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7 Annoying and Repeating Story Tropes & Go-tos

Posted on June 9, 2022 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Some tropes, scenes, and character reactions are so prevalent in TV series, movies, and novels that they transcend genres.

They are everywhere, and I’m not sure anyone likes them or needs them.

These are not complete deal-breakers. If the thing you are watching or reading is satisfactory in other ways, you can let this go. But it’s tiresome to see them over and over again.

Read on and see if you agree.

– Characters who say “Speak English” to the tech geek; The Geek that babbles on forever

I first met my babbling geek in Marshall in the JJ Abrams hit Alias. That is my favorite show of all time (at least when we speak of the first 3 seasons), and I love that show with all my heart.

And because Marshall is my first babbling geek, I was fine watching him.

You know how the scene goes. Usually appearing in stories with sci-fi elements or action genres with spies using tons of gadgets, there is this brilliant geek. He/she is super nice and friendly. He talks more than you and your best friends combined, and he gives way too many details and uses so much jargon that he’s often told to speak English and/or cut it short.

For once, I want to see a well-adjusted, jargon-free geek who is not that excited about the gadgets. Like, where is this person? Please recommend me the fiction with this kind of geek.

Iron Man sort of side-steps this because he is also a handsome rich playboy, but he and Bruce Banner are in heaven together in Avengers: two handsome geeks geeking away and potentially boring the hell out of Thor, Captain America, and other non-techy folk.

Actually, more than the geek geeking out, my problem is the character who tells them to speak English.

We get it. You are cool. You don’t have time. You don’t care about the process. Maybe use another line next time.

– Feeling something intense? The Character throws up.

Has your character got anxiety? Stress? Disgust?

Have they drunk too much?

Or maybe you just want to make the audience laugh.

Great, but please don’t make your character shit their pants for comedy.

And please don’t make your character throw up for every time something major happens.

Seen dead bodies? Had a major traumatic moment? Got seasick? Got too drunk? Food poisoning?

I mean granted, I’ll give you food poisoning and too much alcohol, but you don’t have to show the contents of the stomach to me. The sound is enough.

I have gastritis. I have felt sick in the stomach too many times, and I’ve been hospitalized due to food poisoning. I have a sensitive stomach, folks.

Now, I am not that sensitive an audience.

I’ll watch murder mysteries and serial killer thrillers for breakfast, but please, stop making your characters throw up.

And if they have to, can you please just give the sound and avoid the visuals spilling out?

In case my advice has you feeling blocked, here are some other things that happen to your body when you are anxious/afraid/disgusted/hungover:

– lack of appetite/ too much appetite

– migraine/headache

– lack of sleep/insomnia/sleep full of nightmares and unintended breaks

– depression

– anger

-withdrawal from the world

– frequent colds (because your immune system gets weaker)

– breaking out in pimples/hives/cold sores

The human body does more than throw up as an intense reaction, is all I’m saying.

Also, how is everyone super fine after throwing up? But that’s another thing entirely.

– Tough guy/gal who strips off the IV and checks out of the hospital before the doctor drops by.

Ah yes. Who needs doctors and meds when (checks her notes) you were admitted to a hospital after a major trauma/accident/attack/fall?

The next scene usually is the character falling down/fainting or going about his/her way as if nothing happened two minutes ago, and is tougher and stronger than ever. In a Mission Impossible movie, I will allow it because we accept the masks. What is a little hospital escape?

But if you are putting this character behavior in the story, give me a person who at least acknowledges this is stupid. Or maybe tell us doing this is the only option:

Maybe they can’t afford the treatment, or maybe someone is coming to the hospital to murder them. Then by all means. Escape to survive.

But don’t do it just to make your character look though. If they have full medical insurance, supporting family nearby and they are fairly intelligent folk, this move makes them look horrible. Not cool, brave or tough.

– Character says “Hello?” to a potential intruder/murderer/creep/psycho

Ah, yes. The inexplicable urge of thriller movie/TV characters to greet their murderers. How quaint.

Come on! Why would you anyone do this? The answer from the other person is never going to be. “Oh, I’m here to kidnap you. I’m answering so that you definitely know where I am and you can get a better chance to run.”

