@purlturtle is doing this really cool thing and they said I could ramble about it too! And how could I resist talking story? Do you know me? Hahaha.

Anyway they made this spreadsheet and screenshot and you can check them out on their post (clicky here).

So in the BLUE CORNER

• Bodyguard vs Love Triangle
• Workplace vs High School
• Second Chances vs. Made A Bet (90s style)
• Sibling’s Best Friend vs Nanny/Governess

Rocking that RED we have

• Grumpy/Sunshine vs Someone Else’s SO
• Accidental Pregnancy vs Just To Get It Out Of Our Systems
• Family Feud (Romeo&Juliet style) vs Holiday Romance
• Billionaire vs Soulmates

The sun shines down on YELLOW

• Mistaken Identity vs Age Gap
• Love Potion/Aphrodisiac vs Only One Bed
• Amnesia vs Kissing Lessons
• Forced Proximity (road trip etc.) vs Secretly a celeb/royal

Aaaaaand finally working that GREEN

• Marriage of Convenience vs Fake Dating
• Snowed In vs Friends To Lovers
• Bad Boy/Girl vs Sworn Off Love
• Supernatural (vampires etc.) vs Enemies To Lovers

Under the cut for my picks and rambles!

Bodyguard vs Love Triangle
I don’t do Love Triangle, either pick one and then let everyone move on or all be together as a trio. My very first real ‘ship’ had a sort of love triangle (the lady dated one guy, then the other, then back to the first etc.) but I only shipped her with the first guy (it was Jack Malone and Sam Spade from Without a Trace). So the whole ‘love triangle’ aspect was lost on me as I just did not care.

Bodyguard though… that has serious potential. So much so I have some vague concepts for an original novel trilogy based around it. Bodyguard is sort of what Eve Baird does on the Librarians (Guardian) but also not. I mean it can depend a little bit. I like the whole protective part to a point, but not if it takes the protectees agency away. I’m not fond of ‘damsel’, I would rather they kick butt together.

WINNER: Bodyguard

Workplace vs High School
This one is super easy – has to be Workplace because High School = kids. I have no interest in teenagers. Teachers maybe but that would be a workplace. Even when I was a kid I didn’t write about kids. I skipped the whole YA thing completely.

WINNER: Workplace

Second Chances vs. Made a Bet (90’s Style)
I had to ask what ’Made a Bet’ was because I didn’t know. @purlturtle suggested it was like a ’10 things I hate about you’ thing, where they date on a bet and then catch real feelings. Now catching feels – that’s cool, but the whole bet thing? I don’t know…

I did write a fic prompt once where they were in a bar and two characters were challenging each other to see who could pull the guy they picked out. I suppose that’s ok as a concept. I didn’t develop it so it clearly didn’t grab me that much though.

Second Chances though – this I like. I mean I suppose there’s the whole “if it didn’t work out before, why would it work now?” question, as in their relationship failed for a reason. But maybe that’s because they needed to work on themselves. Sometimes people are just idiots and make assumptions and don’t communicate properly. I’m actually writing a serial at the moment with a second chance romance in it (divorced ex-wives have to work together). So this does grab me.

WINNER: Second Chances

Sibling’s Best Friend vs Nanny/Governess
Got to be honest neither of these jump out at me as being something I’m really drawn to. Although I am sniggering a little bit as I think Nanny/Governess is a favourite of Janeway’s (wasn’t that her preferred holonovel?). So I’m tempted to vote for Janeway but ehhh. It has a bit of a power dynamic vibe I don’t like.

Sibling’s Best Friend is very… cute I guess. I don’t really have much to say about it to be honest. I’m going to make it win on default but meh.

WINNER: Sibling’s Best Friend

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Mistaken Identity vs Age Gap
I have written Age Gap – obviously, as I wrote a hell of a lot of Rumbelle (Rumple and Belle, Once Upon a Time) back in the day. Only… I got to be honest I never really saw it as an age gap thing. It totally was and by a LOT because Rumple was semi-immortal as the dark one. He was a couple of centuries old when they met but… age gap romances usually make me uncomfortable because of the inherent power dynamic. Rumple had so little self-confidence that just wasn’t an issue.

Mistaken Identity – “do you let them hate the real you, or love the fake you” – HELL YES! Quote from Sophie Devereaux there and the espionage/heist fan in me is compelled. Also superheroes I guess ala Supercorp. Give me all the stories about masks people wear and just wanting to be loved for who they really are.

