Trope-tastic – Love ‘Em and Loathe ‘Em


This week at the SFF Seven. we’re asking each other which tropes you love to write and which do you loathe?

The tropes I love are pretty easy to identify for anyone who’s read more than one of my books. My favorites are:

  • Enemies to Lovers
  • Marriage of Convenience/Political Marriage/Marriage of State
  • Forced Proximity
  • He Falls First
  • Learning to Use magic/special abilities/wrestling own power

 

As for the tropes I loathe? Loathe is a strong word. I’m not sure I loathe any tropes. Ones I’m less fond of are:

  • Second chance (I just don’t believe that whatever broke them up the first time won’t break them up again)
  • Bully Romance (no no no – toxicity and abuse isn’t romantic to me)
  • Fated Mates (hard to make this one work)
  • Faux Medieval Fantasy Worlds (Enough already – and besides medieval times were never like that)
  • Chosen One (yawn)

 

The ones I truly dislike are the damaging ones, like:

  • Woman in the Refrigerator (women are people, not plot devices)
  • Clumsy Heroine (it’s not endearing to me)
  • Racist Cliches (enough said)
  • Bury Your Gays (see Woman in the Refrigerator)
  • Having Kids as the Solution to Happiness (Spoiler: having kids is *hard* – they don’t solve your problems or give your life the meaning it lacked)