Eye roll.

There are a billion things an anxious/scared/suspicious character can do and say if they suspect someone is where they shouldn’t be.

Sending greetings isn’t one of them.

And while there are necessary cliches in all genres, shouting hello to villains doesn’t qualify as such.

– Character 1 has a secret and wants to spill it. Character 2 doesn’t let them speak on numerous occasions. Character 2 gets pissed when they find out and say “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Another huge pet peeve of mine.

Characters with secrets are good story fodder. They cause wonderfully complicated conflicts. They threaten happy endings.

What’s not great, however, is the handling of the secret this way.

Here’s the situation as you read in the potentially too long subheading:

Character 1 has a secret. They want to come clean. But for some reason, character 2 doesn’t let them. Either they are too worried or too happy or too horny.

Character 1 is stopped a few times. And then when they finally get the chance to fess up or the secret comes out another way, character 2 is upset. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Maybe because you never let them?

The revelation of a secret will always create conflict, but maybe we can handle it without the character 2 getting in the way of it too many times?

Because often, character 2 gets also upset the secret has been kept from them for too long when they’ve actively contributed to the length of the time the secret has been kept.

Not a huge deal, but maybe don’t make the secret-learner annoying.

– The character who never learns. Never. Ever. Ever.

One of my favorite crime thriller dramas now has fans fast-forwarding scenes with the female protagonist because she is a gold-medalist at never learning.

Now, if this was real life, her consequences would probably be not that big. We all make mistakes and we keep making them, especially the small ones. Because let’s be honest, it is hard to change.

It’s hard to go against our own nature. And in the grand scheme of things, you can forgive yourself because how much does it really affect you when you constantly give in to something like bedtime revenge procrastination?

Here’s what’s happens during my revenge bedtime procrastination:

– I look at cute animals and funny memes.

– I receive the news from funny people like Trevor Noah so I’m informed but not depressed.

– I rewatch favorite scenes from films and TV series. And while they entertain me, they also make me a better writer.

– My dreams are super vivid and entertaining, with a more or less logical plot.

So yeah, my quality of sleep is affected a bit, but in the grand scheme of things, I am fine. Because, and I can’t stress this enough, I don’t live in a horror movie or a thriller.

Back to this crime drama/thriller character that I referred to: She has been driving us crazy because she constantly puts herself in mortal danger, risks her career and those she loves, screws up relationships and then gets super sad and upset.

Then all you can do is mentally do the disappointed sports fan meme.

It’s hard to root for, like, and emphasize with a character when everything is her fault and she damn well knows it.

This is one of the reasons I might not return to the show for its second season, even though I was one of its biggest fans for a while.

This is one example, but I can bet you can think of many characters like this. They create their own hell. They are not irrational or stupid once or twice. They are like this all the time.

How many characters, books, shows, and movies have you given up on because of this kind of character?

It’s one big annoying loop. Don’t do this to your characters, or your audience.

When the stakes are everything, let them learn. Let them get a little smarter.

Yes, characters shouldn’t be perfect. But their flaws should know some bounds.

– The character is smart only because everyone else is stupid, naïve, or both.

Smart characters are awesome. They are always up to something interesting. They fascinate, inform and entertain. But before you write your smart character, check if they are really smart.

Because sometimes a character’s “clever” ideas and plans are only working because other people are just too naïve or stupid. Then this just alienates the audience.

Of course, there are exceptions. But if your story is set in a cutthroat world, the people at the top didn’t get there by being idiots. Maybe one was super lucky or privileged, but it can’t be all the characters. And let’s face it, even if you are lucky and/or privileged, staying at the top takes effort and brains.

Twists are wonderful. So are evil villains.

But it really is more fun if the smart character is truly smart, and is not getting away with murder because everyone else doesn’t have a working brain cell between them.

So far, these are the tropes that I see often that make the stories fail or live up to their standards. Or at the very least, they give out a Deja Vu vibe so strong that the viewer & reader starts fantasizing what would happen if they got a penny every time they saw the same thing…

Do you agree with these? What are the most annoying and repetitive tropes and other things for you?

