: 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.

@Nimeshi163

If you're writing romance, you'll need to embrace the tropes. Romances have one conflict: something artificial is keeping these two people apart. Virtually every device for doing that has been written: a misunderstanding, an existing relationship, an earlier relationship with the same person, feuding parents, misaligned career goals, differing ethnic or religious backgrounds, differing social status, a language barrier, lack of money, illness, magic, distance, even time. And every romance, by definition, ends the same way: the characters overcome the obstacles and commit to one another. (Something similar is true of drawing room mysteries, by the way.)

Instead, romance is more about the characters and the ways in which they bicker, struggle, worry, and scheme their way to love conquering all. Dialog, setting, and character color are what set romances apart.

Vote Up Vote Down

0 Reactions   React

Replies (0) Report

Login to post a comment!