This month we’re taking tropes. A trope is a significant or recurrent theme; a motif. For purposes of this post, it means a recurrent theme found in a genre of books.
The romance genre is full of tropes. Billionaire romance. Shifter romance. Step-sibling romance. I'm sure you've picked up at least one of these tropes in your reads.
While every story in a trope is, and should be different, they all carry specific expectations. Billionaire romance contains a a rich guy or girl and someone barely making by on their paycheck. Shifter romances have creatures that appear human but change into something else (wolf, tiger, cheetah, bear, etc.) and the normal human (or sometime unaware shifter) that falls in love with them.
One of my favorite tropes it the best-friend turned lover (or romantic interest.) I've used this trope in The Boyfriend Project as well as the Lightning Quick Reads posts: Goals, The Best Valentine's Day Ever, One Last Camping Trip and The Price of Freedom.
I'd love to know, what are your favorite tropes?
#InkRipples is a themed meme hosted by Katie L. Carroll, Kai Strand, and me, Mary Waibel. We post on the first Monday of every month. If you would like to participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, include any of the images displayed on the #InkRipples tab above, and link back to our three blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #InkRipples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation.
This year's topics are:
March: Tropes
April: Revision
May: Fairy Tales
June: Blurbs
July: Heroes/Villains
August: Author Options in Publishing
September: World Building
October: Career vs Hobby
November: Finishing that Book!
December: Goals
I mentioned this to Kai as well, but I love a good anti-hero!
ReplyDeleteOh! Anti-heroes are great!! Thanks for sharing, Katie!!
DeleteRoyalty wanting to live a mundane life. Good girl falling for a bad boy (I really love those bad boys!) I know there are more. I reach for them when I want more of a guarantee that I'll enjoy the book. You know?
ReplyDeleteExactly. That's part of what tropes bring to the table. You know the type of story it's going to be and you're ready to see how the author executes it.
DeleteGreat trope choices, too!
I'm a big sucker for shifter and vampire romance tropes. Always a good escape from every day life in those stories.
ReplyDeleteOh, two of my faves, too!!
DeleteAny trope eventually gets old, but I do find myself cycling through them as the mood hits. In reading, that is. I really like urban fantasy--things are not as they seem, look behind the curtain and discover a different world under your nose the entire time. But then, I read pretty widely, so I'm only listing one favorite. Otherwise I'd be here all day.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I have a lot of tropes I cycle through. Urban fantasy is a good one...I'm actually behind in my favorite series in this trope by Patricia Briggs. Someday I'll get caught up 😉
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