Y'all, I am six months behind on tags...
So do I catch up?
Nope.
I steal an entirely different tag and do it. 😅
But in my defense, how could I pass up a trope faceoff tag? Exactly. I couldn't.
the rules
As Christine Smith put it, “Twelve worthy tropes have been tossed together in twos to battle it out for our favorites.” So for this tag, pick one of the two tropes listed over the other and explain why this one wins the duel (repeat for all six trope combos)! Tag some fellow bloggers, of course, and stay tuned for the final challenge at the end!
Don’t forget to link back to whomever tagged you and thank them (thanks, Christine, for the open tag!) and link back to the creator!
the chosen one vs the mentor
Honesty: I don’t mind either trope, really. Probably because I don’t read a ton of chosen-one stories (soulmates is more the romance genre’s style), so it hasn’t gotten too old to me. That said, I’d probably pick the mentor trope over the chosen one, simply because the mentor isn’t explored as much (as a protagonist, that is) and there really are way more options with it.
Winner: the mentor
enemies-to-lovers vs friends-to-lovers
HOW IS THIS EVEN A QUESTION???
Okay, I don’t have anything against friends-to-lovers as a trope (if my love for Gale and my own FTL romance are of any indication)…but enemies-to-lovers will always and forever be my all-time favorite. You can call it toxic all you want, it still wins out in this round.
Winner: enemies-to-lovers
matchmaker gone wrong vs love potion
Welp, I’m not a love potion fan at all, so matchmaker gone wrong wins by default. Aside from that, it’s still a top-notch trope. (Emma, anyone?)
Winner: matchmaker gone wrong
trapped in an elevator vs working with the ex
I will forever love trapped in an elevator after A Christmas Kiss. (Such a good movie, if you’re a Hallmark, or Hallmark-like, movie fan!) It’s just pure fun, and although I’m sure there’s some great love-to-hate-to-love/second chance vibes in working with the ex, I feel like there’s a lot more room for creativity with trapped in an elevator!
Winner: trapped in an elevator
mistaken identity vs marriage pact
Gah! Okay, so I really like both of these...and really dislike them. To me, mistaken identity can end up overly dramatic, and marriage pact can come off as cliché and cheesy. So if mistaken identity is really well-done, chances are I’ll enjoy it more than a marriage pact story.
Winner: mistaken identity
kidnapped vs the one that got away
Y’all know “the one that got away” or second-chance romance is one of my least favorite tropes already (not at all because there’s anything wrong with the trope—there are just others I like more, so this one ends up on the bottom of the totem pole)…so kidnapped wins by a technicality. Plus, it doesn’t help that one of my favorite novels (On Wings of Devotion by Roseanna M. White) starts off with a kidnapping (gone wrong, that is!) and that half of my very, very, very first stories were kidnapped stories. (Y’all legitimately do not want to know.) It’s just plain fun, you guys.
Winner: kidnapped
There we have it, folks! The winning tropes, which means it’s time for a very special (and slightly overwhelming) challenge!
write a short story using every single trope that we chose!
Yep, I have to write a mentor, enemies-to-lovers, kidnapped and trapped in an elevator, mistaken identity, matchmaker gone wrong romance.
Honestly, that sounds amazing.
Last but not least, lemme tag some folks…
Make sure y’all subscribe to the blog and keep an eye out for my tropetastic short story coming atcha soon! And, of course, I’d love to know what your winning tropes are! Feel free to pirate this tag if you have a blog of your own or comment below!