Romance plot conventions

[oyceter]

Because I am having a very interesting conversation with Justine right now...

What are the romance tropes and conventions that drive you nuts? Why?

And which ones almost always work for you? Why?

And which ones are the ones in-between? I.e. if done well, they totally work, and if done poorly, they prompt chucking the book at a wall.

Bonus question: does Doomed Love work for you? What counts as Doomed (or, should I say, DOOMED)? What about love triangles/quadrangles/geometric shapes?

(Note: these aren't limited to romance novels, but to any narrative that involves romance-with-a-small-r.)

Also, please put spoilers in spoiler text! <span style="color:#333333;background:#333333">Spoilers go here</span>

Comments

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

*Stupid misunderstandings that could be solved with one conversation

This is probably the one single trope that is the most sure-fire way to cause me to pitch the book in question into the "take to nearest bookstore and get rid of NOW!" pile.

People who can't talk to each other don't deserve to end up happily ever after.

*Women who long to be Mastered by a Man, and not for occasional erotic thrills
*Men who Know What's Best for their women and don't learn better

These two tropes are almost as bad. I'm trying to think of a book I've read in which either of these happened that I really liked (unless it was a deliberately dystopic or satiric piece) and I"m coming up empty.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Stupid misunderstandings ... one conversation: I think Georgette Heyer's The Convenient Marriage works like this. The heroine keeps one Dreadful Secret from her husband, and the consequences get more and more dreadful -- but you see why she tells the initial lie, and you see why she's trapped in it afterwards. Note that the hero repeatedly invites her to tell him the truth, but she's too frightened.

That book I love.

[oyceter]

Yes! I like it when the Big Secret is there because of psychological reasons (fear, shame) and it's acknowledged as such and dealt with as such. As opposed to "she tries to apologize for an overheard conversation and he takes everything the wrong way and decides she justifies his hatred of the entire female gender and flounces off, trailing dark clouds of Pain and Angst."

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

OK, I grant that there are always exceptions. If it's done in character, and it makes sense, and it's more than jost a plot device to crank up the angst - then I'll accept it.

But so many times it seems to happen just becasue of some convention that people in love don't actually talk to each other about themselves, or don't think that trust is a part of the thing that's growing between them, or something along those lines.

One of the reasons I love Wilde's An Ideal Husband is because he sends up this convention completely.

[oyceter]

People who can't talk to each other don't deserve to end up happily ever after.

Yes! As a converse to this, I always get really happy when people have a potential misunderstanding, and instead of storming off, they sit down and ask the other person first and trust the reply.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

OH yes!

That is such a turn-on for me in romance stories.