’t know if I would…oh, it’s got a Secret Billionaire? Oh yeah, give me 6 of them.” – someone about to join the BDH after reading Hidden Legacy, probably.
Trope trends
A website that can suck hours of your time in its rabbit holes is TV Tropes. You will also start making jokes that only the Chosen Ones understand, but that’s the Rule of Cool hehe.
I’ll give you just a few of my favorite things: raindrops on roses The Chunky Salsa Rule, Red Oni, Blue Oni, the Iron Butt Monkey, Applied Phlebotinum, Crapsaccharine World.
Once you start to recognise tropes everywhere, it also becomes apparent how they constantly go in and out of style and become viral or cancelled, according to the waves of social media opinion and the world (hopefully) learning better in some cases.
In the romance genre, we are currently living through the last days of Grumpy/Sunshine viralness (a subset of the Opposites Attract, where one of the characters is moody, taciturn, saturnine and the other one is a bubbly, chatty ray of sunshine). Enemies to Lovers is still going strong, after defeating the previous reigning champion, Fated Mates (who smell each other; what were we all thinking lol?). Forced Consent and Age Gap are relegated to the backstage or taboo indies. It might make your favorites harder to find or write about for commercial success, but I hope for a world where no one can dictate to adults what they should be reading.
What tropes are you interested in or glad to see the last of?
Edit: please keep it to discussion about tropes and not specific book or author recommendations. There will be designated blog posts for that!
Oh God, I really, really, really dislike miscommunication! One honest conversation and the plot would be resolved in a page and a half. Just talk to each other. Sheesh.
+ 1000
It makes me want to throw the book across the room
On the one hand, I frequently agree. OTOH, I have read newspaper advice columnists daily for over 50 years. While I haven’t actually counted, I would estimate that this is the root of well over half the letters published. The fact is that it’s really easy to chicken out of asking someone for clarification.
That can be a function of either person’s temperament, and most often it’s both. We tend to gravitate to partners whose communication style is familiar, even if that familiarity is negative. So the original speaker may simply be insensitive, or might be flat-out narcissistic, and the other person may be cautious about speaking up because they’re used to someone who reacts badly to that.
Or, the listener may be afraid of having to leave the speaker if they find out something they don’t want to know. So they don’t ask. They’re afraid to rip that bandaid off and reveal the wound. And if the original speaker doesn’t notice the nonverbal response and offer further conversation to clarify, the downward spiral continues.
So it’s a fine line between what I think of as realistic miscommunication, a very broad category, and what I consider BS manufactured misunderstanding. This is one of those YMMV things that are probably determined in large part by one’s own life experience. I certainly read RL letters almost daily that make me want to bang my head on things just as much as any ridiculous fictional scene does.
Hear hear! (and they don’t).
I tend to find that knowing the tropes ahead of reading a new book is too much of a spoiler for my taste – especially if the central trope is so obvious that I know how the book will end by the time I’ve read the back cover!
On the other hand, if I’m actively comfort-reading after a tough day the tropes are more of a factor – then I can include or exclude real-life issues depending on whether I’m looking for encouragement or a mental holiday 🙂
I cannot abide a love triangle. Almost any other trope can be done well, but a hero that doesn’t know his/her own mind and tortures others with their own indecision is not for me.
This is a great topic, I HATE bullying or dude was horrible /abusive but women takes him back but he still is the same. Is this second chance?
I really like forced proximity and strong fmc with adventure/world saving (is there a name for this one?).
I love anything that manages to work in snark, with emotional layers and a quest. Loner with found family and strong sense of self who works towards making the world a better place.
I despise:
1. Weak heroines who rely on big strong men despite their supposed intelligence and stellar abilities. Oh, and the use of baby talk and whining. Bleck!
2. Any kind of harem trope, reverse or otherwise, unless it’s a plucky heroine who infiltrates one to steal or save something. I guess I’m a loyal monogamist;)
3. When the book blurb uses first person and goes infomercial as to why you’ll love this book. I don’t need someone telling me what to think- I’d rather make an informed decision based on plot/character basis.
