“If you like enemies-to-lovers where she is the chosen one, she falls first, he falls harder, there is a love triangle, plus a found family, then this book is for you.” It seems every influencer on TikTok or Instagram talks about new books this way. Ever since the boom of the phenomenon referred to as BookTok occurred around 2020, there has been a complete shift in the way books are written and marketed. Now, instead of naturally including a few tropes in the plot, it feels like the plot is built around the tropes.
Recently there has been a major shift in how tropes are used by marketing teams and publishing industries. People used to recommend books to each other using tropes but now marketing revolves around it too as every book cover, blurb, Instagram hashtag consists of tropes included in the books.
the predictability of it all
Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with including tropes; in fact, it’s a good way for people to find out books they are interested in, but it gets to a point where it’s a checklist of all the tropes that can be fit into a single book, leading it to being predictable. As someone who read quite a lot of books recommended by BookTok, I did not realise how much my brain was relying on the tropes as patterns and sought out predictability. That is, until I recently read the first book of the Poppy War trilogy whose plot essentially went against all the predictions my brain unconsciously made, and I enjoyed every second of it!
The og authors did it first
Now I understand why authors choose to market books this way because it is easier to attract an audience, but it leads to every book feeling like a recycled version of an original popular book. It’s quite funny that we don’t even realize it. I remember reading an Agatha Christie novel for the first time and went in with high expectations, as one does for a popular author, but came out feeling whelmed in the least. It felt like every other mystery novel, and I could not figure out what made her special until someone pointed out that her plot points were original for the time she wrote in, and now every book is a copy of hers. Here, I was thinking that she was just another trend follower, but she, the woman, the myth, the legend, was the trendsetter herself!
It is especially noticeable in the romantasy genre, where every popular book includes: a fragile protagonist who is secretly powerful, an academy where students killing each other is normal and a war brewing in the background of a romance. Every book starts feeling like a saturated version of Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, and nothing feels unique anymore. However, if there is one trope in romantasy I won’t complain about, it’s the sassy animal sidekick (Tairn, I am looking at you).
The book Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood was recently released as a movie (I personally think Lili’s press looks were better than the film). The tropes did not even translate well onto the screen and every character felt like a caricature of themselves: the nervous fmc, the smart but robotic mc and the sassy best friend.The scenes with the friends were cute to watch but overall, it was not the best.
Tropes in classics
I will admit that a pro of the use of tropes everywhere is that it did help me find classics less intimidating. I remember attempting to read Pride and Prejudice for the first time and my eyes just glazed over as I could read the words but not comprehend the sentences. But then I saw videos and reviews online and realised that this book is literally the original enemies to lovers. It’s just about a socially awkward dude who has trouble expressing love which I totally understand and relate to. So tropes did help me stop looking at classics as these scarily large books with size 5 text.
tropes-yea or nay
I think authors would benefit from naturally including a trope or two if it benefits the plot instead of treating it like a checklist. Sure a little predictability is nice but you have to keep the readers on their toes as well. It could also help them stand out amongst a sea of “friends to lovers” and “the chosen one books”. I think tropes are a good starting point for people who are getting into reading as they can experiment and find out which kind of tropes they enjoy and look for recommendations along those lines. But it should not get to the point where every book feels like a copy of another and follows the same formula.
I think a healthy balance should be followed to avoid falling into the trap of trope-ification of books, with the exception of animal sidekicks, of course. Gimme a book with a sassy animal sidekick and, to quote Ayo Edebiri, “the theatre employees are asking me to leave, but I am simply too seated”!