tropes! everyone's written something that fits into a trope category, let's be real about it. they can either be really interesting or so overused that they're just boring. but even with those overused ones, there's always a way to spice them up and really make them better. in this chapter, we'll also be talking about just plain bad tropes and why you should avoid them.
POPULAR, IF OVERDONE ROMANCE TROPES (ESPECIALLY ON WATTPAD):
- mafia
- billionaire
- enemies to lovers
- second chances
- absent/dead/bad parents
- love triangles
TROPES YOU SHOULDN'T TOUCH WITH A EIGHTEEN FOOT POLE:
- killing off all your diverse characters (e.g. characters of color, lgbt+ characters. i shouldn't even have to explain this one. if you kill off characters, make sure it's done in a balanced way.)
- while we're on the topic of gays, the gay best friend/cheating bisexual tropes. stop. stereotyping your characters effectively makes them uninteresting at best, and offensive at worst.
- "it was all a dream". so there was no point to the whole story, is what you're telling me when you end a story like that. none of it happened. it makes everyone mad and it's kind of lazy writing.
- having an objectively bad person be the romantic interest. i don't mean villains- one of my original stories has a villain as the main romantic interest for the main character. what i mean is romantic interests who treat the protagonist like garbage. it's dumb to have your protagonist fall for the dude that bullies them mercilessly all the time. also, it can be a sexist trope as well as a bad one- the whole "women want men who treat them badly" thing.
- speaking of bullies, the "bully becomes the romantic interest" trope. it just gets a bullet point of its own because i've seen it so many times. no! enemies to lovers? yes. bully/victim to lovers? no! romanticizing abuse and bullying isn't good writing and it's just not... you shouldn't do it.
- romanticizing abuse/bullying/mental health issues. that stuff isn't romantic, it isn't nice, and it helps no one to make it seem like they are.
TROPES I PERSONALLY ENJOY:
- second chances!
- enemies to lovers
- even better, friends to enemies to grudging allies to friends to lovers. i'm a sucker, alright? i'm a sucker for angst.
- psychological thrillers
- role reversal (for fanfic)
- fake dating
- boss/employee (WHEN IT'S DONE RIGHT)
- one night stand but oh no one is actually their boss or something similar
- didn't know they were dating
- supernatural/paranormal themes (yes i do mean vampires, no i don't mean twilight, that book was not done well)
HOW TO SPICE UP OVERUSED TROPES
like i said in the last chapter, a good way to spice up a relationship dynamic is to make the one everyone thinks is the more dominant one the more submissive in the relationship. and that's only one way to do it! here are some ways to make a good plot twist.
- antagonist/bad guy is actually the good guy (good place-esque)
- character that has loads of sex appeal is asexual/character that has people asking them out all the time is aromantic or has no interest in a relationship
- love triangle but no one has to choose one over the other, they all just get together as a poly couple
- childhood friends to lovers but the childhood friend has changed considerably since the protagonist saw them last, and not exactly in the best ways
- found family but a member finds their biological family (and it can either go really well, or really badly)
- the badass character you thought was totally into wack things like jumping on trains and doing drugs is actually a cinnamon roll and has about a million sanrio plushies
- strongest character is the first to die/smartest character is the first to be fooled
- the whole plot was orchestrated by someone else, puppetmaster style
most of these aren't even inherently smut-related, but i'm assuming most of you are writing porn with plot as opposed to porn without it, so i figured i'd drop in some regular advice as well. i hope you liked this chapter! leave a vote/comment if you enjoyed. love ya <3
xxx jay
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