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Hey! As some of you might know, my current WIP is a satirical take on the romance genre. I think I have pretty much viewed all the relevant articles and videos on the KP site so the general concept for my main storyline is set.
However, I’m still on the hunt for more cliches because I need ideas for my worldbuilding, subplots etc. So if you guys can list down all the romance cliches you can think of (preferably those that you hate and wish to see get ripped apart), it’ll be very much appreciated 🙂
Thanks!
@valtmy Love triangles, brooding and moody characters, too timid love interests, possessive behavior, stalkery behavior, yandere. Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
@valtmy
This is not only used in romance, but I see it used a lot in that context. I personally really dislike when writers use misunderstandings to create conflict, and every time I think “If they could spend five minutes talking to each other, this would not be an issue.” If you do use miscommunication to create tension in a relationship, I think you should put proper foreshadowing into place, or establish that one or both are poor communicators.I dislike when a romantic relationship solves the character’s problems. (Being in a healthy relationship takes work, and is not easy, and tends to magnify people’s flaws, not fix them.) However, I really enjoy seeing characters be proactive about helping each other through the things they’re facing, through their weaknesses, and are making an effort to strengthen and support one another.
Having the characters argue and rub each other the wrong way is extremely common. (Because conflict is interesting). I don’t have a problem with this in itself, but I often see character relationships that are full of competitiveness or bickering, which is not how a healthy relationship should be. It’s not romantic to talk down to one’s significant other, and why would you want to be with a person that treats you that way?
I’m not sure if these qualify as cliches, but they’re things I see often.
And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
@valtmy
I should probably clarify that I’m not saying these things should never be used, but they should be used intentionally. Perhaps you are trying to make a point about how people idealize romantic relationships, and think that a bf/gf will solve all their problems.And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
@valtmy I don’t like it when once people fall in love, they HAVE to overcome everything to be together. Like, it’s not an option to choose not to be together for whatever reason. Also impulsive kisisng when they barely know each other yet, or when the strong girl protagonist realizes that she’s actually in love with the sensitive/artsy guy that’s always been in her life.
Most of all, I hate it when you can see from the very get-go who’s going to be with who. Like it’s so annoying when at the beginning of the story, they fall for each other and everything else is history. I like Pride and Prejudice because with Elizabeth’s situation you just don’t know!
Anyways, I can clarify any of these if you find the way I describe them confusing. Best of luck on your WIP!
It's g-h, 2-4-6-8 twice, three 9's
literatureforthelight.wordpress.com@valtmy Prepare for a rant.
I really dislike love triangles. Immensely. I will not read books that otherwise look good if it looks like it will have a love triangle. I feel like if a girl is in a relationship with two guys (as it normally is in these situations) she is leading them both on. She doesn’t really love either of them if she “loves” both of them. Once though, I read a book where the MC was on the edges of the triangle. She and her sister both liked the same guy, but the MC was really humble, and decided to step back and let her sister and the guy do their thing. It was great.
I also don’t like romance that is based off physical attraction. No one will say that it is only on physical attraction, (she loves him for who he is on the inside!) but then they are both as flat as chicken nugget… that has been run over by a large truck, and all she can think about are his gold-flecked eyes… eh, just no.
I don’t like the classic, run away from arranged marriages plotline, Valari Westeren wrote a short story a while ago that summed up my feelings about it.
Characters that fall in love in like, a week, especially if they are young adults. They can like each other a lot, yeah. They can even like like each other a lot. But for me personally, a week is too soon to be passionately proclaiming your love for someone, or doing another equivalent of that. (Like kissing. Too soon guys.)
@valtmy Totally agree about the kissing. That’s what I was going to say. A timid hand-hold or hair-push-back is much more romantic to me than a sudden weird kiss.
There is one other thing I never can decide if I love or hate. It’s when the sidekick falls in love with the heroine, but she has no eyes for anyone but the hero, so he unselfishly helps the hero to see how wonderful she is and in the end is still stuck in the friend-zone.
I love it and hate it because usually in these cases I detest the hero and fall in love with the sidekick. I remember so many movies and books like this. (This even carries to opera because the hero is tenor and the second character is baritone, and I dislike the tenor voice and adore the baritone…so yeah. Sidekicks forever!) My dad said he watched a movie once where the twist was that she changed her mind and went with the “sidekick” but he hasn’t showed me it yet. 🙂
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
Thanks guys for all your inputs! I have quite a few “bad romance” ideas now though I think I will need to write multiple books if I want to cover everything here.