4. I know this one is a pet peeve, but if there are a bunch of grammatical errors and homonyms in the book blurb. It seems disrespectful to the reader, like the author doesn’t care about producing quality work. I mean, beta readers and edits only make writers stronger, right? Invariably, it transfers to the story itself.
To clarify, I have no problem with the occasional typo in the body of the work- I mean, we’re all human, and there are a ton of words to get through- it would be super weird not to have a few. But in the book description? Ick!
It truly bothers me. Nine times out of ten, if you start reading the book anyway, it’s like a glitter bomb of bad grammar/spelling/homonym usage exploded inside, and no matter how hard you try to get past it to follow the story, you just keep finding glitter everywhere. I find it too distracting, and stop reading.
Truthfully, I’ve always wondered how authors view the editing process, and the importance of grammar. I fully admit that I am in search of the perfect commas save lives T-shirt. You know, the old, “Let’s eat kids,” versus, “Let’s eat, kids!” schtick.
I love me a good contract or fake marriage/dating trope, or forced cohabitation. love grumpy/sunshine! as long as the grump isn’t mean or alpha a*hole!
I hate hate hate the accidental baby trope especially when combined with billionaire trope. like wtf. like previous comments, if I see the word millionaire billionaire on the cover I’m out. if I see baby on the cover I’m also out.
I hear you on that. It pisses me off that the author would do that to a good female lead. Just baby-bomb her life out of nowhere. That takes an author off my to be read immediately!
I’m a sucker for a good friends-to-lovers trope book. And on days when I’m feeling morose, I like a good shifter book with oppressed-heroine-rising-out-of-the-ashes-to-save-herself trope
THISSSSSS!!!
I love a good (or bad) enemies to lovers trope. it’s got that slow burn that makes you want to smack everyone involved with a trout. Even better, when there’s a bond they’re resisting and/or repeatedly try to kill each other during their journey.
I have completely grown out of the “coming of age” tropes (I assume it’s a trope, I suppose). Books, movies, TV… doesn’t matter… I just can’t relate to that anymore and refuse to read it. If I see a synopsis that mentions teens or early 20s, I’m on guard immediately.
On the plus side, I do like an Alpha… though not so much the uber-alpha complete jerk style. More like extreme competence, some arrogance, plus protective instincts. Plus intelligent women… Kate and Curran are totally my faves.
I can handle any trope as long as the writing is stellar and there are compelling characters. Plenty of snark is a bonus. I would have said the villain to hero trope but then there was Hugh and what can I say — stellar. However, I am only willing to indulge an author for a few chapters but if the writing isn’t strong or the characters engaging, I close the book and move on. At 70 I’m too old to read lousy writing.
Jan F – you saved me a bunch of typing. At 78 I am in total agreement with what you said.
Seconded. Although the snark can be overdone if it happens at critical moments where focus is a life-or-death requirement.
Jan F … Me too! Exactly
Terrible trope: Love Potions. Your hero and heroine have overcome all obstacles to their love, but you still need to pad things out for another 15 chapters? Do you not feel like doing the work of creating interesting conflicts or obstacles for your characters to overcome? Feed one of them a love potion. Your readers will snore with excitement.
Reading the tropes reminds me of my favorite TV Deus Ex Machina (which I normally hate) The bad guys were totally winning and there was no way to defeat them because they had all the weapons. The good guys were pinned down and out of options. Then the bad guys started fighting over who would get to use the freeze ray that was their invincible weapon and they managed to freeze themselves. The last line in the episode was the leader of the good guys, as they realized what had happened. “Well, that went better than I expected.”
The easter egg earlier in the episode was the offhand comment, “How are they doing this? They are bay guys and shouldn’t be able to work together like this.”
Still makes me laugh.
My favorite trope is competent female characters. I want her to be strong and know how to solve problems. That doesn’t mean she isn’t in tough situations or has to make sacrifices but when she’s faced with them she knows what to do. I also love a friend’s to lovers slow burn romance. The build up and longing makes the payoff to die for.
