I love tropes. I love romance tropes. And if we're going to believe Joseph Campbell, every story is the same story any way. Some tropes are considered especially de trop, though. You'd think that we in the romance community would have learned from our own shoddy treatment in the literary world not to piss on the tropes of our own genre. Billionaire's Mistress, Secret Baby, yeah, we can laugh at them, but there's a reason they're still around—something about them touches readers.
I've learned something. And it's taken a long time to get here and I'm still working on it, but it revolves around the whole "Never Say Never." I keep getting smacked in the face with it, so I guess it's time to admit it. Every time I swear I'll never read or write X because it just doesn't "work" for me, I find the exception. The one time the trope or genre or deus ex machine—or whatever I've been ranting about in my too-full-of-myself way—works beautifully. Take Mpreg in fan fiction. Nope never. But then you find a writer who makes you not only believe the insanity, but love reading it.
And with that, I hope you guys will be as excited as I am at the release of the trope-filled Bad Company, which comes out June 7. You're in for some stiff competition in the excitement department, because I'm bouncing at the idea that the next time I blog, Nate and Kellan will be out there, and I hope, making readers smile. I had this idea about making a marriage of convenience work for a contemporary gay couple who can't of course, get married—not in Baltimore, at the moment anyway. Along the way to their Happily Ever After, I danced with the tropes Friends to Lovers, a touch of Gay for You, and my old favorite Reunion Romance. Normally, I start freaking out about two weeks before release day, convinced that this time, I've written something no one could possibly like. This time I have the same feeling I had before Collision Course, that I loved these guys so much you would have as much fun with them as I did. You'll have to let me know if my tropes were, uh, de trop.
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3 comments:
I tend to love classic tropes written with skill and taken in unexpected directions (while still maintaining the trope), so this post made me smile.
There's a difference between knowing your tropes and letting them tell the story for you. The writers I respect (and prefer to read) all know how to make a trope sing with new potential.
I panicked for a moment and thought you were writing mpreg. I'm afraid I still have the door slammed firmly shut on that one, it will take some prying to get it open. :-)
Tropes only become tropes because people love them and want to read them over and over, otherwise it would be just that "wacky weird idea" some goofy author had once upon a time. So they can't be all bad, although I think the word can have a negative connotation for being "unoriginal". And I've found there are ALWAYS exceptions to the rule in my life, except m-preg. LOL
Congrats on the new release. Looking forward to it.
Congrats on the upcoming release!
I love tropes. I think any trope can be written well eventually.
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