In This House, We Love a Good Trope

Tropes. Tears. Tattlestar Galactica–wait, that’s not right.

Look, we as writers all want to be edgy. We don’t want to lay into tropes and archetypes and the same old, same old. Things are tired, and they’re not fun because we just feel like copycats. There are so many books and movies and stories and art out there that all feel the same, but there’s still somehow so much that’s new and fresh.

Honestly, how do those creators do it?

Of course, there’s the whole “subverting” tropes thing. Stories exist without those kinds of things. I suppose it’s not that hard, but also…it is.

That being said, you’re lying if you say you don’t like a good trope. So let’s talk about our favs—read: my favs—and the books/stories I love them in! (Sorry in advance if I don’t mention your fav books here, I don’t read a lot of “hot” books. Or fantasy, which is a tragedy, I know.)

Enemies to Lovers

This is probably my number one favorite trope of all time. It’s the source of the best love-to-hate rom-coms! Now that it’s December, I’m about to go all in on those Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies because they beat that tired trope to death, but it’s so fun to watch every time. The tension! How can you not sit there with popcorn and cheap wine and yell at the screen for ninety minutes at the absurdity of it, all while simultaneously loving every moment?

Can this one be a little bit problematic and done poorly? Of course. And we can be critical of those (ummmmm, we’re all thinking about that one Harry Styles fanfic that shall not be named, right?). But man, this one is almost always pretty fun.

My all time top use of this trope: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, obviously (with Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston in a very close second)

Friends to Lovers

The first novel I ever tried to write (a spy novel, mind you—that’s always been my goal thanks to Ally Carter) was a friends to lovers story. As a subplot, of course. The main plot was learning how to be a spy, but the protagonist’s best friend, whom she’d left back home, got mixed up in something bad, and she had to save him, thus them falling in love. I never got that far, of course, but that was the idea.

Friends to lovers is one of those tropes that you get sucked into because you have these two people who already care so much about each other, all that’s left to ruin it are romantic feelings!

This can be hit or miss depending on the story. Some friends just don’t end up working out as more than friends, and that can be tragic. Two of my real life friends dated in college and up until recently, it completely ruined their strong friendship. It was heartbreaking to watch!

But when this works…oh, it works. I love watching two people who love each other platonically love each other romantically. There are those people who say their partner is their best friend, and while I don’t think that has to be the case, I love it when it’s true! It’s important to have something like that with your S/O.

Fav uses of this trope: Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter and Emma by Jane Austen (because I can’t say no to Jane!)

Fake Relationship

We’ll retire the relationship tropes, I promise, but this one is always so fun. You know how it’s going to end every time, but you can’t help loving every moment. The family-pressured kisses, the sharing rooms, the fear of being found out! It’s all fun and games until someone catches feelings, and it’s inevitable. It adds a little excitement to the mix! And it’s an excellent opportunity for conflict, especially if one side of the party is trying to make someone else jealous, accidentally runs into an old flame, or one side has been secretly in love with the other the whole time.

This is particularly fun in the bad Hallmark and Lifetime movies because of the festive and family drama thrown in.

Favorite uses of a fake relationship: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

Golden Trio

I’ll start by saying we’re going to ignore one our childhood favorites of this one because the author has proved herself to be consistently problematic, but this is something I’ve been big on in my own writing. Giving your protagonist one best friend? Great, love it, a pillar of strength. Giving your protagonist two? Otherworldly!!

Bonus points if you also have a fourth, half-in the group/half-not or joins later as a fun newcomer.

I’ve always rotated into different friend groups, never quite feeling like I fit into one or had one singular best friend, so I love the trio aspect. Two different people bringing out a more full, three-dimensional protagonist. Of course, you can have one best friend, there’s nothing wrong with that! But I truly love when stories give you two other dynamic characters so support and challenge the protagonist, in whatever ways that may be.

And if you give me a friend group? I love it.

Is it fully conceited of me to say my favorite use of this is in my spy WIP? It is? Oh well. Nancy Drew is obviously a great example too.

Death of a Parent

While not wholly necessary to make a story work, this one is very important in the YA genre. It’s why a lot of those stories do work. Do we, as writers, like killing off parents? Well…yeah, if we can get a story out of it.

I’m kidding! But that’s the biggest question you get when you’re reading about a teenager running all over the world or getting into trouble: where are the parents? It’s a lot easier to field those questions if one parent is already dead or dies early on in the story, and the other parent is either mostly absent or busy trying to keep up on life. If both parents are absent or dead? Even better! It explains maturity and trauma and gives you potential conflict on a silver platter.

The list of stories I love with this trope is endless, but I’ll try and give you a short list (for stories with a single parent): any Ally Carter, Hunt for the Seventh by Christine Morton-Shaw, Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (which, full disclosure I haven’t read but the movie is one of my favorites).

Found Family

As someone who self-proclaims that they don’t really get along with their family, this one is a big one for me! I do generally get along with my family (now), but I’m still big on the Found Family trope. It essential to acknowledge that sometimes blood ain’t it. The people you choose to be a part of your life are the ones who are going to encourage your growth and expression.

I also love that this one can come in many forms. The MC can be exiled by their family and have to find something new. Their family might have passed away, so they have to make a new one. Sometimes the MC just moves to a new city and they have to find their footing. Sometimes it’s not the MC, it’s a side character who finds a family in the MC’s family.

And on top of that, it could be a family you find only briefly in your life in the grand scheme of things. Those are just as important as the long-term relationship and groups characters (and people) discover.

I think I really, truly love this one because it’s so common in real life. Everyone has a little bit of “found family” in their lives. In some way, at least. Sure, best friends fall in love, parents pass away, you can totally have the hots for someone you think you can’t stand. But found family is the one. Especially because it comes in so many forms.

Top use of this trope is a tough one…obviously all of Ally Carter’s books (I’ve read them ten times, did you expect them not to make every short list?)—particularly Macey in the Gallagher Girls series and April in Winterborne—Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan (in a way), The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Oh, and in a very dark, temporary way, The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

I love a good trope—doubly so if it’s done well. But there are so many great ones to chose from! As a writer, it’s easy to find a story where an author has subverted a trope in an effective and beautiful way, and then take that idea and run with it in your own story. I’ve accidentally done it a hundred times. What’s more difficult is foraging your own subversion of a trope or creating something wholly new.

Think it’s easy? I implore you to try. I’m not saying that nobody can do it, but tropes, literary devices, and big themes are the reason we get into stories in the first place. It’s challenging to not find yourself falling into those ideas. Heck, sometimes I think I’ve got a fresh piece, and when I’m reading it back, I realize that wait…I definitely might’ve taken that from someone else. And then you have to take that, and revise and edit and create something that wasn’t there before.

It’s exhausting, but it can be a lot of fun. Tropes, bottom line, are fun. Twisting them and molding them into something new? Even more so.