WINNER: Mistaken Identity

Love Potion/Aphrodisiac vs Only One Bed
*cough* show me a person who wasn’t read a few sex pollen fics in their time in fandom, and I’ll show you a liar. I jest, I jest but also not really. It’s not a bad setup for a PWP so long as consent is clearly established and we know before they are under the influence that they are into one another. I suppose there could be a fair bit of plot in terms of consequences but I have no wish personally to write about consent issues.

Only One Bed though – CLASSIC! I mean it’s iconic. It’s two people pining like idiots, putting up pillow walls between them, the inevitable cuddling in the night and then awkward aroused awakenings. I wrote this in my Conspiracy Afloat fanfic and I’m sure I’ll write it again. It’s the classic and you can’t go wrong with a classic.

WINNER: Only One Bed

Amnesia vs Kissing Lessons
Kissing Lessons? This is a new one on me but not hard to figure out. It feels quite juvenile, like maybe a good match for the teenagers in High School?

Amnesia though – oh yes! I don’t know if I first loved this trope when I saw the Harrison Ford movie Regarding Henry, or if I saw the trope elsewhere first, but it’s very good. The “I’m sorry who are you?” “I’m your wife” and not remembering, having to fall in love again. The agony of the lost shared memories, of not recalling the life they had together, of making new memories. Hell yeah!

WINNER: Amnesia

Forced Proximity (road trip etc.) vs Secretly a celeb/royal
Forced Proximity has it’s place as a supplement. Like I talked earlier about the Second Chance divorced exes who had to work together. They are getting that Second Chance because of the forced proximity. As a trope on it’s own though? Ehhh.

The Secretly a Celeb/Royal… depends if you can expand that. I have long loved the idea of some super rich person being incognito because ‘Rich people wear expensive clothes and drive posh cars and go fancy places’ and so seeing Joe or Jane Regular, they think ‘oh you look like X’ rather than thinking they are actually X. I planned out a Rumbelle fic to this premise that I never wrote, but I swear I will write this someway, someday. It partly goes back to the Mistaken Identity and masks, and do they love the real you. With money, meeting someone and them not knowing you are rich is perhaps one of the few ways to be sure about that. But at what point do you tell the truth? The longer it goes on the more feelings of betrayal there are – very similar trope really. Now obviously royal is a whole thing on it’s own but put the ‘secretly’ in front of it and it becomes something else.

WINNER: Secretly a celeb/royal

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Grumpy/Sunshine vs Someone Else’s SO
Someone Else’s SO sounds like cheating/infidelity and I’m not interested in that. Just pick a side and then be honest about it.

I think Grumpy/Sunshine… I’m trying to think of an example. I suppose perhaps I tend to interpret it more as somebody who is reserved vs. someone who is social. Or possibly someone who is cynical/snarky/sarcastic vs. someone who is optimistic/positive/kind. I have definitely written this and will definitely write more of it. It definitely has it’s place but equality works too.

WINNER: Grumpy/Sunshine

Accidental Pregnancy vs Just To Get It Out Of Our Systems
Honestly not a fan of either, but definitely not a fan of oops pregnancy. It’s just not a conflict I am interested in. It doesn’t compel me. To be honest neither does the ‘Get it out of our systems’ because… well it seems odd. Like if you like one another then why is it a one and done? This wins by default but meh.

WINNER: Just To Get It Out Of Our Systems

Family Feud (Romeo & Juliet style) vs Holiday Romance
A feud does have potential, the whole ‘forbidden love’ aspect. I have written this. I have a daughter of politically powerful parents falling in love with a rebel in my Steampunk AU. That’s not a family feud, more of a civil class war thing.

Holiday Romance is pretty cool. The whole ‘we really click but there is a time limit on it’ thing. I did write this once (a Rushbelle fic). As a standard trope it’s not something that interests me that much. Now a romance developing during the holidays as like a mutually pining idiots friends to lovers type thing – that’s more what I like. I planned and never wrote 2 Bering and Wells christmas fics. First was a fake dating AU where Myka claims Helena is her girlfriend to shut up her sister only to have to invite Helena for the holidays (I know, it’s cliche but fun). The other was canon-divergent off season 3 I guess where Helena rejoined the Warehouse and Myka invited her as a ‘friend’ for Christmas so she wasn’t alone at the B&B. Only there was a mix-up and they went to Myka’s parents, who weren’t home (at the sisters) and they get snowed in, power cuts (huddling together for warmth), only one bed – basically every trope you can think of and hey – Forced Proximity lol – and it gets them to admit feelings. The holidays can add an intensity but neither of these two were technically holiday romance.

