Tropes That Are ACTUALLY Good
Tropes are everywhere right now (thanks, Booktok). And I do mean EVERYWHERE. I swear, I thought five years ago we were trying to avoid tropes. Now we're trying to bludgeon literally as many as we possibly can into our poor manuscripts. I've seen people on Instagram trying to market their indie books and being like "IT'S AN ENEMIES TO LOVERS, BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS, CHILDHOOD FRIENDS, HE TURNS INTO A HORSE, HE'S ACTUALLY A VAMPIRE, ONLY ONE BED, SHE FREAKING MURDERS HIM, HE RESURRECTS AS A LARGE INSECT, THEN THEY HAVE A HEA OMG IT'S SO PURE"
Watching SO many of these reels has made me realize that some tropes are just objectively better than others. We also need to realize that NOT EVERYTHING IS A TROPE OMG PLEASE STOP. *ahem* So anyway, I'm going to share some of the tropes I think actually bring value to a story and are not just marketing premises. (am I salty? No! Not at all...)
1. Redemption arc (or the bad boy turns good)
Prince Zuko. Edmund. Heck, even books like A Tale of Two Cities or Wuthering Heights contain redemption arcs. One of my favorite redemption arc contexts is in the context of musicals--Les Miserables and Hadestown come to mind immediately. There's just something so beautiful about watching bad guys get redeemed (probably because that is the story of my life and so many others'.)
It HAS to be done well, tho. You can't just say "ohhhh my bad boy met a WOMAN and now he is GOOD." It's unfulfilled. It's poorly done. It's cheap, actually. Sorry.
What you do instead is what Stephanie Garber is pulling off BEAUTIFULLY with the Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy. Somehow, she managed to take my second-least favorite character from the original Caraval trilogy and turn him into ALMOST a hero. No spoilers here, but like. Y'all. This is masterfully executed, especially since the character in question is not a POV character.
I am a sucker for this trope when it uses a meeting with a good guy as a catalyst. The arc needs to come from within the character, NOT just because of romance. (This is one of the best things about Zuko, imo). Basically: I love redemptions. Gimme more. Please and thanks.
2. Grumpy and Sunshine
This is truly the best romance dynamic. Fight me. Except I like the reverse kind WAY better (see the Pentegreens books--one of my boys is the human definition of sunshine, while the girl in question would literally bite someone's face off). Possibly because that's how I am in real life.
But YES anyway it can be really cheap, but if you do it well: this is SUCH a good way to balance characters in a romance and do opposites attract! I just recently read Nadine Brandes' Wishtress, which is a glorious example of reverse grumpy/sunshine but IT MAKES SENSE FOR THE CHARACTERS Y'ALL.
Getting into that a little more: I think there's something so beautiful about a romance between two characters who have been through the ringer. Especially in this case--where one character comes out scarred, mistrusting, and cold; while the other gets softer and kinder so they never hurt anyone the way they've been hurt. I need more of this. It gives SO much depth to books when done well. MORE OF THIS TROPE THAT ISN'T JUST A TROPE. PLEASE
3. Strangers/Enemies to Friends to Lovers
THE FRIENDS STEP IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE GUYS PLZ PLZ PLZ
That's about all I have to say about that except that direct enemies to lovers is usually nasty and physically based and lustful and #NoThanks (can that be a trope????)
4. Love triangles
I will ACTUALLY die on this hill. Not because these are inherently good (they are not AT ALL, they are usually SO BAD) but because you can do symbolism through a love triangle in an incredibly beautiful way. IF you do it well. I cannot stress that enough. DO IT WELL. That's why the "love triangle" in Shadow & Bone works so well (hint: it's not a traditional love triangle!), and why the one in The Hunger Games is so compelling. Meanwhile, the super thin and physically based ones like in These Hollow Vows (a recent not-so-good book) feel forced and stupid.
In a future book in my current WIP series, my protagonist is in a love triangle that involves a choice. Boy 1 represents her duty, her homeland, the easy path, the way everyone expects her to go. Boy 2 is the more difficult path that involves rebellion and forging a different path. And THAT is her internal conflict! It matters, y'all. This is SUCH an easy way to externalize conflict. Basically: love triangles are best when they are not all about "which boy do I want to kiss". They should say something ABOUT the character.
That's about all I've got for good tropes. Y'all need to let me know down below what tropes you actually like. Fight me on enemies to lovers? Fight me on love triangles? These are some of my FAVORITE things to discuss with people and I would love to hear your opinions. I hope you enjoyed this rant!
2 comments
You're so right--why is everyone so obsessed with tropes? It's weird. I mean, it's fun to talk about one's favorite and least favorite tropes, but the marketing with tropes thing can get old FAST, and also people being waaaaay overly specific about tropes. Like. It's a trope, because it's a BROAD CATEGORY, not a description of what happens in One Specific Book in Perfect Detail. Anyway.
ReplyDeleteYES. Grumpy and sunshine is Actually The Best Trope Ever. I grew up on Ranger's Apprentice, the series--I reread it obsessively for SO many years--and at least the first few books are the epitome of the grumpy and sunshine trope, but with a mentor and his apprentice, instead of romance...and it is AMAZING. So, I love it in all situations, but I do agree that it is especially good in romance. (Particularly when it's done well, as you said.)
Huh, I'd never thought about love triangles as a way to show the protagonist's inner struggle! It makes a lot of sense...but I still think I wouldn't like it. XD (I hated the Hunger Games love triangle.) The love triangles that I tolerate are only ones that are more complicated than a girl having to choose between two guys (or vice versa). Like, give me a "girl is in love with guy while other guy is in love with her" love triangle any day, but noooooooooot the "help, I can't choose between these two guys! this is horrible!" even if it *is* about the character's internal conflict. It just drives me up the wall. XD
I heard Once Upon a Broken Heart and I appeared. Best redemption arc in the history of books. Idc, I will fight for Jacks
ReplyDeleteHello, friends! Do make yourselves comfortable and stay for a while--I'd love to chat with you! I simply ask that you keep it clean. :)