I love how passionate people get about tropes in books. Every reader always seems to have one or two tropes that they hate or that get a very visceral response from them.
Mine is enemies to lovers. (no ganging up on me if you love this one)
I’m just really sensitive to the idea that you shouldn’t fall for someone or even sleep with someone who isn’t nice to you. Period. Full stop.
But I wrote the first Beautiful Shame book that’s technically enemies to lovers. So…
I was talking to another author the other day and they love anime and manga and all kinds of fun naughty things, but they hate the accidental pervert trope that can show up on a regular basis in a lot of other genres.
They ranted for a long time about how frustrating it was when it was done badly (and they think it’s nearly always done badly lol).
Then I had to confess I started a book for Patreon that’s got the accidental pervert trope. He doesn’t realize he’s a Peeping Tom and it might take him a while to grasp that he’s made some very questionable decisions.
But they forgave me for playing with their most frustrating trope and said it sounded like I did a good job with it. (lol it was a fun conversation and nothing stressful so no worries)
It got me thinking, though. We all have such incredibly different ideas about what makes a good book and what makes a bad one. I love how there is always that “but” and how some authors can do a trope that drives us crazy and we’ll read it because they wrote it.
But I like the way they did it.
I’ll only read that trope if this author does it.
I love how different we are and how no two people will ever read the same book and see it the same way. Something I love might drive you nuts and something you love might make me crawl into a blanket fort (looking at you dark readers and shaking my head lol).
I love how for every author who writes a book going “no one will read this” there’s always a reader who’s head over heels for the story.
I love how when you find that trope that you love beyond all others, there is always going to be a writer who gives you another wonderful story.
Have fun reading all your favorite tropes and stories this holiday season, and feel free to comment and tell us your favorite tropes.