Interview with Author Carrie Lowrence: Author of Someone to Catch My Teardrops

Posted on May 16, 2022 Written by Pinar Tarhan

My good friend, poet and author Carrie Lowrence has just released her clean romance novel Someone to Catch My TearDrops, so of course, I interviewed her about her book and all things writing. Over to Carrie…

Can you tell us how you started writing?

I started writing as a child. I lived on a highway in Pennsylvania and even though I saw my friends it wasn’t like I saw them all the time, like I would if I lived in town. I would spend many days writing stories.

When did you know you had to be a writer?

I’ve known I wanted to be a writer since I was nine years old. That is when I really started writing a lot and knew that this is what I wanted to do as a career when I grew up. It’s the only thing I feel alive doing.

What genres do you write in and why?

I write in the genres of poetry, children, and romance. I started my author journey publishing poetry because that is what I wrote the most of at the time. Then I shifted to children’s books and wrote two of those while working in daycare because I was inspired by my kids. I love writing for kids and watching my story come to life through illustration. It is such a cool process.

I recently decided that I needed to stop genre-hopping and choose a lane to stick to. As cliché as it may sound I chose romance. Yes, I know, isn’t that what everyone wants to write? For me, I chose romance because the stories I have for my upcoming series won’t let me go. I have to write them, it’s like breathing to me.

How do you find inspiration for your stories and poems?

I find my inspiration from life, people I know or have known. Situations I have been in or others have. Plus a good dose of fiction, of course. 🙂

Can you tell us about your latest release?

Someone To Catch My Teardrops is the first book in my Steele Family Saga series. It’s about a country music singer who loses it all and has to claw his way back into the spotlight.

Grantland Steele is the first-born son of Sterling and Haven Steele. He is on top of the world until a personal tragedy hits him hard and he loses it all-his recording contract, his staff, and his career is put on hold indefinitely.

The same night, McRae Torrinson suffers a loss of her own. McRae has loved Grantland for years but he never knew she existed. Both are back in their small hometown and have to figure out what their next steps are.

McRae takes a job working at the local grocery store but it’s not enough. Desperate to make ends meet, she signs on as a personal chef for a local family. Little does she know that her new employer is none other than Grantland Steele..her college crush. Can these two lost souls heal each other’s hearts, and finally find love…

Well, you’ll have to read the book and find out. 😉

I enjoyed writing Grantland and McRae’s story. I hope that others will enjoy it as well.

What do you consider the best part of having a writing career? And what do you dislike about this profession?

The best part of having a writing career, especially an indie writing career, is that you are on your own timeline and you have control over everything. You call the shots, I love that.

I dislike editing, it’s a bear. Even with software, it can be so tedious and time-consuming but is a necessary evil. I also don’t like having to do everything. It can get exhausting when you have to write, keep up on your social media, market, come up with your social media calendar, etc. But still, I wouldn’t trade writing for anything.

Do you have a writing routine?

This is something I need to work on. I don’t have a writing routine. I need to find the balance between getting up early to write before I go to work but not getting up so early that I’m tired all day.

I recently read a book called The Miracle Morning For Writers and it was an awesome book. I’m going to put what I learned into practice. Things like getting up an hour earlier, having some quiet time, reading books on writing, etc. If you are a writer and haven’t read this book, you need to.

Do you have a marketing routine?

No, marketing is another beast I’m trying to tame. I try to schedule all my graphics on social media ahead of time so all I have to do is manually upload my videos. I also try to plan my social media calendar in advance. I usually post three times a week.

This will be my first “official” book launch so it will be a learning process for me but I’m trying. The thing is, this author stuff is a constant journey of learning and most things are fixable, thank God.

What wisdom would you like to impart on writers who are only just beginning?

Just start. Don’t worry about being perfect. The thing is, you are going to make mistakes, this is just part of it.

Learn all you can about writing and publishing and marketing, it’s the only way you will grow. Also, there are a “ton’ of publishing experts and gurus out there. Do your research and choose no more than three that you listen to. Make sure you resonate with them and that they are living the life that you want to live.

Connect with other writers, this is so, so important. Writing can be a solitary activity but we need community and you will need other writers. We are a different breed and not everyone understands us. You are going to need that support to ask questions, laugh with, and cry with.

