Quarterly Challenge - Tropes

[Aly]

This is a 3 month challenge, going from April 1st to June 30th. There are 150 tasks total and the goal is to read for as many as you can.

You can read for tasks in any order you'd like, using one book per task. The tasks are based on common tropes in different genres of books, as well as certain things on the cover or words in the text.

Please let me know if there are any questions! List of tasks below ⬇️

[Aly]

Romance:

-Features enemies to lovers

-Two people get stuck together somewhere (elevator, snowed in, deserted island, etc)

-Former partners get a second chance at dating/relationship

-Features ‘soul mates’ or ‘fated mates’

-MC is in a fake relationship

-MC has a crush on their best friend’s brother/sister

-Features ‘Wedding Fever’ aka runaway brides/best man or maid of honor/wedding planners

-MC is or ends up with a billionaire

-Features amnesia/mistaken identity

-Character enters a holiday romance/fling

-Features a couple that are work colleagues

-Sunshine and grumpy (one partner is happy/bubbly, the other is broody/dark/loner)

-Features an unexpected baby (pregnancy or suddenly becoming a parent)

-Features a love triangle

-Couple on cover

Mystery:

-Defective Detective (detective is incompetent/an addict/otherwise troubled)

-Dame with a case (person comes to the detective with information about a case)

-The one you least suspect (killer ends up being the most unlikely suspect)

-Everybody did it (multiple killers)

-The detective dénouement (detective gathers everyone and lays out what happened at the end)

-Not a suicide (seems to be a suicide at first but ends up being a killer or accident)

-Twist ending

-Sherlock (detective who can quickly deduce details of a person without knowing them)

-Criminal consultant (story uses a criminal for advice or help)

-Nosy reporter

-“Alibii in text”

-Set in a remote location (far away from a city or place where most people live)

-Features poison

-Detective/investigator can’t find the murder weapon

-Alliterative title

YA

-The Chosen One (MC is destined to be a hero/villain, or bring about a prophecy)

-The Outsider (character is new to the area, doesn’t fit in with peers)

-Coming of age (character goes from childhood to adulthood)

-Features a good vs evil plot

-Set in a dystopian society

-Reluctant royal (MC doesn’t want to rule/be royalty)

-Forbidden love (couple aren’t allowed to be together for some reason)

-Makeover montage (character changes hair/clothes/personality)

-“Quest” in text

-MPG Retelling

-Character is mentored

-Series of 3+ books

-Strong female character

-True love (your interpretation)

-Cliffhanger ending

Fantasy:

-Dark lord/ruler

-Hesitant hero (MC doesn’t want to fight/lead initially)

-Lucky novice (character with little/no experience or training is somehow good at a difficult task/beats an expert at something)

-World that never progresses (no technological/cultural changes over many years)

-Pseudo-European medieval setting

-Powerful artifact/object

-Homogeneous species (Categorizing entire races into a few commonalities. Ex. all elves are good, all orcs are bad)

-Waiting evil (had laid dormant but now coming back)

-Here come the cavalry twist (all hope is lost until help suddenly arrives)

-Features magic

-Damsel in distress (female character needs to be rescued/helped)

-Character goes to a tavern

-Features dragons

-MC attends a magical school

-Male presenting MC

Horror:

-Summoning evil (read a spell, light a black flame candle, etc)

-Characters go to an abandoned place

-Characters can easily get into a building through an open door or window

-Nightmare that may have been real

-Death to the fornicators (sex = die LOL)

-Features a curse

-Finding old footage/evidence of a horrible event

-Splitting up (group of characters decide to go different ways)

-Secret lab/base

-Bad weather (rain, thunder & lightning, blizzard)

-Features a mysterious neighbor

-Bad guy won’t die

-Monsters everywhere (multiple monsters/creatures in the story)

-No communication (phones don’t work, no internet, etc)

-One last scare/not a happy ending

Science Fiction:

-Space travel

-Bad A.I. (turns murderous, evil)

-Alien invasion

-Simulation (one or events aren’t real)

-Features man-made monsters

-Techno-babble (new/made up terms or use of complicated technical jargon)

-Technologically advanced society

-Time travel

-Inhabiting a new planet

-Black holes or wormholes

-Space pirates (group travel through space looting/stealing from others)

-Apocalypse

-Little to no illness (cures for major illnesses)

-Evil genius

-Robot/AI as MC

Historical:

-Features famous historical figures

-Marriage of convenience

-Religious fervor

-MC ahead of their time

-Political or social upheaval

-Author shows off research

-Dual timelines

-Referencing the present

-Takes place during a war

-Family saga

-Faceless servants

-Wealthy MC

-Genre mash-up (set in the past but also features fantasy/paranormal/sci-fi/etc)

-Scandal

-Dress on cover

Children/Middle Grade:

-Adults as adversaries

-MC is between 9-13 years old

-Hidden world (MC finds a new world they didn’t know existed)

-Features a puzzle

-5+ colors on cover

-Talking animals

-MC goes to school

-Problem and solution (character encounters a problem then solves it within the book)

-MPG Adventure

-Happy ending

-New friends

-Sibling rivalry

-Overcoming a fear

-Being kind pays off

-Something new (new school, new house, new sibling)

Comics/Graphic novels:

-Amusing injury

-Cameo (celebrity, character from another book)

-Nemesis

-Superpowers

-Loss of power/wealth/status

-Cover art doesn’t match story (or character on cover doesn’t match description)

-Dead parents

-Secret identity

-Antihero

-Sidekick

-Under 200 pages

-Features a fight

-Physically strong MC

-Takes place in a big city

-Patriotic character

Thriller:

-Missing person

-Gaslighting

-Unreliable narrator

-Character is set up for a crime

-Features twins

-MC gets a threatening message

-Victim escapes the killer/a dangerous situation

-Toxic friend/family member

-Features a cult

-FBI/CIA/Government agency involved

-Features a deadline

-Oddly placed corpse

-Blast from the past (person from MC’s past shows up unexpectedly)

-Locked room

-Features an inheritance

[Jenna]

Fun!!

[Natasha]

I love this! What a fun idea :)

[Aly]

Thank you!

[Krysti]

Thanks for putting this all together, Aly!