Romance Trope Generator

Why readers love tropes

A trope is a promise. When a reader picks up a book that says enemies to lovers, they know roughly what they are getting: a rivalry that turns into something warmer, with the pleasure of watching it happen. The trope is not the story. It is the contract, and the story is how you keep it in a way that surprises them. Readers of romance tend to read dozens of books, so they know the shape well and notice a new angle at once.

The five tropes here share a structure. Each one puts two people in a situation they cannot leave, and each gives them a reason to deny what is happening. Enemies deny it with insults, fake couples deny it with a contract, people in forced proximity deny it with politeness, former lovers deny it with distance and friends deny it with habit.

Finding the fresh angle

Every result here includes an angle: a single change to the usual version of the trope. The angle works best when it comes from the characters and their work. A baker and a food inspector are enemies for a reason that belongs to them. A lighthouse keeper and a ferry captain are forced together by weather that belongs to their place. Start from the pair and the place, then ask what the standard version of the trope would do, and do something else.

Be careful with the oldest moves. The fake engagement, the one bed and the storm are familiar for a reason, and readers enjoy them when you give them a twist or a sincere reason, not when you repeat them. If you reach for one, make sure the scene reveals character.

Keeping the emotion honest

The danger of a trope is that the plot moves by formula and the people stay flat. To avoid that, give each of the two characters a want that is not the romance, and let the romance get in the way of it. A woman who needs the promotion and a man who needs the town to stay the same will not fall for each other on schedule. They fall in the moments when their needs briefly line up.

End by checking the black moment. In most tropes, the crisis comes when the thing that brought them together is taken away. If the contract ends, the storm clears or the competition is decided, they are free to leave. The ending works when they choose to stay anyway.

Ten example romance tropes

• Enemies to lovers Enemies to lovers: a baker and a food inspector. Set in a town that holds one festival a year. They are competing for the only bakery licence in town. The fresh angle: they have been anonymous penfriends for a year.
• Enemies to lovers Enemies to lovers: two rival bookshop owners. Set on an island with one ferry a week. They are competing for the same lease on the same corner. The fresh angle: each is quietly sabotaging the other, and quietly covering for it.
• Fake relationship Fake relationship: a chef and the critic who ruined their restaurant. Set at a vineyard during the harvest. They pretend to be together to stop a grandmother from matchmaking. The fresh angle: they have a contract with rules, and the rules are the first things to be broken.
• Fake relationship Fake relationship: a ghostwriter and the celebrity they write for. Set at an international book fair. They pretend to be together to impress an investor who values stability. The fresh angle: the fake couple becomes the town's favourite, and ending it would hurt everyone.
• Forced proximity Forced proximity: a mountain guide and a travel writer. Set on a mountain during a storm. A blizzard shuts the road, and the only shelter is a lodge the size of a closet. The fresh angle: they promise not to talk about the past, and the past is all they want to discuss.
• Forced proximity Forced proximity: two single parents on the same school run. Set in a city during a week-long strike. A quarantine makes them share a flat. The fresh angle: they begin to build a shared routine without noticing.
• Second chance Second chance: a violinist and the piano tuner. Set in an old theatre about to be demolished. They parted in the middle of a sentence, and have been finishing it ever since. The fresh angle: they meet again as colleagues, with the same chemistry and a new set of rules.
• Second chance Second chance: a vintner and the heir to the next field. Set in a seaside hotel in the off season. They parted after a summer so perfect that the end felt like a theft. The fresh angle: a letter that was lost for years finally turns up.
• Friends to lovers Friends to lovers: a translator and the poet they translate. Set on a long road trip to a funeral. They have texted each other goodnight since they were fifteen. Then a wedding makes them each other's plus-one. The fresh angle: everybody else saw it years ago.
• Friends to lovers Friends to lovers: a farmer and the surveyor who wants to build a road. Set on a farm during lambing season. They have been each other's emergency contact for a decade. Then they get lost on a trip and share a tent. The fresh angle: their friends place bets.