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Romance Character Tropes: What Readers Expect from Cowboys, Billionaires, Widows and more

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In this one-of-a-kind resource, you’ll find more than a list of tropes or broad genre fiction advice.

The Romance Writer’s Encyclopedia Series breaks down our method for categorizing tropes into four types of framework tropes – Character Tropes, Situational Tropes, Setting Tropes, and Relational Tropes.

The Character Tropes Encyclopedia includes detailed entries on favorite romance tropes like Cowboys, Royalty, Law enforcement, and Athletes. And we didn't forget popular modern tropes like Alpha Male, Cinnamon Roll, or The Grump!

But this is more than a trope list – it’s an encyclopedia!

Each encyclopedia entry includes an introduction to the trope itself, as well as information on why readers love the trope (including examination of what inner desire is being met by the trope), what expectations exist in the stories, common pitfalls that authors need to avoid, common characteristics and potential wounds.

Putting a cowboy hat on the cover of your book isn’t enough to have a Cowboy romance that readers will love – but we’ll tell you what will. And then we’ll do it for Pirates and Rockstars and Firefighters, too.

Romance Character Tropes is designed to be used at every stage of planning, writing, and publishing your books. If used effectively, it will help you write a romance that readers will love, but also help you market that book to get it into the hands of readers who will devour it.

We’ve studied thousands of books and movies, polled readers and studied the market to understand not just which Character Tropes work – but WHY they work. And knowing why they work means you can put them to work for you.

Harness the power of Character Tropes to make your book marketable, multi-dimensional, and satisfying, so readers will come back again and again.

358 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 29, 2023

28 people are currently reading
24 people want to read

About the author

Tara G. Ericson

5 books1 follower

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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Profile Image for A.M. Heath.
Author 24 books358 followers
September 30, 2023
The concept behind this entire series is brilliant. But the execution is even better!
I can't wait until the rest of the series is available. Each book breaks down romance tropes by themes: characters, storylines, settings, and relational.

What I love is their attention to detail. I'm a romance writer, reader, and overall addict, so you'd think I already knew all there was to know about romance tropes. But no!

The Romance Trope series will be one of those sources that give you information you didn't realize you needed to know. In this particular book, the focus is on characters. They begin with an introduction to tropes and why they're useful and tips on how to use them in marketing.
Then they break down a wide variety of character tropes: Lone wolf, Grump, Bodyguard, and Single parent, to name a few. Under each character entry, they explain what the trope is, why readers love it, reader expectations, common pitfalls, commonly paired tropes, potential wounds, and common traits.

See! I told you it was all the stuff you never knew you needed to know! If you're a romance writer, I highly recommend it!
Profile Image for Amber Lambda.
Author 5 books50 followers
September 29, 2023
What a great resource for romance authors! This book offers an explanation about tropes, how and why to use them to best suit your book and audience, as well as an encyclopedia of common character tropes. It is easy to flip through to find what you’re looking for, and the entries themselves are incredibly thorough with different ways the trope may be used and ideas to make it your own with your unique character.

I was given an arc copy, but this is my honest review, and it is definitely a book I’d love to have a paper copy of on my shelf!
Profile Image for Aubrey Taylor.
Author 5 books69 followers
October 9, 2023
This is definitely a reference EVERY writer should have if romance enters into their work at all.

The book is incredibly well thought out, from its layout to its detail. As someone whose primary genre is NOT romance, I appreciate the way I can browse for exactly what I need without having to read from cover to cover. Naturally, though, my curiosity was piqued as I flipped through, and I learned a few things! (I guarantee there is PLENTY more to learn -- it's a reference I look forward to using again and again!)
Profile Image for Latisha Sexton.
Author 11 books420 followers
September 29, 2023
This is a wonderful resource for authors and one that you're going to want on your shelf. Sometimes, tropes can seem overdone, but this book explains the benefits of tropes, how to choose tropes for your stories, and how to mix up your tropes for a unique spin that still helps to set readers' expectations. The trope encyclopedia is an extremely helpful resource that I know I will use often in my writing.

*I received an arc. All opinions are my own.
Profile Image for Andrea Christenson.
Author 12 books100 followers
September 27, 2023
This super helpful guide to the world of romance characters blew me away. I'm not even using hyperbole (which I often do when I love a thing!). I thought I would flip through it to the portion relevant to what I'm currently writing, but instead I couldn't stop reading all the entries. LOL. Bad for my productivity that day, good for my future characters. I will be using this book often.
Profile Image for C.M..
Author 5 books109 followers
August 1, 2024
Excellent reference book for romance writers.
Love the front part before the encyclopedia because it gives you so much information in how to use tropes for your story development. Gold mind on marketing tips too.

There are to be 4 books in total for this series. I can’t wait for the next two!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews

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