Where can we find you on the web?

Instagram: @carrielowrance

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarrieLowranceBooks

Website: www.carrielowrance.com

You can check out Someone to Catch My Teardrops on Amazon.

How to Know If Having An Accountability Partner Will Work for Your Writing Goals

Posted on April 5, 2022 Written by Pinar Tarhan

First things first: What’s an accountability partner?

Chances are you know exactly what this term means, but let’s define it anyway.

An accountability partner is someone who holds you accountable for reaching your goals.

Do you want to publish 2 novels this year? Do you intend to write 1000 words every day? Do you need to send 50 pitches every day? Or maybe, you have a problem with marketing, and your need someone to help you on the right track.

Whatever you need to accomplish in your writing (or non-writing life), an accountability partner might help you reach those goals.

Why did I say might?

Because not everyone needs an accountability partner. And not everyone will benefit from an accountability partner.

Could you benefit from an accountability partner?

To determine this, you need to examine your personality type when it comes to habits. And as it’s my favorite book on habits, I’ll refer to Gretchen Rubin’s book Better Than Before (aff.link) again.

Maybe my favorite book ever on habits, Rubin’s book takes personality into account.

In the book, Gretchen talks about four types of personality: Upholder, Obliger, Questioner, and Rebel.

Upholders tend to meet both inner and outer expectations while obligers are more likely to meet outer expectations. Questioners will question whether something is necessary and useful, while Rebels will resist both inner and outer expectations.

How do you know which group you belong to? It’s easy. Do you set goals for yourself and then stick to them without much friction and don’t need an outside party to check on you? You’re an Upholder. An accountability partner might work for you, but there is a chance you won’t need one.

If you are someone who only meets let’s say fitness goals under the watchful eye of a trainer or the insistence of a friend, then you are an Obliger, and you’ll most definitely benefit from an accountability partner.

Questioners will need to be persuaded about the need for an accountability partner, so if you are constantly questioning things, you might do better with a trial run. See if this works for you.

Rebels…well, rebels will fight you and themselves on all expectations, so an accountability partner might not work.

I’m a Rebel/Questioner. Most people fall into more than one category, and your type can change depending on the subject matter at hand.

Do I have an accountability partner? Well, yes and no. I have close writer friends and we constantly check up on each other. It’s not however about keeping each other accountable, but rather feeling motivated, inspired, seen, and understood.

One of my closest writer friends is Olga Mecking, the author of Niksen: Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing Nothing (aff.link). Olga is a successful freelance writer, journalist, author, and novelist. She is also married with three kids, lives in the Netherlands as an expat, and has several health issues.

So we celebrate each other on successes and productive days, while also helping one another embrace the not-so-productive ones.

Some days are just 0-word days and it is okay. Some days are 500- word days and a few are 5,000. Having someone always asking me about daily word counts would just give me anxiety, and that just doesn’t work.

For more and better information on these personality types and how to form and keep the habits you want, I strongly recommend you read Rubin’s Better Than Before. She also wrote a whole book on these personality types alone: The Four Tendencies.

Do you have what it takes to be an accountability partner?

I honestly believe anyone can be an accountability partner, as long as you are both clear on what to expect from each other, and how to deliver it.

But I suspect a Rebel and an Upholder would probably not be a match made in heaven, though you’d have to test this yourself.

The takeaway

– Not everyone needs an accountability partner.

– You can and should define the relationship with your accountability partner, should you decide to have fun.

– Having writer friends you talk to regularly about anything and everything can work much better for you than simply having someone checking up on your goals.

What about you? Do you have an accountability partner? What strategies and tips do you have for accomplishing your goals?

9 Best Romance Tropes: This Romance Author’s Favorite Romance Tropes

Posted on February 11, 2022 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Romance is in the air!

February is Creative Romance Month, and the 14th is right around the corner. So, I figured we would tackle some popular romance tropes, which also happen to be my favorites.

You’ll see that I hardly ever love any trope unconditionally. As a life-long romance fan and an experienced romance writer, I’m very particular about what I like.

You can check out the romance tropes that I absolutely don’t find romantic, check out this post: The 6 Most Unromantic Romance Tropes in Romance Fiction (And What to Do with Them)

Let’s see if you agree with my favorites and the reasons.

