A trope is a plot device which has become familiar. Every genre of fiction has its tropes and romance is no different. Most readers have a favorite trope and some actively seek out books with a specific trope or tropes. I suspect that most authors have a favorite trope, too, or one they tend to use more frequently. I thought it would be fun to start a regular feature here on the blog called Trope Tuesday to look at tropes in my books.
Marriage often features as an event in a romance: here are three tropes associated with it.
Arranged marriage – the couple is compelled to marry, but their relationship develops into love. This is more common in historical romances.
The Marriage of Convenience – a variation of the Arranged Marriage. The difference is mutual consent. The hero and heroine make a deal to be married for a set period of time or pretend to be married to achieve a goal, and subsequently fall in love. I count both Fake Date and False Engagement in this category, since the intent is similar.
Runaway Bride/Groom – one protagonist flees from the altar and is pursued by the other, to their (eventual) mutual satisfaction.
It’s interesting for me to see which tropes I use most often, by accident or design. There are some which I’ve used a lot more often than these, and we’ll get to them.
Which are your favorite tropes?
Deb, GREAT feature I love Trope Tuesdays! My all time favorite trope in romance is the second chance romance. Its always fun for me as a reader to learn what went wrong in the past and what goes right in the now. I do like the arranged marriage trope in historical romance especially the ones where the heroine is dead set against it!
Thanks!
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Thanks Deb. It was fun to sort out my books into tropes and see which were my favorites. I love Second Chance and knew it, but didn’t realize I was so fond of Marriages of Convenience – never mind Bad Boy Heroes. We’ll talk about some more tropes next Tuesday. (I’m doing them in batches so we’re not at this for the rest of our lives.)
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Love all 3 of the tropes but really love the arranged ones where both are set strong against it.
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