Tropes are overused in fiction, yes, but that is because they work. We wouldn’t keep using something that does not work. Tropes help readers find their next read or a group of likeminded people. In the romance genre, a hotbed for tropes—think Love at first sight, one night stand, billionaire, billionaire’s baby, etc.—, there is a beloved trope you might have swooned to at least once in your life. It is the Enemies-to-Lovers trope.
The tantalizing passion-filled story of two unlikely individuals butting heads at every turn, and like flint on flint, giving us that spark that keeps us turning those pages.
To write an enemies-to-lovers story that works, you need to understand what readers want, because, believe me, the readers are pros at this trope. Knowing what your readers expect will help you write a story they identify as enemies-to-lovers and will let you put your own spin on it without deviating too much from what reeled them in in the first place.
What exactly is the enemies-to-lovers trope?
The enemies-to-lovers trope is a rhetorical device in storytelling in which two people (or beings like fairies and monsters, if you are writing fantasy) start off as enemies and over the course of the story find themselves drawn to each other against their better judgement until finally, they fall in love.
This trope is quite tricky as the nature of enemies is to try to harm each other, but unless we are talking about actual enemies in medieval times or war heroes, having your main characters go out of their way to cause pain to the other person can very easily slip into toxic environment.
Even with people who dislike each other to the extent of hatred, hurting another person and deriving joy from it is wrong, and if it is not addressed, or if the perpetrator does not learn and repent, you might as well be glorifying toxic relationships.
So, here is a rundown of things lovers of this trope expect:
Enemies to lovers:
This is self-explanatory, but you have no idea how many writers break this one rule. When you are writing an enemies-to-lovers trope, give us enemies before you give us lovers, and please don’t make them bark at each other for two pages and suddenly fall in love. We see through that, and we do not like it.
Like in the image up there, let them step on each other’s toes with all their might and let us hear the satisfying crack. We know that at the end of the day, they would probably return to that position but this time, with considerably less violence. Spoilt people everywhere. You could also make them hold each other in a nefarious psychological chokehold. Think Homer Simpson and poor Bart. Squeeeeeeeeze!
Tension:
Readers of this trope pick your book because they want to feel the tension. They want the banters and the hair-pulling grievances. They want to want to smack a character over the head or choke them near to death.
This is for your readers: your characters shouldn’t smack or choke each other unless they’ve graduated to lust and are being adventurous, but I digress. Give your readers the push and pull that characterizes this trope and watch them stick with your ‘oh so annoying’ characters. Onwards to the next point.
Characters who are not all bad:
Yes, you can have characters who are dark and creepy and stir cauldrons full of suspicious ingredients, but your readers will not cheer for characters who are plain mean or annoying. At least explain why they are the way they are. Or just sprinkle in some goodness there—give your readers reasons to go ‘aha! Not so evil, are you?’.
Think Rikkard Ambrose with all his grudging sweetness and garbage disposal services. (Please someone tell me they’re a Storm and Silence fan.)
The second character may not see this ‘goodness’ in the beginning, but make sure to show them bits and pieces of the goodness in the other character before the story ends, or they would never have reasons to fall in love with them.
We don’t fall in love with people who are all flaws and evil. You can show the readers this goodness in a character whilst hiding them from the character’s ‘enemy’ by their thoughts or by their actions when said enemy is not around. Capisce?
Character development:
Readers are deep too. Just because you plot the story and give the story a theme doesn’t mean you are the only one who appreciates depth and growth.
While your characters start off hating each other and showing their worst sides (you don’t care about being ‘pretty on the inside’ with an enemy), the readers want to see them work through their flaws and come out changed people. Your characters should either purposefully work on their perceived flaws or become changed people through their experiences before the story ends.
A happy ending:
People who love the enemies-to-lovers trope are romantics, and most romantics want happy endings. Your readers put up with the arguments and misunderstandings, the huffing and the puffing and the ‘I will blow your house off’ in your story in anticipation of an ending that is as sweet as thunder is loud. It is their payoff, and you would be wicked to keep it from them.
It gives readers a perverse sense of pleasure to have two people who were previously at loggerheads suddenly see something good enough in the other to want to love them. We know happily ever after is the exception in real life, but isn’t that why we pick books? For that sweet sweet lovin’. Give your readers a happy ending. Or if you want to exercise your evil writer power, give them an open ending.
Now that you know what the enemies-to-lovers trope is and what readers expect from stories that parade under this trope, go on and bless us with that beautiful story that will break our hearts into a million shards and return it to us better. Your couch potato princess is waiting for you.