PS This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you buy something, I will earn a little at no extra cost to you. Since these are my favorite romances, I stand behind my recommendations.

PPS: This post will spoil some book, movie, and TV series moments.

1. Forbidden/ star-crossed

When I say forbidden, I don’t mean cheating. And when I say star-crossed, I don’t mean Titanic, or Romeo and Juliet.

I need the danger/stakes to be more than two angsty, hormonal teenagers. And I need the conflict to be something other than rich vs. poor families. I’m over it.

What’s a proper star-crossed romance that I adore? Why, Alias’ Sydney and Vaughn of course. (You can watch the pilot preview here.)

Alias

Alias (2001-2006) is a kick-ass action/drama series created by J.J. Abrams and starring Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan. It just might be my favorite series of all time. Well, the first three seasons at least.

It also has one of the best TV romances ever.

I’m going to spoil things a bit, so if you’ve always wanted to watch Alias, this is a good time to do it. Please remember to bookmark this post so you can come back. (Bonus: The series features Bradley Cooper in a very important supporting role.)

Special agent Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) works for a secret branch of the CIA. But when they kill her fiancé, she realizes that she was working for the enemy all along, and she co-operates with the actual

CIA to bring them down for good. Her CIA handler is Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan), and their chemistry (physical and emotional) is palpable from the start.

Sydney is now working as a double-agent, unbeknownst to the bad guys. How do the bad guys trust her after the sh**t they pulled? They don’t. They try to kill her at first. But then she brings them something valuable and says she shouldn’t have told her fiancé about her job.

The only person she can fully trust and talk to is her CIA handler Vaughn because he is the only person in her life who knows everything. And as they grow closer, it pains them to know that if they were ever seen together, if the evil agency connects the dots, they will both be killed.

How’s that for stakes? How’s that for internal and external conflict?

Alias is amazing with espionage and action scenes, but the emotions also run high. I strongly recommend it.

Vaughn and Syndey finally get to kiss for the first time.

And let’s face it, in no other romantic storyline, the man of your dreams will break into the Vatican with you. 🙂

Do hit me up in the comments if this scene made your week back in the day.

2. Forced proximity

This is always a lot of fun. The characters usually can’t stand each other in the beginning, or they just have contradictory goals. But to get what they want/need, they need to stay together, whether be in tight quarters or just hanging around in Europe.

In the movie Chasing Liberty (2004), the first daughter Anna is 18, and she hates that all her moves are monitored and protected.

When she is in Europe with her family, she takes off with attractive stranger Ben (Matthew Goode) who is slightly older than her. Luckily for her father, the attractive stranger is a young CIA operative who promises to keep an eye on her.

Keeping Anna from other men might be easier than staying away from her himself, though…

Chasing Liberty is corny at times. But it has a good heart and offers good fun. Also, like, how do you not melt when Matthew Goode is in a romantic lead?

The Proposal, the hit romcom from 2009 starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, has editor Margaret propose to her assistant Andrew because she’s Canadian and her visa is about to expire. If Andrew wants to keep his job… well, you get the stakes.

The problem? They absolutely can’t stand each other, though Andrew’s hate is stronger since she is his demanding, workaholic boss. Things get trickier for the duo when they have to keep up the ruse in Alaska, where they visit Andrew’s family. You get the whole package: having to sleep in the same room, accidentally seeing each other naked, enjoying the fake relationship a bit too much toward the end…

The Proposal can also be counted as enemies to lovers, opposites attract, office romance, and fake relationship.

Can You Keep A Secret?

This hilarious, romantic, and sexy romance novel by Sophie Kinsella was also adapted to the big screen in 2019 starring Tyler Hoechlin and Alexandra Daddario.

While theirs is technically an office romance, their meet cute starts on an airplane. Flustered marketing employee Emma finds herself sitting next to handsome stranger Jack. When she thinks the plane is going to crash, she confesses all of her secrets to him: little and big, no matter how embarrassing.

But it’s no biggie, right? They survive and she will never see him again. Except he turns out to be her boss, and he remembers everything. And he will show this with great hilarity.
Emma and Jack’s connection would have never been the same without that plane ride.

