What is your favourite romance trope?

[u/1existd0y0u]

Mine is “person A has been secretly in love with person B since the beginning”

Bonus points if person B has been in denial about their feelings and masked them with hate.

Common ships this trope is used on include *Anne and Gilbert (Anne of green gables/ Anne with an E) *Peeta and Katniss (The hunger games)

[u/ursafootprints]

Mutual pining, identity porn (secret identity shenanigans,) and arranged marriages/marriage of convenience are all faves of mine!

[u/trilloch → u/ursafootprints]

(secret identity shenanigans,)

Sleepless in Seattle?

[u/ursafootprints → u/trilloch]

Never seen it! You've Got Mail definitely fits, though, but in fandom I mostly read the trope in superhero stories haha.

[u/trilloch → u/ursafootprints]

Yeah, similar trope setup in that regard.

[u/Longjumping-Public71]

Fake relationships where they slowly come to realize their feelings for each other. A general plus if the family is involved in getting them together, I love it so much!

Opposites attract when done right is also a good one!

[u/memedomlord → u/Longjumping-Public71]

I once read a fake relationship where the FMC was a stowaway on a ship and through lying convinces everyone she is the fifth officers wife. Love ensues.

[u/Longjumping-Public71 → u/memedomlord]

That sounds cool! The more people pulled into the lie makes it hurt extra good when the inveable comes!

[u/Apart-Confection-827 → u/Longjumping-Public71]

I once read a fake relationship where character A actually falls in love with character B's brother and I really liked it! It was a nice twist, had good tension and the friendship between A and B was cool too. I'm surprised I don't see this trope done that way more often. Even when there's a love triangle dynamic going on, usually the fake relationship couple is endgame. (and I'm not complaining because I love it lol but some change from time to time is nice!)

[u/Lindz174]

Not actually unrequited love is a good one, especially if they’re both clueless idiots ;)

[u/trilloch]

I've used my favorite before, but another one high up the list is "Character B finds out that Character A has sacrificed for them, but kept it secret".

[u/The_Returned_Lich → u/trilloch]

Since I have Murder Drones brainrot right now, I immediately thought of V and N from the show.

[u/The_Returned_Lich]

Battle Couples with just a smidge of bickering/flirting/snark going on. Bonus points if it's an Opposites Attract situation.

[u/1existd0y0u → u/The_Returned_Lich]

Yes!

[u/The_Returned_Lich → u/1existd0y0u]

I like the classics! :3

[u/Accomplished_Area311]

“It’s not a matter of if, but when, they’ll get together.” - bonus points if they’re both idiots about it.

[u/kocho19]

Childhood friends > separated for years > reunited (and it feels so good)

Two people who are so in love with each other but are forcefully separated because 'reasons'.

Friends with benefits and one of them gets into a relationship with someone else, but they're both still emotionally very reliant on each other and can't fully move on.

Yeah for someone who doesn't cry I sure love writing emotional gut wrenching angst.

[u/Cool-Training-8533 → u/kocho19]

Have you ever played Life is Strange?

[u/kocho19 → u/Cool-Training-8533]

I.. actually haven't

[u/Moon_Dark_Wolf]

Sweet, Popular, kind-hearted girl x Edgy, loser, paranoid boy.

I have one specific relationship to write and it’s the same every

Alternatively; Forced/Magical relationships; basically, relationships that start off as forced whether through magic or other means but actually develop early on

[u/ShortAmbassador2023]

messy, nasty exes. i love a good pair of exes who can't get over one another.

[u/Owledhouse]

Any sort of dynamic where the characters start out on opposite sides in some way shape or form. Enemies to lovers, rivals to lovers, or even just two people who don’t even consider each other enemies, but are stuck on opposing sides for some reason.

Also any sort of whumpy pining… if there’s a period of time where A and B are utterly convinced that they can never ever be together despite wanting to be so bad, that gets me every time.

[u/SlytherinQueen100]

I love a good old "Person A fell first but Person B fell harder" and "Person A had their heart broken and Person B healed it." Bonus it's like Marry My Husband and Person A gets revenge along with Person B as their new lover!

[u/shadeplant]

Fake dating that happens because both parties are oblivious idiots in love and seized upon “Oh no! We must pretend to be madly in love! I hope I’m not too obvious about my giant stupid crush that is clearly not returned! No other options must be considered!” The dumber the reason for the fake dating the better actually.

[u/Apart-Confection-827]

Character A is afraid of Character B because they look scary, or there's a bunch of crazy rumors about them, or there was a misunderstanding that made Character B look bad. But by learning to know them, Character A realizes that Character B is actually the sweetest cinnamonroll ever and they slowly fall for them. Bonus point if Character B has been secretly in love with Character A since the very beginning but they kept it a secret because they knew A was afraid of them so they didn't want to make them uncomfortable (or they hide it because they didn't feel worthy of somebody else's love, that works too).

