snowflake challenge #8

[svgurl]

Challenge #9
Talk about your favorite tropes in media or transformative works. (Feel free to substitute in theme/motif/cliche if "trope" doesn't resonate with you.)

There are so many tropes that I love but I'll try to narrow it down, though I'm sure I will forget a couple.

Amnesia: I lean toward partial amnesia rather than complete, but I'll read both! There's something really appealing about a character trying to figure out what has changed in their life since the last thing they remember, especially when it comes to the love interest. Seeing them look at a relationship with new eyes or try to struggle to remember the already established one gives me both angst and humorous possibilities, both which I enjoy. And I love it from the other side too! Where the LI wants them to remember but also wants to help them heal at their own pace (while pining!).

Canon Divergence/Fork In the Road: There are always points in canon, or even pre-canon, where I wonder 'what if x had happened instead of y' and it's just interesting to explore the possibilities.

Fake Dating/Relationship/Marriage of Convenience: Whether it is for something low stakes like needing a date for a wedding or trying to escape the "helpful" matchmaking of friends/relatives or a little more high stakes like going undercover, this trope is just fun and full of pining, angst, and potential for others, like misunderstandings and accidental love confessions. All of which I enjoy. I like it when one half of the ship has feelings or both have feelings and think that this is all they can ever get. Or when they don't even consider each other and slowly fall for one another while they're "pretending". This extends to marriages where the ship gets married for "reasons" and then just doesn't want to divorce but thinks the other one doesn't want that.


Friends With Benefits: Even if it starts off as two people who don't like each other having "casual" sex. It's fun when they can't communicate properly but are having great sex and then start to open up in other ways or they're already close and are all "let's just do this because we're both having a dry spell ... no feelings involved ... oh whoops now I'm in love."

Groundshog's Day/Time Loop: Watching characters relive a certain day and try to figure out what they did wrong/why it's happening is so interesting! It can be chaotic and sad but also so triumphant when they finally get there.

Only One Bed/Sharing a Bed: There is an intimacy can come with sharing a bed with someone. Sure, it can be casual and not a big deal but when you want it to, it really can. This works for characters who are pining, characters who just got into a relationship but haven't gotten to that stage yet, or exes that still have feelings. It leaves room for exploring a tension and the UST toppling into something more.

Soulmates/Soul Bonds: I know they're two different things that are just often connected, but I'm going to put them together anyway. I don't really like the "can't see color" version but other types, like being connected in some way or having each other's names/certain words/symbols are all great. With soul bonds, both existing or formed, especially when it's unplanned (a side effect of saving someone's life or they touch something they shouldn't, etc) because these two have to deal with this whole new connection that they weren't expecting and figure out how to live with it/how it makes them feel about themselves and each other.

Triangle for Two: The classic Clark/Lois/Superman issue that comes along with falling for the same person twice without knowing it. Whether it's already having feelings for someone and trying to move only to fall for that same person under a different name (usernames on a dating app, etc) or it is an superhero canon where there is one person with a dual life, they just do it for me. It's the struggle to deal with having feelings for two people and being genuinely conflicted but really they are just falling for all the sides of that same person and it coming together in the end. And also from the other side, where they feel like they're deceiving the person they care about and don't know how they'll take it. Or they just genuinely don't know, like the dating app. Both ways are good.

Comments

[yarnofariadne]

Ohhhh FWB-to-lovers YES, every time.

[queenslayerbee]

Amnesia is one of the tropes I talked about in my post as well, and though I focused on other aspects, you're right that it's great fodder for romance! It allows room for the things I enjoy about established relationships, about pre-relationship stages, AND even, sometimes, about past relationships/exes, in a way.

Canon divergence and time loops are other two favourites of mine. And although I didn't mention triangles of two, those kinds of secret identity shenanigans are also great, and one of the things that keeps me coming back to superhero canons :P

[tellshannon815]

Canon divergence is definitely a favourite of mine!

[kitarella_imagines]

Oh I love some of the same tropes as you!

I love the fake dating/marriage one! People forced together but it ends with them in love. Or hopefully anyway. And the Only One Bed trope is similar, I love all this sort of thing 💗

Friends with benefits could fit with my Sex for Convenience turns Romantic trope perhaps? Where people are just having sex randomly but maybe it turns into more.

Amnesia- while I don't choose to read these generally, I wrote a long fic a long time ago about star crossed lovers, and to my surprise one of them lost his memory due to a terrible accident. I didn't know this would happen, it just suddenly did! Characters make sudden decisions. He lost 7 years of his memory, and his secret boyfriend had to look after him, everyone was against them and it was very difficult...but of course love triumphed in the end. It was a very poignant story though, I'm not sure I'd write it again as it was so emotional, but it's one of my favourites.

I like the tropes you chose 😊

[brumeier]

This is such a great list! Triangle for Two is one that I haven't crossed paths with before, but I can see why you like it. Lots of room for angst there, and some humor as well. I'll have to keep this one on my radar!

[bradygirl_12]

Ha, ha, years ago there was a Superman/Batman story about them sharing a bed on a cruise ship...and it was canon! ☺️

[corvidology]

I've always loved the amnesia trope as well though my love has lessened after watching so many Chinese dramas where it occurs ALL THE TIME!

As Calculon in Futurama said, "Triple explosive amnesia!"

[dustbunny105]

Seeing them look at a relationship with new eyes or try to struggle to remember the already established one gives me both angst and humorous possibilities, both which I enjoy.

Yes! This isn't my top consideration for amnesia stories but it is rife with possibility. I remember a Cablepool fic I read ages ago utilized this and it was so good.

Fake Dating/Marriage of Convenience and Triangle for Two are two of my other favs from this list. The latter is especially good when the different dynamics are explored. The two-person love square was something I really liked about Miraculous Ladybug when I was watching.

[ragnarok_08]

These tropes are fantastic!

Canon Divergence is a favorite of mine too, as writing all sorts of possibilities and what-ifs being my bread and butter when writing fanfic.