3. Neighbors to lovers

Ah, the one’s very close to my heart since my romcom drama novel A Change Would Do You Good has two neighbors, Kevin and Janie falling in love. Oh yes, there are many other characters and tropes in this fun book full of ocean waves. But it is the main one.

Fashion designer Janie gives her life the ultimate makeover and moves to a new apartment. Her downstairs neighbor is a hunky pro-surfer named Kevin. It could be heaven, but she is still grieving over the death of her boyfriend. Kevin has never been in a long-term relationship. Their outlooks on life seem only as “similar” as night and day.

But then again, sparks don’t ask for their permission before they start flying like crazy.

4. Office romance

As you probably noticed, most romances don’t just have one trope, and this makes things more fun. Technically, the romance in Alias is also an office/workplace romance, as well as a friends-to-lovers story.

My novel Making A Difference (M.A.D.) is the ultimate office romance since all the complications arise once star PR expert Jay Clark hires his former student and intern Zoe Ellis to be his business partner.

5. School Romance

High School – 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

For some reason, high school romances are aplenty while I couldn’t think of a college romance that left its mark on me other than Remember Me, so that’s what we will go with next.

When it comes to high school romances, I have many favorites. But after I eliminated the ones with sick characters who die at the end, and I excluded ones who aren’t this funny and fun, I am left with the absolute gem called 10 Things I Hate About You.

Stellar cast, witty Shakespeare adaptation, great soundtrack…And goodness wins! What more do you want?

In the film, high school student Bianca is pissed she is not allowed to date until her feminist, grumpy and rebellious sister Kat (Julia Stiles) does. So, she devises a plan to get Kat a date: She enlists the help of Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who has a crush on Bianca. Except Bianca wants to date Joey.

Cameron and his new best friend pay Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger), an outsider with a reputation, to take Kat out. But things get super complicated when Patrick genuinely starts to fall for Kat…

College – Remember Me

2010’s Remember Me starring Robert Pattinson and Emilie de Ravin is a sad, passionate movie. At first, we dislike Robert’s character Tyler. He asks out fellow college student Ally, out of spite for her cop dad who arrested him. But on their date, Tyler does fall for Ally. They share a deep connection through a traumatic past and their complicated relationships with their fathers. Watch it, but bring the tissues. This one doesn’t have a happy ending.

6. Haters to lovers/opposites attract (*when they complement each other, learn from each other and realize they are not that different.)

This comes with a huge caveat.

I believe that dating someone who is the opposite of you in every way is a recipe for disaster and the furthest thing from passion.

But some of my favorite romances have the haters to lovers/opposites attract tropes in front and center, so what gives?

You see, I believe you should date someone who has some things in common with you. This doesn’t mean you should date someone who is basically you.

It is great if one of you is more calm and relaxed. It’s lovely if one of you is slightly more organized.

Pride and Prejudice

There is a reason Darcy fell for Elizabeth. And it is not because they are exact opposites. It’s because they are complementary.

On the offset, Darcy and Elizabeth think they couldn’t be any different. Darcy is (or seems) cold, distant, unfriendly, unsocial, snobbish. Elizabeth is fun, social, friendly, and warm.

But as Elizabeth happily and tearfully admits to her dad in the end, she and Darcy are in fact so similar.

They can both be prejudiced and proud. They are both passionate and protective about the people they love. They both struggle with when to roll with societal norms and when to say f*** it and do their own thing.

At their core, they are both sensitive, loyal, blunt, and loving. And that is why they are one of literature’s favorite couples of all time.

7. Bad Boy (who isn’t actually a bad boy)

I have to admit I don’t really like bad boys. Bad boys in fiction I have liked generally are misunderstood and/or misjudged underdogs, or men who have been selling themselves short, even to themselves.

Take Johnny (Patrick Swayze) from Dirty Dancing. Sure, he wears leather and dances for a living, which screams bad boy to parents everywhere.

Sure, he sleeps with guests at the hotel he is working at as a dancer and accepts expensive gifts from them…But even this…I don’t judge him. He makes no promises, and the married folk should be doing the loyalty thing. It’s not Johnny’s responsibility.