I’m a sucker for the fake dating trope, along with enemies to lovers, and friends to lovers. I’ve been on a Rom-com reading kick lately, and all three of those show up a lot, sometimes in combination, which is my catnip! There are a lot tropes out there I enjoy, but just as many that will make me DNF a book so fast…
I grew up in the 90s. there is a ton wrong with Aladdin that i didn’t understand then, but diamonds in the rough is my ride or die trope. (I really didn’t understand why girls were dressing up as Jasmine as she didn’t impress first grade me)
I personally can not STAND the “fated mates” trope. It’s just so teen-ish/YA-ish “I wouldn’t have to go through all this angst of actually getting to know someone of the opposite sex if I could just KNOW who is my fated other instantly” cr*p that it makes me want to throw a book across the room. It takes WORK to form a relationship and make it work out long term, not just “fate”! And as a mature reader (who has made her own relationship work out for 33 years and counting) I am looking for that element in the romances/relationships I read about as well.
I love competence porn, but only if it applies to both. That is why I love Silver Shark and Fated Blades and of course Kate so much.
Not sure where this one falls as a trope, but I’m currently enjoying the down-on-their luck MC, so HAS to work for or as the villain – and they find out it’s fun!
RE Ohio: Well, a number of decades ago we burned a river and then recently a train killed a town. So we have that going for us.
Yes, I’m an Ohio native.
The trope I dislike the most is “I had to cheat on you for your own good”. I’ve seen it in a few contemporary second chance romances and one paranormal romance. Usually the hero has had a bad thing happen to him: a curse, a physical handicap/injury, emotional issues, etc. which will effect him for the rest of his life or destroy his career. He has a wonderful relationship with the heroine, who would never leave him for something so trivial. So he has to destroy his relationship with the heroine by either actively cheating on her or pretending to cheat on her, so that it drives her away (because he knows that she can now do better than him and have a better life without him). I find this quite infuriating and incites feelings of kindle throwing. The heroine always forgives him for his stupidity.
I’m with you on the miscommunication trope, I think it’s laziness on the author’s part, but I know it happens sometimes. So, if I happen to start this kind of book, I usually finish it….eventually.
Love enemies/antagonists to lovers, mainly to see how they overcome their issues. If they happen to be grumpy/sunshine trope, I’ll endure.
I love it when the Knight In Shining Armor is female and the Damsel In Distress is manly enough to be rescued. Role reversal in an apocalyptic setting is a plus.
And everything needs a bit of fierce battle, clever magic, and soulful loving/caring.
I just don’t want to be able to predict exactly what’s going to happen. If I wanted to do that, I would write my own. So use any trope you want, outside the icky coercion ones, but keep me guessing a little.
Also at this point in life (mid 60s) my brain seems to be wired for a particular balance of elements like character, humor, action, setting, romance etc. If any of those get weighted at the expense of others, it makes reading tougher for me.
*Also omit the fated partners one. Predestination, really? Never could wrap my mind around that one.
I just can’t grok the trope of men having babies. I love a good M/M romance, and happy if they adopt or otherwise love to raise kids. I’m fine with all the lovely fantasy abilities — delighted if they can teleport, turn invisible, manifest, necromance, shift into wolves, or fly thru the air, but I won’t read M/M books where the submissive male gets pregnant.
A trope I really like, but that’s hard to find, is something like “backstage in fairyland/space”–basically, small stories about regular people living somewhat ordinary lives, but in a fantastical setting. Innkeeper has some of that (and lots of other reasons to love it), and the Wilmington Years, also, although those are more like “secretly most-badass-people ever *trying* to live somewhat ordinary lives.”
Unfortunately, these sometimes turn into a trope I really don’t like (not House Andrews books!). I don’t know what to call it, maybe The Chosen One? but in a series, when the main character gradually gains new powers with every book and turns out to be the the Most Powerful Being In the Universe who everyone loves all the time and who is fated to save said universe. I don’t give up on many books/series but I’ve bailed out of a few of these.
Oh, and one I absolutely cringe from is “wrongly accused”–I just can’t read or watch those. I don’t think they’re inherently bad, they just push the wrong buttons for me and I revert to my childhood running-out-of-the-room-at-kissing reactions. Even if I really like the book otherwise, I’ll have to skip ahead to where the truth comes out and then maaaybe go back to read the under-suspicion chapters.
