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Tropes. The romance genre, and indeed most fiction genres, can't exist without them. And that's because tropes are plot devices that can be used to:
-move the romance forward
-affect or even define a book's premise
-create internal conflict
-create external conflict
-define a character's personality
And more! They're workhorses, and readers love them. But in addition to regular ol' tropes, romance also has microtropes.
What is a romance genre microtrope?
It's the trope's little sibling, affecting not the plot, but a specific scene. There are a whole slew of them, probably enough for me to start another list just for microtropes alone. But there are a few perennial reader favourites.
What are some of romance readers' favourite microtropes?
One character giving the other a cute nickname. An example of this trope that always sticks out in my mind is when Will calls Hannah "Plum" in Christina Lauren's Beautiful Player.
An athlete giving his love interest his jersey. This is huge right now with all the hockey romances out there.
A male main character carrying a female main character to bed after she falls asleep on him, on the couch, or in the car. The great thing about this microptrope is that it works for basically every sub-genre; as long as your character has the ability to fall asleep (which rules out vampires and some other types of paranormal monsters), they can be gently carried by their love/s!
However, like with the jersey microptrope, some microtropes are sub-genre-specific.
What are some examples of sub-genre-specific romance microtropes?
In paranormal or fantasy romance, when the non-monster character sees their love interest's monstrous side, and doesn't feel afraid.
In motorcycle club romance, when a male main character only has one helmet, so he gives it to the female main character.
In historical romance, when the main characters have to share the same horse.
In alien/sci-fi romance, when the alien character is disgusted/horrified/perplexed by some aspect of human biology, like menstruation or natural childbirth.
How can microtropes improve your romance novel?
Microtropes, like regular tropes, are memorable for and marketable to readers, but unlike regular tropes, they don't define a whole book. They define a specific scene or chapter, and usually show the deepening connection between the main characters characters, sometimes before those characters have even realized how they feel about each other.
For example, if you're writing paranormal monster romance, and you want to begin the process of healing your werewolf's emotional wound, about his inner animal defining him and making it impossible for anyone to love him, then writing him shifting, chasing after a member of the rival pack and, when he gets away, howling at the moon and running around in a total angry haze, all while your human character watches, non-plussed and gives him a care-free shrug when he finally stops, begins that process. He's acted like a total animal in front of her, and even been violent, and yet she couldn't care less, showing him, and readers, that she's not afraid of him. She takes him as he is, wolf and all.
If you're writing a motorcycle club romance, and the hero you're writing is gruff, grumpy, and totally emotionally unavailable until his love interest walks in and melts his heart, then writing him offering him his only helmet is a great way of showing readers that his walls are already starting to come down, even before he's admitted it to himself or his love interest.
If you're writing an arranged marriage historical romance and you want to force the characters, who start off as enemies, to soften toward each other, there are few better ways than forcing them to share a horse and for one to hold onto the waist of the other as they ride through hilly/mountainous terrain. You're literally bridging the gap between them, forcing them not only to touch, but to learn and react to each other's bodies so they can stay upright and not end up in a mud puddle.
If you're writing an alien romance, and you want this book to ooze the now-beloved sub-sub-genre/niche of alien heroes worshipping human women stuck on their planets—popularized by Ruby Dixon—then writing your alien hero reacting to the human woman's period with horror because it causes her discomfort, and anything that makes her any less than 100% sexually satisfied, emotionally fulfilled, and spiritually content is a great way to slide into that sub-sub-genre/niche.
Now that we've gone through what a microtrope is, some examples, and how they can improve your next romance novel, I want to know: do you want a list of every single microtrope? Let me know in the comments below!
Until next post, happy reading and writing!