It’s all the rage at the moment to talk about tropes when you discuss your book, or to have them in the blurb on the back.
What are tropes I hear you say? A trope is a recurrent theme or a motif, recurring character type.
But you probably know them better by the books that you read.
In romance, you have the Second Chance romance, grumpy sunshine, fake dating, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, opposites attract, love triangle, love at first sight (and a lot more)
In Fantasy, you have chosen one, the quest, reluctant hero / ruler, hidden world, Inconvenient prophesies along with some of the romance tropes if it is Romantasy.
Science Fiction, you’ll find dystopian society, time travel, interstellar politics, alternate universes, creepy robots, genetic engineering, AI concepts.
Mystery books often have the grizzled detective, amateur sleuth, small town with secrets, ticking clock while Cozy mysteries might have a normal woman turns detective, a bakery, maybe even a witch.
Actions stories have treasure hunts, puzzles and riddles, exotic locations, double agent, mandatory chase scene and a lot more (Matthew Reilly excels at fast paced action in his ‘save the world’ troped stories.)
Horror books even have their own – monsters, deals at crossroads, summoning spells (often done whiole drunk), creepy swamps, broken down vehicles, evil geniuses with unusual weapons (chainsaws, machetes).
Do you have a favourite trope? I particularly like second chance romance, enemies to lovers, actually, pretty much all of the tropes available in Romance.
I sat down and tried to work out what the tropes are for my new Racing Harts series, which is being released next year. This is what I came up with:
Finding Faith is Motorsports, rivals to lovers and championship dreams
Gaining Grace is motorsports, second chance romance, and achieving goals
Having Hope is motorsports, He falls first, and keeping secrets.
Which one are you looking forward to reading?
I will be putting the books out in February, June and October next year, and I’m working on a funding program, where you can give as little as $10 per month to have the three books signed and delivered to your door. If that sounds like something you’re interested in, then please let me know.