But now I’m also thinking of presenting a “good example” of a romantic relationship in my story… This is weird to ask considering the title of this thread but are there any specific romance cliches out there that you guys actually like? 🙂
Yes I hate those cliches as well. But I am not sure whether I know how to satirize things like stalking, possessive behaviour, yanderes etc and still have it come off as funny. The only way I can think of is to deconstruct them to better reflect reality and that could get really dark really fast. I’ll have to think on this.
Oh yes, stupid misunderstandings, idealised relationships and bickering are very, very annoying. Which is why I am planning as you said “use them intentionally” to tear them apart. The problem though is that I have to deliberately create annoying characters to do so… which is actually quite difficult because I am also trying to love and understand all my characters. I’ll have to get some tips on writing characters that are actively unlikable.
Completely agree with the must be together at all costs and impulsive kissing cliches! But what is wrong with the sensitive/artsy guy thing?
Also for the knowing who’s going to be with who thing… That’s an interesting point. I never really thought of knowing who will end up with who as something readers might get tired of since that was my idea of setting up readers’ expectations and fulfilling them in a romance novel. In fact, not knowing who’s going to be with who sounds like the kind of drama that comes from the dreaded love triangle!
Still I can see how playing with and subverting expectations can be a breath of fresh air (though I sadly never felt genuinely surprised by Pride and Prejudice or any Austen book since their widespread popularity meant that I already know all the plots and endings). Do you have any ideas as to how to make it “less obvious” who will get together with who?
Superficial love interests, selfishly running away from arranged marriages, whirlwind romances… Yep, don’t like these too.
But for love triangles… I am trying to see whether I can make this cliche work and actually be compelling and interesting by playing around with the situation a little. Like, say, if there are multiple men who are attracted (but not necessarily in really in love) with a woman who is completely uninterested in having a relationship (for good reasons) yet she takes advantage of this and manipulates them for her own purposes… Do you think such a twisted “love triangle” will work?
I don’t really fall for sidekicks or get “second lead syndrome”. But I suppose the issue I have is with how these sidekicks are usually portrayed even if the hero is detestable. Many authors are lazy and just turn the sidekick into a crazy, jealous guy so that the heroine easily choose who to be with. Otherwise they just make him this perfectly selfless guy with no motivation beyond protecting and helping the heroine to the point that it gets boring and unrealistic. I guess I just haven’t seen many compelling sidekick characters in romance.
@valtmy One place I have heard of that made a stalker less creepy was when Q chases Captain Janeway around in Star Trek: Voyager. Q is an alien with strong powers and can appear and disappear at will, as well as snap his fingers and give her flowers, or whatever. Her second-in-command is freaked out by this, because Q could obviously just take Janeway away with him or attack her, but Q is so ultra-romantic that he never even considers this as an option. He just keeps making long speeches about how much he adores her, and giving her gifts, and asking her crew members what he can do to make her fall in love with him. He eventually gives up and marries someone else. (This is all what I read. I’ve never actually seen the episode, but a commentor said that his hyped up romantic nature made him seem less creepy than he should have been.)
One of my absolute favorite sidekick characters that wasn’t boring was George Murphy’s character in For Me and My Gal 1942. Judy Garland is the girl, Gene Kelly is the dashing, selfish hero who changes for better by the end of the movie, and George Murphy’s “I love her, but she loves him, so I’ll help her get him” part is so well done.
I also love Gene Nelson in several of the Gordon MacRae-Doris Day/June Haver musicals. In those he’s the sidekick who’s not quite so passive, and actually tries to get the girl, and often yells at Gordon MacRae after he is rude to her, but in the end when she chooses the hero he is happy for them. In those films I can’t ever decide whether I like Gene Nelson or Gordon MacRae better. They’re both usually great characters. 🙂
And by the way, doesn’t the love triangle idea you had somehow remind you of Three Musketeers? I think in that book the villain is a beautiful woman who manipulates men in that way.
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@valtmy Oh, and you asked if there were any romance cliches we like…I actually like practically all cliches and I love stereotypes! So that’s a hard one. 😀
Okay. My favorite is probably when the guy rescues the girl. I’m fine if the girl rescues the guy sometimes, but I really like the girl who is strong emotionally, but gets into physical trouble and the macho guy has to come save her. If she is attacked by thugs and he beats them off, if she is shot at, and he has a gun so he can shoot back, if she is too weak to run any farther when they are being chased by the “bad guys” and he has to pick her up, or at least put his arm around her, or any other scenario you can think of in which he has to be manly and physically strong, I immediately decide he’s a great guy. 🙂
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
I have a soft spot for the reverse of what I’ve said previously. Additionally:
I love seeing characters put together surprises for someone they love (like a gift, or planning a special dinner, etc.)
