This week’s #SixforSunday prompt from the lovely Steph at A Little But A Lot is Favourite Tropes. It was harder to think of six tropes that I love than I thought it would be, but here are my six:
1. Love Triangles – I know that most people are over this particular trope, but I LOVE a well-written love triangle. Katniss-Peeta-Gale. Bella-Jake-Edward. America-Aspen-Maxon. Clary-Simon-Jace. Will-Tessa-Jem. There are so many brilliant novels where a love triangle drives the plot, and I enjoy guessing which pair will make it.
2. The Pure Evil Bad Guy – the trope of the bad bad guy with no redeeming features has been well-used. Many of my favourite books have an unambiguously bad bad guy. Harry Potter wouldn’t be what it is without Voldemort. Lord of the Rings without Sauron? Wrong! The Mortal Instruments without Valentine? What would be the point? We need to have a bad guy to lust after, root for, hate.
3. The Ridiculously Strong Protagonist – Supposedly ordinary characters (often female) with freakishly good strength and survival skills. I know they’re not realistic, but I do not care. I love them anyway. Katniss? Tris? Two of my absolute favourites. I love seeing ordinary people displaying extraordinary strength (both physical and mental).
4. Chosen One– The one with the special skill sent to save the world or whatever. I’ve seen a lot of criticism levelled at this trope, but it’s a brilliant one. Can you picture Harry Potter without him being the chosen one? Exactly. So many of my favourites feature a chosen one and I am all there for it.
5. The “Just Friends” who become something more – Is this a trope? I don’t know. But it’s a thing I love to read about. The couple who start off as just friends and grow to love each other. Katniss and Peeta. Lyra and Will. Mia and Ash. Hermione and Ron. Harry and Noah. It’s nice to read about relationships developing from being friends.
6. Rebellious Royalty – Royals who don’t want to be princes or princesses and rebel against their enforced roles. Ellie from Undercover Princess is a brilliant example of this. Maxim in The Selection Series demonstrates some of this too. I love to read about a rebellious royal who fights for what they believe in over what they are told to do.
That’s my Six for Sunday. What tropes would make your list?
Charlotte, Somewhere 
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