Part 3, let’s go!

Soulmates

I’ll be completely honest, I don’t read very many books with this trope, and I guess I can sort of see the appeal? Maybe like, if they’re soulmates but something else is keeping them apart? I’m not the biggest fan of this because it makes me think of star-struck lovers and stuff like that, and while I like romance, that’s not my vibe.

Alternatively, NON-ROMANTIC SOULMATES? Like a found-family type situation, or a best friend situation, or like academic partners, business partners, when you take a soulmate trope and flip it over and take the romance out, that takes the cake. So I’m going to rate this 8/10 for the non-romantic version, the 2 points are docked for cringy romance.

Not that I have anything against romance!!! Just… not like that.

Love Triangle

…look.

Katniss/Peeta/Gale. Jacob/Bella/Edward. All these love triangles that are so loved in our fictional world are just two guys who are fighting over the girl (and often, both options aren’t great).

“What if it’s an LGBTQ+ love triangle of sorts?”

I don’t like love triangles. Easy as that. I get the conflict, I get the appeal of “ooh, who’s he/she/they gonna pick??” but it’s not for me. It’s also often either predictable or disappointing.

I’m not gonna give it a 0/10 because sometimes (albeit rarely) they’re written well. So I’ll say 2/10.

Found Family

YES. YES, YES, YES.

I write found family, I read found family, I LOVE this trope so much. It’s the caring for someone without it being romantic, it’s the making the choice to stay with this person, it’s so sweet and sometimes, platonic relationships are even better than the romantic ones.

Of course there’s drama, of course there’s conflict, but that comes from any relationship. I think there needs to be more platonic relationships in fiction. I said what I said.

(If you love it too, check out my book, Scarred)

10/10. 10000/10. Whatever amazing rating I can give it.

Marriage of Convenience

For me, this one’s 50/50. I don’t like the initial “oh, I have to get married to this person for XYZ reason, and they’re maybe good-looking or maybe not but I don’t like them” but then they reveal their soft side and all of a sudden they’re attractive, and then they actually fall in love, etc. Boring.

But then when you dig deeper, and you find different reasons for this marriage, or if there’s other conflicts involved, that’s when it gets interesting. I think for this, and for a lot of tropes, its most basic form isn’t the most interesting. What makes it good is when someone can figure out unique ways to interpret this trope and make it different and special.

5/10. It’s not my favourite, but it’s not bad.

“I’m Supposed To Kill You”

Mostly in fantasy or sci-fi, it’s when one person is tasked to kill another and they find they can’t do it because they’re in love or some other reason. I think it’s an interesting trope because it comes with pre-packaged conflict (in a manner of speaking). I don’t feel any particular way towards this trope except I know it can get pretty spicy! I don’t really read this trope much, but there you go.

I’m gonna give this a 7.5/10. Pretty solid trope. Probably wouldn’t use it, but I enjoy reading it from time to time.

Part 4 coming soon!

Do you agree with my opinions? Disagree? Let me know in the comments!

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Life is a story. How will you write yours?

Until next time,

Catherine Khaperska