some favorite tropes

[latespring]

I got introspective this past weekend, and the result was this! I don't think it's exhaustive by any means, but it's definitely a good cross section of what I like to read. I've often been convinced to like/not like tropes based on what I've read before, and I'm always willing to be swayed into liking something I wasn't a fan of before by a fic. (These aren't all tropes, more like things I broadly like in a story.)



I will always know you:

• Soulbonds/group telepathy/empathy/mind link/fusion: One of my favorite tropes!!!! I love telepathy, especially in high pressure situations, and the group dynamics are always really interesting to read. I also love bodyswap and bodysharing aus!
• Time travel: This almost ties back into the above. Some of my favorite parts of this trope are "seeing someone in an entirely new light now that you've time traveled back to see them", "I'm familiar with x but I have no idea how to explain that", and "the weird juxtaposition of being in a place you outgrew years ago".
• Forced intimacy: Bed sharing, forced to work together, forced to tell the truth, forced not to tell the truth, fake dating, fake marraige, etc. Classics for a reason! I love characters being forced to say just a liiiitle bit more about themselves then they intend--it's revealing, what someone will say under duress. (the e rated ver of this is sex pollen, fuck or die, etc)
• Curses: This is basically the same as the above but it gets a seperate mention because I think cursebreaking is fun as an au.
• Pacrim aus: Kind of related to the above, except more specific and also brings in battle partners!
• Battle Partners: I love to see characters kick ass + the intimacy of knowing another person via their fighting style! (+sometimes you can add in tender wound care, as a treat). Fighting side by side with someone, thoughts on loyalty, an enduring knowledge even if they split apart later, delicious. +works especially well with friends or lovers to enemies
• "You're the one person I feel at ease with": Esp with unexpected pairings, I love this trope! Having someone understand you etc etc. This kind of easy dynamic is one of the things I read as a comfort fic.
• Reincarnation: This one kind of ties back into "You're the one person I feel at ease with", but with an added layer! It's just fun in every iteration.
• Exes: The "I used to know you" of it all!! I like relationships where people don't always like each other, but they certainly know each other.
• Secret/hidden identity: This is another one that's a bit hit or miss for me, but there's a couple of versions of this that I really love. I think it's too easy to lean into easy answers on the reveal (if it's a particularly serious secret, for low stakes secrets this is different), and what I'm really interested in is the intersection between "how much do you let someone know you" and "how much do you need to know someone to love them".

Specific AUs

• Heist Fic: Fun and funky! Love it when an author can pull off suspense in-text.
• Vampires: sexy.
• Ghosts: sexier.
• Space: SPACE !! I love space in general, but I love all the things you can do with it. Star trek setting? Hell yeah. Time dilation? Hell yeah. Weird space-based horror? Hell yeah!
• Animal transformations: Shapeshifting and stuff is fun! I particularly think "turned into an animal for x reason" is always cute to read.
• Specific career aus: I just love it when people know what they're talking about, and it's even more wonderful when they're passionate about it too!!
• Gamer aus: I spent an embarassing amount of time following overwatch, and still keep up with it sometimes. A variation on specific career aus!
• Alternate Canon: I really like "for the want of a nail" type stories!
• Rivals to lovers: I'm not such a big fan of enemies to lovers, though it is fun, but I'll always love rivals to lovers a lot. Both of them have such built in tension!
• Don't know they're dating: It's just funny!! And cute!! What more do you need.

Hierarchies:

• Hierarchies: This can be applied to structures like private schools, idol competitions, werewolf aus, or even just age and talent line divides. I like reading about people subverting or supporting those structures, because it often reflects back to how an author interprets someone.
• Captain/Weapon : If you tame something, you are responsible for it forever. But also I really love the trust of Person/Weapon--if you're familiar, soul eater has one of my favorite concepts of all time.
• Captain/lieutenant: Back to hierarchies and being able to lean on another person, I guess. I do enjoy reading this where the two of them don't get along, but my favorite version is when they do.
• Fraught Loyalty: Loyalty despite love! Love despite loyalty! I care about you but I cannot fight for you. I don't care about you but I care about what you fight for. I care about you but I'm going to betray you. Etc etc.
• Spy/Handler: Specifically the Trust here, working over comms. I like the element of Person A not being able to see Person B who they have to trust their life to. Person B having to watch Person A run into danger. Variations on this are delicious too: the handler doesn't trust the spy, the spy finally having to throw their trust into their handler in a moment of danger, etc. The high stakes tension and opaque levels of trust are just good!!
• Mentor/apprentice: Specifically I love "I'm training you to replace me" as a dynamic, whether that training be willing or not. I shaped you/I am the shape you made me, etc. Bonus points if one of them doesn't like the other or they have a rivalry. (The oikage dynamics?)