I have spent far too much time on tvtropes. The site should filter through a PSA warning you to stay away.
Tropes I absolutely cannot stand, bully/I’m helpless against your touch tropes. UGH!
Guilty pleasure tropes Hallmark tropes.
Other ones I love are yes
I will add the trope I dislike are the mafia/outlaw tropes. If they are bad men then why on earth would I find them a likeable character? It seems mafia books are abundant right now and I just can’t.
Weak to strong is my current go to. Though preferably there is actual growth and not insta success. That’s boring. Isekai/ reincarnation is a strong second. I do like romance included but I tend toward those that have more to the plot then the 2 characters just falling in love
I love female questers, friends to lovers, found family, shared competence to solve a problem. I also really like to see enemies to allies and redemption arcs for the side villains.
Hate sacrificing yourself or the relationship for the good of the other person without discussing it with them. Most miscommunication trope lasting longer than a couple days drives me nuts. I will never understand when the characters see their significant other kiss/hug someone else and immediately turn away, thereby missing the rejection of unwanted advances and creating more misunderstandings.
Also, any story that stars with the leads sleeping together with one or both of them drugged or drunk, which is frequently paired with the aggravating I’m back with your precocious kid, is off my to read list.
Call it Lies Bite Back. I don’t like liars, and I don’t like lies, and I don’t like stories that start out with her (usually her) telling a complete stranger an apparently harmless lie, generally to cover embarrassment. And then it bites back… No mas, por favor.
Let me know when you want my favorite misused or overused word. (Hint: it’s “massive,” which, friends, means heavy. Not big, heavy. Heavy. Not necessarily big.
Sorry – I still love a well written “fated mates” story. 😉
i may be old school, but i miss the ‘hero’s journey’ tropes, i just don’t find those stories anymore, it’s always subversions instead. i also love ‘coming of age’ stories
Don’t know if it’s a trope, but I need angst.
Never will read a love triangle.
Can we please get rid of the “my parent’s marriage failed so of course mine will to” trope? Like shoot it off to Jupiter?!
Tropes I really dislike:
miscommunication tropes – really want to stab those with something pointy
guy helps girl discovery her inner strength – I mean, it was ok in Karen Marie Moning, but most of the time soooo patronizing
Tropes I like:
strong, smart women who can handle their own s&*t (is this a trope? Either way, it’s the bestest)
realistic love – not that fluffy rainbow and sunshine stuff, but real relationships with real, well, all the things
for a more typical trope – forced proximity – this can be great fun when done well, and can include funny entertaining conversations at its best
one that i hate is the male interest who is in the Mob/MC/evil gang who is evil, evil, evil and the too stupid to live female lead who does not run for the hills the second she claps eyes on him. Why are the writers who write that doing it? If he’s in the trafficking industry, why in the world would anyone think “He lliuurrvvveeesss me and won’t do that to me.” Yes he will in a New York minute. He has no reason not too. you aren’t any different than all the other people he’s trafficing/getting hooked on drugs etc.
is slow burn a trope? as in the main character is clueless but the reader is not, I like those when they are well written
I dislike the second chance trope, but I will read if I like the premise enough and the writer(s) and have sometimes enjoyed.
Despite not liking second chance much in general, I do like the secret baby trope. I am just entertained when the author(s) make me believe this actually could have happened.
Secret baby >>> accidental baby (although a lot of time they are the same, the execution can nuance it a lot), and I have a strong preference for the former.
If I see the term “rag tag” in a blurb or review, I cross the book off my to-read list.
I love super competent MCs. I also love a villain who has a sense of humor and is the MC. And I love to read a story that includes a home remodel as part of the plot development. But only if the author sees it through to the end. I need my payout with the finished remodel!
Would love to see the age gap twisted around where both of the couple are say over a thousand years old but one is like 15 years older than the other and can’t help thinking of the other as the best friends little sister/brother lol
I despise bully/enemies to lovers and am mystified by its popularity as a trope. Have you ever had an enemy? I have, and the VERY last thing I would ever want is a more intimate relationship with someone that is cruel and mean.
