Romance Tropes List: 30 Tropes, What They Mean and How to Write Them

A romance trope is a familiar setup for a love story, like enemies who fall in love or two people forced to share a cabin. Readers search for tropes by name because each one promises a particular kind of tension and a particular kind of payoff.

Most trope lists are reading lists. This one is for writing: 30 tropes with the scene readers are waiting for and the mistake that breaks each one, a closer look at the six tropes people search for most, how to combine them, and how to write them as tags on Wattpad.

At a glance

1. A trope is a promise to the reader, not a plot. The story is in how you get two people from the setup to the payoff
2. Every trope has one scene readers are waiting for. In enemies to lovers it's the first moment one of them takes the other's side
3. Most stories combine two or three tropes: one for the relationship (enemies to lovers), one for the situation (forced proximity) and sometimes one for the characters (grumpy sunshine)
4. A trope turns into a cliché when the scenes run on autopilot. Give the familiar setup a reason that belongs to your two characters

What is a trope in romance?

In writing, a trope is a pattern readers recognize: a kind of character, situation or relationship that shows up across many stories. Romance readers use trope names the way other readers use genre names. Someone who says “I want slow burn” is telling you how fast they want the relationship to move, not what the book is about.

A trope is not the same as a plot. “Fake dating” tells readers how two people end up together; it doesn't say who they are, what they want or what's in the way. Two fake dating stories can share nothing beyond the setup.

The examples below follow one invented couple, Rachel and Ben. Rachel runs her late aunt's bookshop; Ben is the developer who just bought the building.

Romance tropes list: 30 tropes and what they mean

The tropes are grouped by what they decide: how the relationship starts, what situation keeps the two together, who the characters are, and what stands in the way.

How the relationship starts

What keeps them together

Who the characters are

What stands in the way

How to write the six most-searched tropes

Enemies to lovers

Enemies to lovers works when the conflict is real and both sides have a point. Rachel wants to keep the bookshop; Ben needs the building to pay off a loan his family can't cover. Neither is wrong, which is why the reader can want them together.

• Start the change with respect, not attraction. The turn comes when one sees the other is good at something or right about something. Ben watches Rachel talk a teenager into his first book and stops seeing a tenant.
• Let them stay enemies a while after they're attracted. Readers love the stretch where the hostility is a habit neither wants to drop.
• Resolve the original conflict. If the building is still a problem at the end, the romance hasn't earned its ending.

Slow burn

Slow burn means the feelings come on slowly and the payoff comes late, often past the middle of the story. Slow doesn't mean still: something between them has to change in every few chapters, even if it's small.

• Plan the steps. Write down the stages the relationship goes through (noticing, a first honest talk, a touch that lasts a second too long, jealousy, the first kiss) and which chapter each lands in.
• Raise the cost of each step. Each step should be harder to take back than the last.
• Don't stall with misunderstandings. A slow burn held back only by miscommunication reads as delay. Give them a real reason to wait.

Friends to lovers

The risk in friends to lovers is losing the friendship, and that risk is the story. If they could try dating and go back to being friends with no damage, there's no tension.

• Show the friendship first. Readers need to see what they would lose: the shared jokes, the habits, the way one knows the other's coffee order.
• Give one of them a reason to finally see it. A new partner, a move, a wedding. Something outside forces the question.

Forced proximity

Forced proximity is a situation, not a relationship, so it pairs with another trope. Rachel and Ben stuck in the shop during a blackout is forced proximity; what they say to each other in the dark is enemies to lovers.

• Make the situation believable and hard to leave. A storm, a shared office, a work trip with one room left. If one of them could simply walk out, readers will ask why they don't.
• Use the space. Small spaces force small choices: who sleeps where, who sees whom without makeup, who hears the other's phone call.

Fake dating

Fake dating needs two things: a reason to pretend that matters to both, and rules for the pretending. The fun is in breaking the rules.

• Give each of them their own reason. Rachel needs a date to her ex's wedding; Ben needs the town to stop seeing him as the man who's closing the bookshop.
• Write the rules down in the story. No kissing unless people are watching. No telling friends. Each broken rule is a step in the relationship.
• Decide what happens when the reason ends. The wedding is over and the town has moved on. Now they have to choose whether to keep going without an excuse.

