Romance Tropes: A Guide for Writers

by Mary Kole | Former literary agent, now a freelance editor, writing teacher, and IP/story developer for major publishers and creators.

If you’re interested in writing a romance novel, you’ve probably heard of romance tropes. What are tropes? They’re expected sequences or plot points or character interactions that your audience will be counting on seeing when they pick up your book. In romance tropes, this also means the type of romantic or sexual relationship that’s featured, whether it’s “second chance romance” or “billionaire bad boy” or “reverse harem”.

Romance Readers Expect Romance Tropes

Romance readers tend to be very into their favorite romance tropes and will want to see them represented. Instead of considering romance tropes the enemy of creativity, as some writers do, lean into what your readers might expect and see what happens! Here's a quick guide to romance book tropes and how to use them effectively.

Romance Tropes: The Damsel in Distress

This trope is one of the oldest and most recognizable of all romance tropes out there. It’s all about a hero rescuing a damsel from danger—think Romeo and Juliet or Disney movies like Beauty and the Beast. The rescuing romantic interest character is typically strong, brave, and honorable, while the damsel is fragile, vulnerable, and helpless. (She’s not a total wet blanket, though … you still need to make your damsel a worthwhile protagonist if you’re going to play with these romance tropes. Women readers, who overwhelmingly represent the romance demographic, don’t necessarily want to see themselves as weak or needy.)

While this trope can be overused, it can also be freshened up intentionally to create an interesting dynamic between characters that readers can root for. After all, what romance reader doesn’t want to indulge in the fantasy of riding off into the sunset on a white horse, clinging to a sexy knight in shining armor? (This is one of those romance tropes that can also be reversed, with the traditionally “damsel” love interest doing the rescuing.)

Romance Tropes: The Love Triangle

This trope is all about two characters who are vying for the affections of the same person, which often results in a lot of story conflict. This romance tropes favorite usually involves three main characters—the protagonist (who may or may not have feelings for both parties), the love interest (who has feelings for both parties), and the protagonist’s rival (who also has feelings for both parties).

This trope can be used to create story tension between characters as they fight for each other’s affections, or as they try to figure out what they want from life and a potential relationship. (Remember, a lot of romance tropes focus on helping a main character answer the question of what they really want in order to feel fulfilled and complete at a heart level.)

Remember to make sure that all parties involved are fully fleshed-out individuals so that readers don’t feel like they’re being manipulated into rooting for one character over another. If all of the love rivals are compelling—in different ways—the story becomes much more juicy. You should be fleshing out all of your characters, always, even if you’re using romance tropes to build your plot.

Romance Tropes: Enemies to Lovers

This is one of the hottest romance tropes in the romance writing world today, and it’s all about two people who start off as adversaries but eventually fall in love with each other through some kind of obstacle or challenge or locked room scenario where they’re thrown together against their will. Think Pride and Prejudice or West Side Story!

This trope works best when there is some kind of conflict between the two characters that needs to be overcome before they can find common ground, and the reasons for them being in conflict to begin with have to be strong. A lot of romance readers complain when romance tropes are used to a contrived effect. Some romance tropes fall apart when characters apply some logic or thought to their predicament. The reason these future lovers are enemies has to be believable.

Out of all romance tropes, this one is a favorite because it allows readers to get invested in the romantic relationship because they understand why these two characters need each other, despite their initial differences. There’s some psychology worked into this particular premise.

Romance Tropes: Second Chance Romance

Similarly, readers love to root for romance tropes that show characters overcoming adversity. What’s more adversarial than still having feelings for an ex? Or getting over a bad break-up and imagining love once again?

Romance tropes that involve a second chance romance could refer to getting a second chance with an ex-lover OR getting a second chance in another area of life, which unexpectedly brings romance to the table. This trope works well if one or more characters have given up on love because of past experiences.

Even though some romance tropes are very prescriptive, don’t forget that you can think outside the box and bring a new interpretation to romance tropes … as long as you deliver on that HEA (happily ever after) expectation. This is one of those romance tropes that you can’t do without.

Romance tropes are an integral part of any good romance story, no matter if you're writing contemporary YA, adult romcom, erotica, romantasy, or historical fiction. From damsels in distress to enemies turning into lovers, these romance tropes provide writers with creative ways to build tension between their characters while still keeping their stories fresh and engaging.

After all, there are only so many ways to tell a story. Your creativity comes in when you use these romance tropes in an exciting new way.

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