I also dislike secret baby/pregnancy/Mpreg intensely and will not read. And motorcycle club books … just horrible.
And lying … I hate lying so much. Not only is it disrespectful to the other characters in the book, but it skews the plot. Instead of a focus on fighting/surviving/etc. the big bad, all internal thoughts are focused on The Lie: covering up The Lie, justifying The Lie, feeling bad about The Lie. I lose respect for the lying MC if they don’t come clean early on. The longer it goes, the more disgusted I get.
What do I love? Almost everything else except abusive romance. And too-stupid-to-live female MCs. And alphaholes.
I hate the miscommunication trope. Every once in a while, you could almost understand why the characters don’t talk it out. But in the worst ones, the purposeful avoidance and misunderstanding of a simple situation to cause tension is just annoying.
My personal worst miscommunication example was the movie (if you want to call it that) Batman vs Superman. I was hoping Wonder Woman would get a clue by four and beat everyone over the head with it and I would gladly pitch in.
My least favorite Trope is the Too Stupid to live. Can’t stand the Heroine who won’t ask basic questions and then puts everyone in danger.
Sunny/Grumpy!!! I can always count on some happy and even comedy. The world is grumpy and I am all about Sunny.
I have also become a fan of WhyChoose/Reverse Harem. Navigating multiple types of relationships is difficult to write well and I enjoy reading it
I am so sick of the rich guy poor girl Cinderella like k dramas stories. Specifically ones where that’s it, where neither character is like able one is just rich and the other poor and they must fight their friends and society to be together! That and evil female fiancés, I am a girls girl and idk why hate the other girl when the guy is the problems
I enjoy Overly Sarcastic Trope Talk videos on Youtube.
Tropes that make me walk away if I know about them in advance:
Miscommunication in place of a plot
Love triangle
Persecuted hero
Newly divorced inherits (why are stories featuring middle aged women always focused on ruined life and divorce?!)
Snarky glass bowl mislabeled as empowered strong woman
Reading the links, I have to admit that I ADORE the word “handwavium;” and “unobtanium” is just a brilliant invention.
I will also say that the “miscommunication” trope annoys me to the point of quitting a series. There was a really long series whose first books I enjoyed, but after a while, they became a real chore. Then came the book whose conflict could have been resolved with a half-dozen words which had no reason not to be said right up front. But it would have killed the plot dead, so, 70,000 words later they finally clear up the big question. I tossed the rest of the books on the discard pile. (I had to google creatively as I’d forgotten too much – it’s a series from Terry Goodkind. It’s also grotesquely violent.)
I spent a couple of years reading paranormal romance books, so the “fated mate” trope was a constant. And I’ve wandered through several of the “enemies to lovers” which can be fun or annoying, depending on the author. I find the whole “billionaire” romance trope to be irritating, because I strongly suspect the authors have no clue how a billionaire really thinks. I don’t mind the “second chance” books too much – again, some authors handle it better than others.
I read quite a few “family” series, but that may be just because it’s an economical way of having a collection of characters who you run across in multiple books.
Tropes are useful and I have no problem with them, as long as the author WRITES WELL and engages my attention. Working with or against a trope isn’t nearly as important to me as the overall writing and story-telling.
I wish the Enemies-to-Lovers Bully trope would die the horrible death it deserves.
One of the reasons I love your books are the tropes that include “mutual respect for abilities” and “cooperation to achieve a goal”. I can’t stand “girl afraid of her power” and “forced consent”. There is still a lot of steam to be found with respect and consent and authors can still write good stories while valuing diversity. Thank you for proving that.
I love a good trope! I read a ton of romance and I live for:
– Touch her and die
– Enemies to lovers
– Why choose
– Powerful and competent MMC
– Sunshine FMC
– Forced Proximity
– MMC will burn down the world but is only soft for the FMC
I absolutely loathe
– Cheating
– Second chances
– Lies
– Miscommunication
I also love a really good angsty, totally toxic, unhealthy obsessive romance with a villain as the hero. Because it’s fiction and I can enjoy it safety.