# Romance trope planner

From "Romance tropes: a list for writers, with enemies to lovers in depth"
by the Feldar team: https://feldar.com/guides/romance-tropes

Free to use, copy and change. A trope is a promise to the reader. Use this
to decide which promises you are making and how you will keep them in a
way only your book could.


## 1. The couple

Character A (name, age, what they want):
Character B (name, age, what they want):
Why these two, and not anyone else:
Point of view (A, B, both, alternating):
Heat level (closed door, warm, explicit):
Ending (happily ever after, happy for now):


## 2. The tropes

Main trope (the one in your pitch):
Supporting tropes (one or two at most):
What the reader is hoping to feel when they pick up a book with this trope:


## 3. The obstacle

What keeps them apart on the outside (family, class, a job, a feud, a secret):
What keeps them apart on the inside (a belief, a wound, pride, fear):
Why they cannot simply talk it out (a real reason, not a delay):


## 4. The twist on the trope

The usual version of this trope, in one line:
What your book does differently (setting, stakes, who holds power, who changes):
The cliché you will avoid on purpose:


## 5. Beats

Rough positions are guides, not rules.

Meet (first impression, about 0 to 10 percent):
Why they have to stay in each other's way (about 10 to 25 percent):
First crack (a moment of seeing the other clearly):
Midpoint (they admit something, or are forced together; about 50 percent):
The doubt (the inner obstacle comes back strongest):
The break (about 75 percent):
The grand gesture or the choice (who moves first, and what it costs):
Ending (the promise kept):


## 6. Check

Is each lead a whole person with a want apart from the romance?
Does the obstacle come from who they are, not from a contrived accident?
Is the trope's main promise kept by the end?
Is consent clear on the page, whatever the heat level?