17 Romance Tropes I Hate | iWriterly

some romance tropes are fantastic and i am trash for it like enemies to lovers or friends to lovers but there are 17 romance tropes that i cannot stand want to hear what those are stay tuned [Music] hey book nerds i'm meg latorre i'm the author of the cyborg tinker which comes out november 17 2020. if you pre-order a copy and fill out the pre-order giveaway form in the description below you'll be entered to win one of more than 30 prizes some of those prizes include signed copies of the cyborg tinker tct merch character art bookmarks books by authors you know and love and much more stay tuned to the end of this video to hear if you won this week's prize i also formerly worked at a literary agency on this episode of iwriterly let's talk about the 17 worst romance tropes now before we get into today's content hit the subscribe button and ring the bell if you haven't already here on iwriterly i create videos about how to be a successful modern day author including self-publishing and traditional publishing this video is sponsored by pro writing aid codewriting eight is an app that analyzes your writing and highlights areas for potential improvement it offers grammar and style checking combined with more in-depth reports to help you strengthen your writing from line level tweaks to a deeper assessment of your writing style it searches out elements like repetitiveness vague wording sentence length variation over dependence on adverbs passive voice overly complicated sentences and much more one of the things that i really like about prowriting8 is that the app makes suggestions and then offers explanations videos and even quizzes to help explain why they're making those suggestions stay tuned to the end of this video to hear an exclusive opportunity from today's sponsor and the last housekeeping thing my camera has died and i'm in the process of getting a new camera so that's why the setup again is a little bit different i apologize but i wanted to make sure you guys are still getting all the content so if things look a little bit different that's why new camera pretty setup come soon without further ado let's talk about the 17 worst romance tropes number one non-consensual sex consent consent consent if your characters are going to pound town there should be verbal consent and it doesn't need to be elaborate it could be something as simple as hey do you want to and the person is like yes check you've done your consent also for the love of goodness have the couple talk about birth control and safety particularly if they are a heterocouple regarding birth control and this is particularly true if the story takes place in a contemporary setting if it's a fantasy setting that's a little bit different but they should probably still talk about how they're going to prevent unwanted pregnancies number two glorifying abusive relationships if one partner is physically emotionally or sexually abusing the other that is not okay being destructive heading the other person is never okay yelling or gaslighting never okay isolating friends and family to emotionally manipulate the other person also never okay it's abuse so please stop glorifying that crap let's have some healthy romantic relationships in books shall we number three is love at first sight or insta love this is when two characters see each other for the first time and instantly fall in love often times before either of them speak to the other it should be that's like insta lost you know you maybe you see someone for the first time and you're like oh my gosh they they have what i'm looking for i think in celeste is totally cool but insta love uh you need to actually talk to the other person and get to know them before love is even possible i do not think love is possible until you communicate with the other person so long as they can communicate and show that they are interested in the other person get to know the other person then love can happen you can't you can't get to know another person by just looking at them across the room and being like i love them anyways i think that love love at first sight can set really unhealthy expectations especially for young readers number four the damsel in distress i feel like i can speak for most people when i say enough of having the male love interest swoop in and rescue his gal most of the time this makes the woman feel like a trophy to be won or protected rather than an individual who should be a peer to the love interest it's fine if there's some sticky situation maybe at the start of the story that one of the love interests helps the other get out of but enough of this white night stuff i think we're all over it number five is an uneven power dynamic this is when one person in the relationship often a man has a lot more power than the other person or people if it's like poly versus monogamy so this power could be something like financial status maybe power at work they're in a higher position or could be something like social standing whatever the case may be it usually leaves one person in that relationship at the mercy of the other and unable to stand on their own even if there's something like a prince and a commoner or a princess and a commoner i feel like that's pretty popular in romance stories the commoner i don't know what else to call them but the other person should be able to stand on their own or i don't know live without the person with this uneven power dynamic they should be able to stand on their own in some capacity number six is the two-dimensional love interest this is when the law of interest one or both has zero interests outside of being in the relationship so they're only interested in each other [Music] everyone has hobbies interests goals and hopes for the future and your character should have the same number seven is zero chemistry in other words why did these two characters fall in love with each other if it's romance it needs to be more than a physical attraction if it's just like a one-night stand that's fine just attraction is enough but if it's a romance and they're developing this into a relationship there needs to be a reason why they're together in the case of the zero chemistry usually there's no reason for them to want like to be together they don't have common interests maybe they don't really even talk to each other there's no playful banter there's no relationship really besides maybe sharing a bedroom number eight is stockholm syndrome according to google stockholm syndrome is feelings of trust or affection felt in many cases of kidnapping or hostage-taking by a victim toward a captor in other words this is basically beauty and the beast as someone who loves beauty and the beast's retellings