: Re: Is it possible to combine clichés/tropes to make it not a cliché? I have read a couple romance books at most and so don’t claim to have very much experience with romance and clichés.

@Kaufman555

A subplot, even a romantic subplot, is still a plot.

It has a change arc and conflict, which involves character flaws and handicaps. Your protagonist will have try/fail cycles. There is something they want and something they need. There may be an older mentor character who will guide them, an antagonist to menace them, and consequences from their choices and actions.

The goal will seem impossible and just as all is darkest, the protagonist understands what is important, makes changes and digs himself out of the hole…, or discovers true love was under his nose…, or falls in love with his wife again…, or whatever. A romantic subplot is more than just "love triangle" – that is like saying "bullet hole" is a murder mystery.

The clichés you've listed are the tropes out of context. Of course they sound bad because they are shorthand for basic set-ups. But they aren't plots, in some there isn't even inherent conflict.

Why couples argue

We've all seen eye-rollingly "bad" romantic subplots that make no sense because emotions turn on a dime and the obvious couple just bicker. It's probably trying something like Scene/Sequel structure to keep the relationship "turning" in lieu of any deeper arc or conflict. It feels pretty shallow because it is, but it can be a convenient way of shaping the main plot's emotional beats (the couple argue, but it is really about something else). "Good" romantic plots just feel like plots.

Typically you want to avoid tropes, not pile them up in a trainwreck and pray for serendipity. You can also subvert tropes by deliberately applying a twist, or reframing the context so it plays out in an unexpected way. You can have a positive change arc where something new grows, or a negative change arc where a relationship turns selfish and controlling. I'm a sucker for bittersweet elliptical arcs where characters get stuck in their own gyre or must return to their normal world. However it goes, it won't be static and it won't be a direct path.

Badly-written characters have arguments. Well-written characters have conflicts, sometimes you will show it in subtler ways. Real relationships aren't just hot and cold, some are competitive, some are one-sided, some are a compromise to get something else they need. A relationship might be rushed, or neglected, or under stress from outside forces (like the main plot).

Outline the romantic subplot's story beats

Give your arc a structure, at least a distinct beginning, middle, and end state. Merge it with your main timeline. If it doesn't carry the story, maybe it carries the theme. Or works as counterpoint: a unconventional romance on a conventional story. A hero can save the planet but not win the girl. A 1-night stand must learn to be cop partners. A boyhood crush isn't who he remembered. Turn the clichés upside-down.

Once you start thinking of them as plots it becomes easier to do something original with them.

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