I like seeing characters just having fun spending time together. This shows the reader that they genuinely enjoy one another’s company.
I love seeing characters sacrifice for the sake of someone they love. This can be as small as giving up the last piece of cake or as big as sacrificing their life for the other.
And most of all, I love seeing the arc of characters’ relationship. Give them obstacles to overcome. External and internal. A character who struggles with opening up to people will learn to trust and how to be vulnerable with the other person. A character who is selfish will learn how to be selfless in their relationship.
I could probably go on for a while, but these are just what came to mind. I’d love to hear some of the tropes you like seeing in a romance as well @valtmy 🙂And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
I think you’re right! I forgot about the Three Musketeers… Hmm… it’s fine I suppose. I should still probably be able to make this idea work.
Actually, now that I think about it one of my characters could sort of fall into the creepy stalker stereotype rather easily. He’s an artist who thinks of the girl as his muse and spouts endless amounts of flowery poetry and all that. But his refined upbringing and need to maintain some “creative distance” from the girl in order to produce his art should make him less creepy I guess? Do you think that will work?
As for the “rescue” cliches… Would you like it also if the guy rescues the girl in a non-physically strong way? Like, say, by using his wits or being kind?
My personal favourite romance tropes are those that provide opportunities for lots of cute and funny moments in the story:
- The “Meet Cute”. This applies for non-romance stories as well. It is my firm belief that the first meeting between important characters should be as cute, hilarious and memorable (additional points if it is very embarrassing for one or more of the characters) as possible.
- Cliches that force the hero and heroine to interact and deal with each other. So things like the characters finding out that they live in the same apartment building or even the arranged marriage cliche when it is actually done well.
- Characters know/meet each other as children and meet again when they are adults. Cute childhood moments aside, I am a sucker for seeing characters when they are young as I like to envision the different possibilities they have for their futures (this applies to non-romance stories as well). The time gap between the characters’ childhoods and when they meet again as adults also give the potential for rich backstory and subtext.
- The hero and heroine having an explicit goal that they have to work together to achieve. This makes their interactions natural and non-contrived and allow them to prove that they make a great team that can support each other to tackle life’s problems. Can be anything from winning a competition, running a business or raising a child together.
@valtmy Yess! I adore a sweet meet cute! *dreamy sigh*
And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
@valtmy Yes, I think the artist will work. I think I remember reading that somewhere, actually, where the artist admired the girl so much as a piece of God’s artwork that he overlooked the fact that she was a woman, and therefore didn’t have love for herself, but just for her beauty. This eliminates him from both the love triangle and the villain aspects of the story, but lets him be the “out of it” kind of guy who is kind of a stalker, but not creepy. 🙂 Sort of like the modern-day nerd, who is “adorkable” but just looks up to the girl instead of wanting to marry her. Sometimes he doesn’t want other people to marry her either, though. 😀
Non-physical rescues are okay. I love it when the hero taunts the villain, like “You know, you shouldn’t really act like that. Didn’t your mother ever teach you how to behave?” or other crazy comments which he really shouldn’t be making because he is wasting time when he could be fighting. 😀 But I really prefer when the guy has at least one physical rescue in the story. I like a guy with confidence who can talk his way out of a problem, but I also like a guy who carries a gun, or who can throw a strong left hook, because I would feel safe walking with him.
So if she needs to cry on his shoulder and he “rescues” her in that way, I like that. But I want a big hero rescue in addition so he can show his physical prowess.
I like “meet cutes” too, but I actually dislike it when it’s embarrassing for one of the parties. I’ve been embarrassed often enough that I don’t get enjoyment from other people being embarrassed. But I know that a lot of people like that sort of thing because it helps them connect to the characters as the characters seem less “perfect” and more like real people.
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@valtmy The “obvious” thing might actually be a pet peeve of mine… but overall to eliminate it I suppose you’d make the two people who are destined for each other be indifferent to one another, but they never really consider each other in “that” way.
And for the sensitive/artsy guy with the strong female protagonist, I guess it might be a trope I’ve seen a lot. There’s not much wrong with it, now that I think about it, and I’ve actually enjoyed books where I’ve seen that happen. So never mind about that… I guess. Just try to make your characters have plenty of depth, and it really doesn’t matter what their personalities turn out to be 🙂
It's g-h, 2-4-6-8 twice, three 9's
literatureforthelight.wordpress.com
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