REPEATED TROPES

‘LOVE TRIANGLES’

I have a love/hate relationship with love triangles. When Twilight burst onto the scene, it was all anyone could talk about; who was Team Edward and who was Team Jacob? This ‘will they, won’t they’ was kept up between Bella and both the boys for four books and five films.

Love triangles are an excellent way to keep readers hooked, and at times a brilliant trope. Who wouldn’t like to imagine themselves in the protagonist’s place? Not only are you navigating high school (or Victorian womanhood or literally saving the world) but you also have two extremely handsome men who are attracted to you.

‘Love triangles are an excellent way to keep readers hooked, and at times a brilliant trope. Who wouldn’t like to imagine themselves in the protagonist’s place?’

However, I feel that at times this trope can be a tell of lazy writing. If there are so many interesting things going on in the book, or happening to the protagonist, adding in a romance of any kind can detract from the plot. Adding two romances can make the plot predictable. We know the protagonist will end up with one of the people in the triangle, reducing the ability to have more interesting connections and relationships within the plot. Furthermore, the love triangle only seems to work in one way, that is, a woman choosing between two men, and eventually settling for one. What about the queer characters, the polyamorous, or the characters who don’t want to end up with anybody in the end? There are so many ways a love triangle could go, but it never seems to happen.

So, whilst love triangles were a staple of my reading growing up (probably changing my perception of romance permanently) I feel they often leave me wanting more.

By Daisy Leason

‘ENEMIES-TO-LOVERS’

In romance novels, especially the Young Adult genre, enemies to lovers is a popular trope. The explanation is in the name. Firstly, the love interest usually offends the protagonist, or maybe they have an unexplained dislike for each other. This could go from common school rivals to kidnapping or abuse. The story goes on, and there is either a slow build to their romance, or something happens and it is revealed that the other person actually likes the protagonist.

This trope has risen in popularity. Personally, I find it painful to read. It normalises being treated badly and forgiving the love interest for being rude, mean, verbally abusive, and a whole myriad of other awful things they usually do to the protagonist. Many of these books romanticise toxic traits in relationships and can influence readers to want something like the romances they are reading in real life. Through this, real people looking for love may excuse negative behaviour because they see it in a book and it is often unpunished or even glorified. Books can provide escapism for many people, but readers of books with the enemies-to-lovers trope simply escape into a world where love comes with bad treatment. If someone was cruel or unkind to you, why would you ever date them? In real life, the best choice would be to avoid the other person, or try to be civil, not kiss them!

‘Enemies-to-lovers is a plot that pops up very often in Young Adult romance novels, and I personally do my best to avoid it.’

Enemies-to-lovers is a plot that pops up very often in Young Adult romance novels, and I personally do my best to avoid it. I’d rather read a meet-cute or a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ situation where they can’t be together due to outside forces. Love can have obstacles, but there are better barriers than one person acting like they hate the other.

By Katherine Ostroske