By Sofia Johnson
As an English major, I’ve read many books and had many (many) thoughts on the literary tropes that appear in them. As a writer, I’ve decided that these opinions must be made public. After a review of my own mental library (and limited BookTok knowledge), a quick read through a Buzzfeed article, and conversations with fellow Tartan writers, I’ve compiled a short list of the most loved and most hated literary tropes. Let’s start on a positive note with the most popular ones:
Rivals-to-lovers: A trope that is what it says it is: two characters start out as rivals, then, throughout a story likely overflowing with snarky comments and angst, become lovers. I have no complaints about this trope. Yes, it’s overdone, but if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be a trope. I think many people can agree that, in a romance story, there’s nothing better than a slow-burn where the characters naturally become more vulnerable with each other over time. Rivals-to-lovers, if written well, is a perfect example of this. Rating: 10 out of 10 rewatches of “Bridgerton” season two (yes, I’m referencing the show because I’ve never read the books — just bear with me).
Found family: A character forms immensely close relationships with a ragtag group of new friends. This is probably my personal favorite trope. It has humor. It has healthy platonic relationships, there’s often a little romance thrown in there, AND you get a fun, loveable side character or two (that the readers can all overtly prefer over the protagonist). Want to add in a tragic backstory for one of the comic relief characters that gets revealed to the rest of the group halfway through the book? Even better! It strengthens the found family’s bond. There’s almost nothing better than reading a good book that’s full of wholesome — albeit sometimes angsty and sad — found family moments. Rating: 1000000 out of 10 mid-2000s-era Y/A novels.
Morally gray protagonist: Honestly, at this point, this one should just be considered a standard instead of a trope. A morally gray protagonist makes the audience think “Oh yeah! They’re the hero! Wait… are they?” Oftentimes we only see protagonists portrayed as the “good guys.” They’re nice to everyone, they’re perfectly witty, and they probably never went through an embarrassing phase in middle school that they now pretend never happened. Yawn. The morally gray protagonist, unlike the typical hero, has flaws and makes mistakes. In literature, these types of protagonists can range from a well-rounded, normal human to a somehow loveable anti-hero. The point is that they’re imperfect, and that makes them interesting. In my opinion, this is how every character should be written. It gives characters dimension and keeps the audience on their toes. Absolute chef’s kiss. Rating: 11 out of 10 characters from “The Secret History.”
The above tropes are masterpieces. However, there are some awful tropes out there that are worth discussing, including:
Miscommunication: Wow. I thought about writing an article on this one alone. I think this might be the most frustrating, hated trope out there, mostly because its purpose seems to be purely to annoy the audience. The miscommunication trope can take many forms. A relatively popular example is when character A is having a conversation with someone, and character B (often character A’s love interest or friend) comes around the corner and hears something out of context. This makes character B think that character A hates them or their dog or something, and the two characters end up in a huge fight that could be resolved by a simple conversation. This trope is awful, and the worst part of it is that, often, the initial conflict is just forgotten, not even resolved. If the entire conflict within a book can be resolved through a simple, short conversation, I’m going to be frustrated the entire time. And the worst part is that now, I need to get past this part of the book because it’s so irritating to read, but I’m tired and annoyed and it’s overall just a horrible experience. Rating -3000000 out of 10, please just talk to each other.
Fake Dating: Oh boy. Ending on a controversial note. Some people love this trope, but this is my article, so they can skip this part. I’m just going to say it: If rivals-to-lovers is overdone, this trope is BURNT. To a crisp. The fake dating trope is where two characters pretend to date (often to make their respective ex-partners jealous) and then, surprise surprise, they fall in love. I think the reason why I hate this one so much is not that it’s overdone (it’s a trope for a reason), but that it’s done the same way every single time. And yes, I do mean every. Single. Time. From what I’ve seen, there’s very little variability in the actual fake dating storyline (except variation in the subplots). I’m tired of it. It’s not necessarily written badly, I just want something other than a story where a newly-single-person meets a newly-single-person, they fake date, and they fall in love. In other words, it’s not the trope, it’s me. Rating: 2 out of 10 because I don’t want people who like this trope to be mad at me.
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