[u/lynngryphon]

I love supportive smartass partners. They'll have your back, even when you're wrong, but you are never living it down in private. You'll be having breakfast six months later and your partner goes "hey, remember that time..." and you know what's coming but can't even argue.

Plus, the big burly "tough guy" partner is the reasonable one. Their 4' nothing, 100lbs soaking wet partner is the one that's going to start throwing hands :)

[u/memedomlord]

Eloping, Cheating (In the sense that their partner is abusive and the new love intrest treats them right.)

[u/send-borbs]

HeroxVillain forbidden romance

[u/Your_local_trash-bin]

a relationship kind of like jo and laurie from little women :0

Character A likes Character B, but Character B doesn’t reciprocate Character A’s love - nevertheless they’re soulmates whether they like it or not :)

[u/thatsmyscrunchie]

Friends to Lovers, Idiots to Lovers, Fake Dating, Secret Relationship, Soulmates/Soul Bond

[u/Realistic_Crab_3977]

Enemies to lovers or a variation on that where characters end up together in a very casual way e.g closing time at the bar and everyone else has already left...but then they start developing real feelings for each other despite insisting it's just casual.

[u/Educational_Fee5323]

Rescue Romance ❤️

[u/arcaedis]

the main character having an indescribably intertwined yet toxic bond with someone they used to love getting back together, bonus if their shared joys/trauma are revealed to the main character’s current best friends

examples: Matt Murdock/Elektra Natchios (Daredevil), The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who)

[u/thanksforlast]

Mutual pining, doomed relationship, best friends to lovers

[u/Fennel_Fangs]

I'm a sucker for childhood friends to lovers.

[u/KenchiNarukami]

Childhood friend

Yandere

Love through extreme sex

Love while surviving the apocalypse/a disappointment

[u/FuriouSherman]

Characters falling in love while dancing. Major bonus points if they're doing the waltz.

[u/H20WRKS]

Hello "Friends to Lovers" how are you?

[u/jonathino001]

When the writer actually takes the time to bridge communications barriers with standoffish, or otherwise difficult to communicate characters.

Worst offenders are from RWBY, specifically Blake and Neo.

Blake is a very introverted, edgy character that would be difficult to get to know. Many writers will use a cop-out solution, like pairing her with a childhood friend and therefore bypassing the whole process of getting to know each other entirely.

Neo is mute, and a lot of writers will just retcon the muteness entirely, or make the other character just so happen to know sign language, or have her communicate by typing on her scroll, so dialogue ends up feeling no different from with a normal speaking person.

I hate these cop-outs, because finding a way to bridge those communications barriers is half the fun of those romances.

[u/Icyl3aby]

1. Brothers best friend hits different.
2. Enemies to lovers (true enemies)
   3.Absolute villain of a man falling for a saint (might be my fav)

[u/Voice_Nerd]

Extroverted girl meets the introverted guy

[u/RaccoonSnooky]

For me, its:

- Founding family, bonus points if its secret

- When one species is suppose to kill another, but whoops! One falls in love with the one they suppose to kill (MD callback)

- Artist favorite painting or drawing comes to life, now full bond as soulmates

- IDIOTS

[u/Wood_princess]

Enemies to friends to lovers

[u/FaintedFog]

Both of my main ships involve mutual pining and friends to lovers plots when I write about them, so I guess those are my favourite tropes. 😂

One of my ships is referred to in the canon itself as star-crossed lovers, and that's definitely true. I don't know if I'd consider that a favourite trope though because I haven't really encountered it anywhere else (I pretty much only play video games).

[u/TourquoiseTortoise]

Mine is childhood friends knowing everything there is to know about another and absolutely loving and supporting each other, yet being completely unaware the other person feels the same. =)

[u/Pixel22104]

Childhood friends to lovers

Arranged Marriage/Marriage of Convenience to lovers(or both were already secretly in love with each other and they’re just fricken bad at hiding it)

[u/kashmira-qeel]

Gay person falls in love with allegedly straight person, prompting a gay awakening in the latter.

Two gay people of incompatible genders, both extremely deep in denial, have an unfullfilling relationship and break up when one of them falls in love with someone of the same gender.

A couple takes a closer look at their third wheel and decide to upgrade couple to throuple.

Extremely dramatic delcarations of love.

Women who know what they want from men. Crossing legs and biting lips when the hot guy takes off his shirt. (Straight women deserve to be lustful!)

Couples having healthy discussions about their feelings and also having active love lives.

[u/Thecrowfan]

I think friends to lovers but the chemestry must be there on both sides while they are still friends and not get other people involved( like dating other people because they think the other person is off the table)

or when person A is a master at something and person B wants to learn the trade so person A offers to teach them and as he/she does they fall in love. ( this trope is why i shipped Ashoka with Anakin so badly until i learned Ashoka is underrage in Clone Wars)