Tropes Are Cool, But…

• Marriage of Convenience
• There’s only one bed
• Love triangle
• Rags to riches
• The Chosen One
• Enemies to lovers

And on it goes. I think tropes are cool in books, and before I really immersed myself in the book community and discovered the word ‘trope’ there were many I used to absolutely love to read about. For instance, “rags to riches.” (I’ve always been a girl with stars in her eyes.) I also really loved “there’s only one bed!”

But at that time, about five years ago, these all felt like natural progressions of the story. The plot led here, and there, and hey look, there’s only one bed in this inn! Then I would giggle and kick my feet as I read.

Then I joined the book world and kept hearing about TROPES TROPES TROPES. I did my research and found a list of them and why they’re called tropes. I still didn’t let it stand out too starkly when reading and still enjoyed books with them… But over time, tropes have become very in-your-face. And my issue with them now is that they don’t feel natural in stories anymore. Instead, it feels forced into the story because perhaps writers know that certain tropes are beloved.

I’ve also not loved the new trend for writers where you edit your book’s cover or fan-art and tag it with a list of the tropes in there. For me, I might get the feeling that the book is simply a number of tropes picked and sewn together to form a story, rather than a story that flows on to touch some ‘tropes’ before it reaches the ending.

For instance when I first read A Court of Mist and Fury, I really enjoyed the Inn Scene and was intrigued by how ‘nature’ conspired to get the MCs to that point where they had to share a bed. I’d seen this happen in contemporary books, but it was my first time reading it in a fantasy setting and that made it all the more delightful. But since then, I’ve seen people tropify that scene: this book has the ‘there’s only one bed’ trope! Now, I feel like if I reread the book, rather than appreciate the natural progression of events, I would be so aware that the author had used a trope. Which would yank me out of the story.*

I want to read a book where a poor character stumbles into money and becomes rich, and not be thinking, “This is a rags to riches trope book!” So basically, tropes in themselves are not bad. There’s a reason why they become distinctive: writers love to write stories that touch on them and readers love to read them! But making books ALL about them, overemphasizing them when advertising, or centering them so much, I think, is affecting the natural feel and uniqueness of storytelling.

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*The author wrote this book before Tiktok came and tropified everything about books and writing. And knowing the little I do of her after her interviews and podcasts, she writes from her heart and not just what she thinks would please readers. I’m only using it as an example since it’s the best and popular instance that connects my reading life before knowing of tropes and after!