But when his best friend needs help in a very tricky situation, he is there. And when he needs to step up for the girl he loves, he does.

So, if you want to give me a bad boy, you better give me someone like Johnny.

7. B. Bad Boy (who gets reformed for good in front of my very eyes!)

What Women Want (2000)

So why is a fantasy romcom film about a man hearing women’s thoughts is listed in bad boys?

Because the protagonist is a complete ass. Well, at least in the beginning.
Advertising wonder boy Nick Marshall (Mel Gibson) is a complete ass. He does whatever it takes you to get you into bed and then probably won’t call. He is also insensitive, clueless, and a failure of a single dad.

But then through a wonderful trick of fate, he starts hearing what any woman thinks, and at first, he believes he hit the jackpot. He can bed more women, faster.
But then as he gets to know women (and particularly his work rival Darcy), he starts to genuinely transform into a better person, lover, friend, and father.
And because Nick grows in every possible way right in front of our eyes, we root for him.

8. Friends to lovers – (*if they didn’t know each other for a long time.)

Again, I come to you with a disclaimer.

Friends to Lovers is an interesting one because it can be a pet peeve of mine or a favorite, just depending on the details.

If the characters have known each other since primary school and only notice each other after being absolute besties like 10,15 or 20 years, it’s a big no from me. Then I feel like they just got bored and took the easy way out.

But if they knew each other for a short time before feelings emerged…and/or if they were instantly attracted to each other but couldn’t pursue romance because of legitimate reasons, then I’m all in it for the comedy and romance.

Lovesick (2014, Netflix series) does this really well. First, I should mention Lovesick is a brilliant and hilarious comedy.

But it is also a romantic comedy because protagonist Dylan (Johnny Flynn) is a total romantic at heart.

When he meets his best friend Luke’s close friend Eve, they make friends at first. Eve is crushing on an artist dude and Dylan is with a German date. But when both their romantic interests fail them, they end up sleeping together. Dylan is more than willing to give this a go, but Evie just wants a one-night stand.

When circumstances bring about a friendship, they roll with it. But repressed feelings will come to bite both of them and ruin future relationships.

9. Holiday Romance

The Holiday (2006, starring Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Jack Black)

OK, that is not my subtlest example, but it is one of the best examples of a holiday romance.

Having had extreme bad luck in their relationships, English Iris (Kate Winslet) and American Amanda (Cameron Diaz) – two strangers – exchange their houses for the upcoming Christmas holiday.

Amanda spends Christmas in a lovely cottage, and Iris gets to enjoy Amanda’s beautiful LA house. Of course, no holiday romance is complete without Mr. Right. Amanda falls in love with Iris’ gorgeous brother Graham (Jude Law), and Amanda’s friend Miles (Jack Black) has a lovely friends-to-lovers romance with Iris.

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Give me the takeaway now!

Yes, this was a long post. And these were only my favorites. There are tons of romance tropes, so listing them with examples takes time.

But there’s really one vital takeaway I want you to take from this post and it’s this:
There are no hard rules that are set in stone.

Mix and match. Experiment to your heart’s fancy.

It definitely helps to know yourself as well as your target audience. But one writer/reader’s favorite can be another’s pet peeve and vice versa.

Hardin from After is the boy of my nightmares: both the book Hardin and the movie Hardin. This is not to say the books aren’t readable. They are super engaging.

But when I read a romance, I should want to be the girl. And I should want the guy.
I don’t want a romantic protagonist to make me say “Just go and never come back.” I shouldn’t want an “unhappy” ending where the heroes of the book don’t get together.

I’m a Darcy girl, you see. Whether it is Mark Darcy or Mr. Darcy, I want my men to be decent. And hot. And the fact that they are decent makes them hotter. You dig?

Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche in Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff was pretty decent until he overheard the conversation.

Wuthering Heights is a great book and a must-see movie…because who can resist Ralph Fiennes when he plays an obsessive lover? But a great movie/book doesn’t a great romance make. Sometimes, they are just highly engaging nightmares and cautionary tales. But some women want their Heathcliff, and we will disagree from here to eternity.

So, write the man/woman you would fall in love with. Write the hero you want to be. And then market it accordingly.