WINNER: Holiday Romance

Billionaire vs Soulmates
I wrote Soulmates!! It was a Sanctuary fic (Time Will Tell) and it started off as a thought experiment/self-challenge. I don’t like the idea of fate and then everything being happy because you have found your ‘one’ (or in my OT3 case, two). So I really pushed hard on the ‘love is a choice’ angle, and that lots of soulmate relationships failed because relationships take work. The ‘this could be your future but only if you choose it, only if you work for it’. Made me love it. It was fun to explore how having this ticking timer could affect people’s personalities, the development of the relationship (having the certainty could be paradoxically paralysing). What that did to society and prejudices etc.

Now of course Billionaire does sort of go back to what I described earlier with the ‘Secret Celeb’ trope. Having money is kind of a fantasy and it makes for a fun world. You can have them sail around in a yacht, go skiing and sit by the fire in a wood lodge, private jet travel etc. but I don’t know. Apart from the ‘do you like me or just my money’ conflict, having a ton of money is just like so what? It removes worry about paying bills and buying food and that’s awesome, takes those stresses off a relationship, but if you don’t have to be a billionaire for that, and that as the sole trope… where’s the story?

WINNER: Soulmates

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Marriage of Convenience vs Fake Dating
OH NO YOU DIDN’T?!?! I have to choose? I suppose they are very similar. It’s the pretend relationship and then the ‘oh no I caught feelings’ and that like Only One Bed is a complete classic.

I’m going to go with Fake Dating purely because it’s likely to come up more. Although I can think of so many ideas for Marriage of Convenience. They are both so good! They are both winners in my heart.

WINNER: Fake Dating

Snowed In vs Friends To Lovers
This is like a situation vs. a dynamic. Snowed In is quite specific. I talked about it earlier with the Bering and Wells christmas fic. It’s not something that will happen in a lot of stories because some places don’t have snow, or it’s not set in winter etc.

Whereas Friends to Lovers is basically everything I write ever. How can people be lovers if they aren’t friends? If they don’t like one another. Friendship is the foundation. Even when I wrote Enemies to Lovers (Timeless, Flynn and Lucy) there was a loooooong stop off at friends in the middle.

WINNER: Friends to Lovers

Bad Boy/Girl vs Sworn Off Love
Ok this feels like an unpopular opinion but if they are actually a ‘bad boy/girl’ then no, just no. If they are misunderstood, they have a heart of gold etc. then they aren’t really ‘bad’ and so it’s just aesthetics or something? Like pretending to be a rebel but not really. I don’t get it to be honest.

Sworn Off Love though… so much yes. Think about Helena who didn’t want to love, who intended their heart to be frozen, to no longer really beat because it belonged to Christina, their daughter who was gone. But Helena hadn’t reckoned on Myka who found a way in anyway, and it was agony, but that love saved the world.

WINNER: Sworn Off Love

Supernatural (vampires etc.) vs Enemies To Lovers
Ok my previous mention of Flynn and Lucy aside I really don’t go in for Enemies to Lovers. If people are enemies they hate each other – hate is the opposite of love. Yes it’s an extreme emotion but I don’t get how it works except with a very long stop-off in friends first, and then that feels like not really Enemies to Lovers anymore.

Supernatural though can be fun. I have a long fascination with immortality. One partner living forever and the other one getting older, dying. I hate it, I hate it so much because it hurts, and yet it is compelling. I want to fix it. That’s probably it. Carol and Maria from Captain Marvel. Breaks my heart 🙁

Doesn’t just have to be immortality either. I know Harry Potter shouldn’t be mentioned today but the Remus and Tonks relationship had potential as a dynamic. Remus as a werewolf saw himself as less than, as not being human – not being WORTHY. It’s that kind of self-hate which makes me bond with characters (Rumple had the same thing going on). But the whole I love you, all parts of you, even the monster parts – that acceptance of the flaws. That’s good stuff.

WINNER: Supernatural

I will post up the next bracket when @purlturtle does theirs! Though we did pick some different things so their bracket will look different from mine. It’s going to be interesting!! 🙂

Tags: #this was seriously fun#also I stayed up an hour past bedtime writing all of this out I was COMPELLED#put a quarter in and I will talk story for hours sorry not sorry