Grumpy sunshine

Grumpy sunshine is a character trope, so it lives in dialogue and small scenes. The grump is usually the one who changes, and the payoff is seeing them soft for one person only.

• Give the grump a reason. Ben is curt because he's spent a year being the bad guy in someone else's story.
• Give the sunshine a limit. A cheerful character with no bad days is a mood, not a person. Let Rachel have the day where Ben is the one who shows up with coffee.

Combining tropes

Most popular romances use two or three tropes at once. A common shape:

1. One relationship trope: where they start emotionally (enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, second chance)
2. One situation trope: what keeps them in the same room (forced proximity, fake dating, workplace)
3. One character trope, optional: who they are to each other (grumpy sunshine, opposites attract)

Rachel and Ben's story is enemies to lovers + forced proximity + grumpy sunshine. The more tropes you add, the more promises you make, and readers who picked the story for “fake dating” will notice if the fake dating ends in chapter three.

Trope or cliché?

A trope is a structure readers enjoy coming back to. A cliché is a trope written on autopilot, where the scene happens because it always happens. The only-one-bed scene is a trope; the only-one-bed scene in a hotel with a lobby full of empty rooms and no reason given is a cliché.

To keep a trope fresh, ask what is specific to your two characters. Why does this booking go wrong? What does this person do when there's one bed? The setup can be familiar as long as the characters' choices aren't.

Writing tropes as tags on Wattpad

On Wattpad, readers find stories through tags, and trope names are among the most-used ones. Wattpad's help center gives “enemiestolovers” as an example of a trope tag, and the same English trope tags appear on stories written in German, Spanish, Italian, Polish and Portuguese.

• Tags can't contain spaces, hyphens or periods, so trope names are run together: enemiestolovers, slowburn, fakedating, forcedproximity, grumpysunshine
• A story can have up to 25 tags
• Only tag the tropes your story actually delivers. Readers who search a trope tag are looking for that payoff

Keeping your tropes on track in TypeTak

TypeTak is an AI writing editor where you write alongside an agent. It's for making sure the relationship you promised readers actually moves, step by step, in the order you planned.

• Where the relationship stands at each chapter. Write how Rachel and Ben feel about each other into their relationship, and when “rivals” becomes “something else,” the old status isn't erased. It keeps the chapter it lasted until, so you can see where each slow burn step landed.
• Every scene they share, found for you. Ask the agent something like “list every chapter where Rachel and Ben are alone together,” and it reads the manuscript and tells you which chapters and what happens in each.
• A step that contradicts an earlier one gets flagged. Run a chapter through Feedback, and the Consistency card points out passages that conflict with what you've already established, like a first kiss that already happened three chapters ago.

Which trope you pick, and when the payoff lands, is still up to you.

FAQ

What is a trope in romance?

A trope is a familiar setup for a love story that readers recognize by name, such as enemies to lovers, fake dating or only one bed. It promises a particular kind of tension and payoff, but it isn't a plot on its own.

What are the most popular romance tropes?

Enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, slow burn, forced proximity, fake dating and grumpy sunshine are among the most searched and most tagged. Second chance and only one bed also show up on many reader lists.

What does slow burn mean?

Slow burn means the romantic feelings build gradually over a long stretch of the story before the couple gets together, often past the middle of the book. Something between them should still change every few chapters.

What is forced proximity?

Forced proximity is a trope where circumstances keep two people physically close, such as a shared room, a storm or a work trip. It's a situation trope, so it's usually combined with a relationship trope like enemies to lovers.

How many tropes should a romance have?

Most romances use two or three: one for how the relationship starts, one for what keeps the couple together, and sometimes one for who the characters are. Each trope you add is a promise readers expect you to keep.

Are tropes bad?

No. Readers choose stories by trope because they enjoy them. A trope only becomes a problem when the scenes happen on autopilot, without a reason that belongs to your characters.

Sources

Trope

Wikipedia — Trope (literature)

Wattpad

Adding tags to a story·Story rankings FAQ