After it all:

• Post-canon: Especially in fictional media, I really enjoy a good look at where characters end up afterward! Happy endings especially, but I'll read a good bittersweet one. In rpf I think it's an interesting thought exercise that I like reading, especially if the author leans into the whole changing public spheres/personas over time dynamic of it.
• Post-disbandment: I'll admit I haven't read very much of this so maybe I can't comment, but I've loved the few I've read. The "I used to know you intimately and now there's nothing keeping us together" of it all. After being steamed in a pressure cooker, how do people change? How do they stay together, or not? Are you the same person after leaving, and do you want to be? This is partially being interested in the bbb dynamic of it all.
• Idolverse: I'm especially interested in things that explore the nitty gritty of the industry--things that give you an "outside" pov on the idol industry are especially interesting--pov choreographer, manager, one group looking at another, etc. I don't particularly care for fake dating as marketing in idolverse, unless it would be potentially exploring the fanservice dynamic? I'll also read a good mutual pining, not immune etc etc.
• Outsider pov: What can you see from a story when you're not immediately inside it? Etc etc. [slaps trope] you can fit so many jokes into this one as well!
• Character studies: I love reading people's take on characters! Character studies often go hand in hand with strong themes, which I like too.
• Ships passing in the night: I'm not sure if this is a trope?? But "I almost met you" is such a fun thing to read. Diverging paths! Seeing what you could be in someone else! Knowing someone else faced a similar choice as you once and made it differently! "Existing in the same spaces for years and never talking/getting close" is also interesting to me.

Misc

• Trope Inversion: Not much to say here! Trope inversions explain themselves. I find it particularly interesting when the inversion comments on more than just the trope itself, but that's not necessary for a fun story.
• Friendship!!: More friendship fics!!! I don't hate reading romance, I just think friendship can be just as compelling as a plot device, and I love to see it explored. (op is gay and loves their friends).
• Gender/Sexuality Exploration: Well it's called projection.
• Revenge/Grief: Often not as explored in kfic for obvious reasons, but I love reading stories where these are one of the primary motivations.
• Epistolary/Mixed Media: I love reading letters! And social media aus!! Anything that plays with format I always enjoy reading!!
• Family: This one is kind of hit and miss in terms of execution, but I do appreciate the inclusion of family into a story.
• Miscommunication: Most of the miscommunication I like is when it's used as a joke/punchline, but I won't not read a standard miscommunication au. I just think there's more interesting things you can do with this trope. I think it's especially interesting to explore why someone feels like they can't express themselves as they intend! What does that say about themselves, about where they are in life, what they understand about themselves, the values they're taught to understand, etc.
• Mutual Pining: It's cute and I like it.

Dislikes:

• Royalty aus: I have a hard time getting invested in kingdoms, and especially kings. I just don't find that narrative very compelling. Princes, revenge narratives, and revolution stories are all a little bit more interesting though!
• Mob aus: I've read a couple I've really liked, but on the whole they tend to lack nuance and be heavy on senseless violence with no consequences. Also the "innocent charity worker bb" x "bad boy mafia leader" like. Come on.
• Corporate au, esp CEO: I just don't care about businessmen, and whenever I read stories like this they're often just stage setting for Character A to have a lot of money and power and be an asshole. I'm just not that interested. On the other hand, people working at a company are often incredibly funny.
• Power dynamics unexplored: I've read a lot of wonky power dynamics!! but when I read something that would like me to believe two people are equals when this is clearly not the case, I tend to stop reading it. I don't usually read sex work fic for similar, if more exaserbated, reasons.
• High School aus: Nothing against people who write them, I just do not want to go back there.