Tropes: Using Them Without Franken-Troping Your Story
Like it or hate it... tropes sell books. 📚 Every popular fiction genre has them — and so do plenty of nonfiction ones. Even literary fiction plays with tropes, though they rarely get called out by name. 😉
But inserting a trope purely for marketing value? That can ruin an otherwise compelling story. Done well, though? Tropes can absolutely enhance a story and deepen a reader’s emotional connection.
We've all read books where certain tropes are jammed into the story — and it shows. Instead of adding a layer of enjoyment for readers who love that trope, it makes the story feel stitched together, awkward, and less compelling for everyone.
I call this Franken-troping: splicing a trope into the story where it doesn’t naturally belong. Just like the stitches on Frankenstein’s monster, the seams are visible — and jarring.
Tropes Gone Wrong: An Example
The trope I’ve noticed used this way most often in my personal reading? Impact play in dark romance.
It probably stands out to me because it’s not my personal favorite trope. But let’s be real: having this popular element in a dark romance has helped a lot of authors sell books. When it’s done poorly, though, it can knock an author right off an auto-buy list.
But impact play is just one of dozens of tropes that get inserted into stories for marketing value while adding nothing in the way of plot or emotional resonance to the story. This happens in traditionally published and indie published books alike.
When the scene feels like it’s from another book, then it probably should be in another book.
So How Do We Include Tropes Well ?
If you're looking to weave a popular trope into your story, the goal isn't just to insert it.
The goal is to motivate it — deeply and believably.
A trope should:
Fit your characters naturally.
Grow organically from their pasts, their personalities, and their choices.
Enhance the overall story instead of feeling like an awkward add-on.
A throwaway line or thin subplot isn’t enough to make a trope feel earned. It needs to be rooted in believable backstory and current motivations.
Example: The Pregnancy Trope
Let’s look at another trope readers tend to either love or hate: pregnancy.
In RUTHLESS ENFORCER, Atlas knows two things pretty much from the beginning:
He wants to keep Lucia in his life.
He's lying to her — and it might be too late to fix it by simply telling the truth.
In typical alpha male fashion, his solution isn't to sit down and talk things out. 😂
Instead, when he learns Lucia wants a child badly enough to consider a sperm donor, he jumps on the opportunity — hard. No parachute, no bungee cord — just straight into the deep end.
And yes, they have a lot of fun along the way.
The important part? Both Atlas’s and Lucia’s actions around the pregnancy are motivated by who they are as people. Their hopes, their fears, and their emotional baggage drive this storyline.
This wasn’t something I added to beef up marketability. From the very beginning, this thread was woven into the core of their story.
When Tropes Feel Natural
For me, tropes aren’t checklist items. I don't build a story thinking, "How can I jam in a popular trope?" I build a story I want to read and spend weeks (or months) living inside — and popular tropes often emerge naturally, because they're the kind of stories I love too.
That’s just my method.
It doesn’t mean you can't purposefully include tropes. You can — and do it well! It just takes care, thoughtfulness, and motivation that feels true to the characters.
Back to Impact Play...
There are authors who use the impact play trope beautifully. Some have stayed firmly on my auto-buy list. Some... have fallen off. And a few have even moved onto my do-not-ever-buy-again list.
Why?
Because in their effort to meet reader expectations, they created scenes that:
Weren’t well-motivated.
Didn’t feel true to the characters.
Made the story feel disjointed or forced.
Will All Readers Agree with Me? Nope. 😊
Plenty of readers enjoy those books — the reviews say so! And that’s a beautiful thing about reading: taste is subjective.
But here's the long-term concern: When you force a trope into a story where it doesn’t belong, readers may not know why the story feels off... but they’ll feel it. And slowly, quietly, they’ll drift away — finding new authors whose stories resonate more deeply.
Final Thoughts: Tropes Change. Readers Stay (or Don’t).
I've been around publishing for a long time, friends. I’ve seen entire subgenres nearly vanish from bookstore shelves when their popularity faded. I've watched dozens of authors lose publishers — and readers — when trends shifted.
Tropes go in and out of fashion too.
If you’re going to write to market, it’s crucial to stay aware of what’s popular — and what’s fading. But if you build your stories on well-developed characters and real emotional arcs, many of your readers will follow you even when the tropes (or even the genres!) you write change.
Because ultimately it’s the story telling not the story elements that create loyal readers. Write the stories only you can write — thoughtfully, deeply, and with heart.
Happy writing and until next time! 💖
Lucy
With more than 12.5 million copies of her books sold worldwide, Lucy’s an award winning and USA Today bestselling author with 95+ published books. Her stories have been translated for sale all over the world and after a long career in traditional publishing, she’s gone indie. She loves the freedom to write the stories both her and her loyal readers enjoy the most. Her steamy mafia romance series, Syndicate Rules features the morally gray alpha heroes and spice she love to write. She also writes contemporary, historical and paranormal romance. Some of her books have action adventure and intrigue. All of them are steamy and deeply emotional. She’s a voracious reader and loves to talk about both her books and those she’s read (or should read…good recs are always welcome). Welcome to her world where love conquers all, but not easily!
For info on all of Lucy’s books, visit her website.
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