First of all, this is a little cynical, so my apologies for that.
Nevertheless, if you step away and study the subject from a distance then you'll find some interesting commonalities between many of the books in this well-selling (sub)genre.
Here are several of the tropes I identified thus far...
Background
I’ve been reading (well, mostly listening to audiobook versions of) some ‘romantasy’ novels lately, to figure out how they are done. Some are quite entertaining, as long as they don’t dive into the ‘interleaving porn chapter’ problem, and as long as you can stand the ‘brooding handsome sharp chiseled enemy to lover’ trope.
But… after a while they all start feeling much alike, or at least share some genre defining characteristics. Let’s have a look at some well known / popular series, and find the most common tropes. Because – let’s be honest – it takes more than a good story and decent writing and interesting characters to make a book popular. Okay, I admit to being a bit of a pedantic, sarcastic ass right now, turning things upside down, but – honestly! – I was confused when reading Kalayna Price’s Grave Witch, and had to check the cover twice to make sure I wasn’t reading something I already read. (And no, Grave Witch is a completely different story, it was just the setting that felt so similar.)
• Patricia Briggs – Mercy Thompson
• Faith Hunter – Jane Yellowrock
• Lauren Dane – Goddess with a Blade
• Deborah Wilde – The Jezebel Files
• Kalayna Price – Alex Craft - Grave Witch
• …
(And there are tons more.)
So, what are those common elements that confused me about which book I was actually reading? Well, Deborah Wilde and Kalayna Price shared a lot of elements in their books. Their settings were near identical, though not the plots.
Tropes
Magic resurfaced
These are typically contemporary settings, where somewhere in the (recent) past magic resurfaced, with fae, werewolves, witches, and other kinds of magical creatures and practitioners.
The world adapted, and moved on.
Parts of the world resurfaced
Some bits of the world were ‘folded’ away from the rest, and they showed up again when magic resurfaced.
Fae allies
It might not be a real or friendly ally, but nevertheless the PC will build up a relation with one or more fae characters, who will come to her rescue. Sometimes at a price.
Magic insensitive
The world is filled with both magic sensitive, and non-sensitive people.
Pro human movement
There's a pro-human (anti-magic) movement.
Typically the protagonist has a near family member as the head of that movement (her father or mother, mostly) and has a poor relation with that person.
Dark brooding annoying hunk who becomes a love interest
Mostly a character in power, typically a police inspector, or some other person in a position of authority.
Even better when there are two hunks, of which one is a werewolf.
Good yet poor investigator
The protagonist is always a lone PI or similar character, who is proud of her little business, but only one step away of loosing it all and becoming a pauper.
Her office is at the third floor or in some shared office / business building. Her car is falling apart. She’s living above a garage, preferably owned by an older yet good looking fae in human disguise.
Hidden super-power
The PC isn’t exceptional, but becomes something special due to some hidden / blocked superpower.
Enemy to friend / enemy to lover
'Nuff said.
Werewolf
There’s always a handsome werewolf. Always. Or someone / something that looks like a wolf. Wolves are cool.
Missing family
At least one brother or sister has gone missing under mysterious circumstances.
No wizards
No floppy-hat Gandalfs anywhere in sight. Which is a good thing, I guess, though I’d expect a grey bearded hermit or two to have surfaced since the days magic came back to the world. Alas, no Gandalf. Note to self: any big, powerful opponents are typically evil wizards, so yes. There are wizards. Just no hero-wizards.
Tropes are bad, right?
But… tropes ain’t bad!
Don’t get me wrong! I love kick-ass heroines, and though romantasy isn’t my favorite genre, some of the plots are pretty good (once stripped of most of the romance). Come to think of it, I guess a similar set of tropes can be constructed for your average military Scifi book…
Does that mean that writing a romantasy-scifi novel will reach twice the audience? Hold on… I might be on to something...
More
- Romantasy versus Fantasy with Romance
- Candlelore
- Fantasy Romance Tropes Cheatsheet
- Romance
- Writing
- Kalayna Price
- Faith Hunter
- Patricia Briggs
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