i think there is a good way and a bad way to go about this trope stockholm syndrome bad beauty and the beast retelling sometimes bad if one partner is being forced to maybe uproot their lives there should be some choice in the matter where they're like yes i'm choosing to go ahead with whatever this is kidnapping is uncool i don't think perpetuating that stockholm syndrome is romantic is a good idea number nine the personality shift in the bedroom from my how to write good sex scenes and novels video i know there was some discussion about this so while yes someone can be sweet and passive in real life and then be like a dom in the bedroom it is possible there should be some hintings at something else going on and maybe kind of their sexual interests so this trope that i hate you shouldn't be surprised if someone is super sweet in real life and then bam they're this like controlling job personality in the bedroom we should know that this is gonna happen the reader should get some inkling so if a character is sweet and passive they're probably going to be a sweet and passive lover again unless there's hints if you're passionate and bold in real life then maybe you're passionate and bold in the bedroom number 10 a lack of partnership this is usually when the couple doesn't push each other to grow as individuals or maybe they don't work together or communicate well they essentially operate as individuals and don't lean on each other to ask questions make decisions or even like get advice or opinions a romance between two or more people should be a partnership in my opinion number 11 poor communication i hate it when couples don't talk is one person insecure about the relationship talk about it is one person upset with another because of a decision that they made talk about it is one person angry at the other for something that they said talk about it i hate when plots are moved simply because of poor communication number 12 is cheating as a way to move the plot for those who might be triggered by this not to worry i'm not going to go into this further but for everyone else please stop doing this number 13 stalking seen as romantic because they have good intentions if one of the love interests has been watching the other from afar and maybe keeping tabs on their whereabouts that's not cute that's called stalking don't date the guy get a restraining order obviously bonus points not actually bonus points like negative bonus points if this stalker dude is maybe some magical creature that's hundreds of years old and happens to fall for a teenage girl gross number 14 a rival love interest being evil rather than being a complex person who has good intention but maybe just isn't good for the main character the rival love interest is often portrayed as being evil or maybe working for the bad guy or actually being the bad guy enough stop demonizing the love interest if the protagonist is just going to choose one person over another have them choose and move on no need to demonize their ex number 15 is foreign fetishism this is usually when a person of color is fetishized because they look different from other people in that particular community that the story takes place in a person of color is allowed to be attractive because they are attractive and not because they are considered exotic stop it stop it stop it number 16 is fetishizing virginity no just no someone is sexy regardless of whether or not they have their v card in fact they might be more sexy if they don't because they know what they're doing just saying number 17 is a forced romantic subplot you do not always have to have romance in your books especially if it's like anything other than a romance novel so if it's a fantasy novel you don't have to have a romantic subplot if it's a romance novel there should be a romance because of the genre but outside of that you don't have to have a romantic subplot if you don't want to or if it doesn't fit not to mention the two main characters do not have to get together it's okay to have a platonic friendship relationship between those characters they don't have to be romantically interested in the other and now it's time for the exclusive opportunity you have all been waiting for pro writing 8 is giving iwriterly viewers 20 off pro writing aid premium click the link in the description to learn more and now it's time to announce the winner of this week's pre-order giveaway for the cyborg tinkerer the winner of this week's pre-order giveaway is this person you'll be going home with wrapped up for christmas a paperback signed copy by caitlin duncan thank you so much to everyone who's pre-ordered a copy of the cyborg tinkerer and stay tuned for a future episode where another winner is announced thank you so much for tuning into this episode of iwriterly the 17 worst romance tropes cyborg tinker is available for pre-order and paperback hardcover and ebook on most major retailers the audiobook is forthcoming if you'd like to order a copy for yourself the link is in the description below if you pre-order a copy and fill out the pre-order giveaway form in the description below you will be entered to win one of more than 30 prizes some of those prizes include signed copies of the cyborg tinkerer tct merch character art bookmarks books by authors you know and love and much more if you want to support what i do join me on patreon i currently have six tiers with a bunch of different perks including an exclusive discord server early access to weekly videos access to my suggestion box discounted merch and more hit the like button subscribe and ring the bell so you are notified every time i upload a video if you have questions or requests for future videos please do drop them in the comments below let's be friends on social media i'm on twitter and instagram i also have a monthly newsletter when you subscribe you'll receive free copies of how to format your manuscript for submission which is a word document template a querying checklist a self-publishing checklist and a book marketing checklist you will also have first access to any information about the publication journey and status of my books all the links are in the description below that's it for today as always keep writing [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: iWriterly

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Keywords: writing tips, best writing advice, writing advice, romance tropes, book tropes, tropes i hate, worst romance tropes, worst tropes in romance, worst tropes, problematic books, book discussion, worst book tropes, romance book tropes, meg latorre, iwriterly, authortube

Id: Qb1G2iseMzg

Length: 13min 10sec (790 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 16 2020