Trope Rating Game
Rules: How much do these tropes affect your decision to click on a fic?
-10 -> very dissuaded
0 - don’t care either way
+10 -> very enticed
nope -> if it’s a hard no and you’d never click on a fic with that tag or or you even have the tag blocked or you’d insta click out of the fic if it wasn’t tagged. Bonus points for explaining the rating and whether it’s conditional.
Personal Disclaimer: With the exception of one trope, to be fair I will never rate something a +10 or a -10 unless I really, really hate it, such as the noncon trope and watersports | omorashi trope which I have blocked, at least not for 99% of these tropes listed below, because my interest in a trope fluctuates depends on the writer and their overall execution of it. I will, at least, give almost everything a chance so my interest or aversion to any trope is usually flexible and not always guaranteed.
Meh. I don’t personally seek this trope out in stories. Whilst I don’t hate this trope, I do detest when it dives into the Lolita & Humbert Humbert CP grooming territory because I will immediately back out. In stories however where the Love Interest is usually this hundred year old devastatingly attractive immortal being compared to our mortal Main Character, I just take this sort of age gap trope into stride. Sometimes you got your spunky MC with their rich, much older middle-aged sugar daddy story, which I have seen pulled off. Other times the real world implications can creep up in my mind during the read-through which breaks me out of the immersion; I will feel an ick if the writer describes the MC as this “cute, coquettish milky voiced, tender fingers like scallions, small face that can be held in a palm” precocious six-or-fifteen year old being flirted by this twenty-or-thirty year old “handsome uncle” I don’t care if he’s secretly the prince, but I do try to keep an open mind if this is a novel takes place in a pseudo-historical setting where child marriage is the norm due to mortality rates of the begone era, etc (age gaps are quite common in “historical” C-novels where the reborn malicious FL reincarnates into her young self, as well as your typical cultivation danmei disciple/shizun romance where the teacher is this cold and aloof beauty who is as old as dirt being seduced by their junior disciple who ages throughout the story). I will harshly judge the older Love Interest for crushing on a child/teen, no matter how sweetly the writer tries to portray it.
So regarding this trope, I will only continue to read the story as long as 1) the writing is so good that it’d be a shame to stop, 2) the MC is actually an adult wo/man who is reborn or transmigrated into their current body, 3) nothing sexual happens during this time when the MC is physically underage, 4) they only get together when the MC is of legal age.
Yes. The fictional toxic codependency. Inject it in my veins. I’ve never read a Dark fic that hasn’t done this trope well, but I’ll rate it a +9 because there is one QT story where the previously intelligent and admirable MC had become so codependent on their Love Interest at this point of the story, they lost all agency and IQ. I ended up skipping that arc. The moment the writer makes the MC stupidly OOC is the moment I quit the fic. You can’t sacrifice the MC’s established personality, IQ, and strengths just to make them a sad, clingy, parasitic dodder flower with no agency at the end of their love journey. Fierce, independent MCs who turn into weak, lovestruck idiots—and they’re not deliberately manipulated step-by-step into being like this—in any story make me wince.
But otherwise, if I see this trope tagged in a fic, I’m more inclined to check it out. It’s the passion, the dependence, the yearning, the mutual pining and deep obsession. Ugh, it’s so good in a fictional setting.
Obsession/Possessiveness, jealousy: +9, -8/+8
Execution matters. If I know ahead of time what I’m getting myself into (for example: yandere ML, Dark fic, dubious morals, toxic codependency, etc), I will eagerly swallow up the obsessive/ possessive Love Interest with glee. In fact, I look forward to reading how fucked up they can get when pushed to the extreme. I also love the rare POV moments that show us an insight into how actually obsessed they are with the Main Character. However, with jealousy, not so much. The Love Interest or MC can cutely eat vinegar (be jealous) only so many times—before it starts getting on my nerves and starts becoming less cute, more annoying in my reading. HOWEVER, if it’s an antagonist or cannon fodder character who is jealous of the MC or Love interest, SIGN ME UP. I want to see them get their karma in the story and get face slapped (retribution) by the MC or Love Interest or whoever’s in the MC’s camp.
Opposites (grumpy/sunshine etc): +8
***One caveat: I don’t like the innocent, sunshine, pure, happy-go-lucky, sometimes emotionally immature Holy Mother/ Holy Father as my MC, especially if they’re portrayed to be adorably dumb and klutzy or childish. There is no faster way to turn me off a story than forcing me to follow this kind of naive Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu Main Character who cries every other chapter and has the agency of a wet doormat—especially if they keep doing unnecessarily stupid things that end up with them getting kidnapped as a contrived plot device for the writer’s Love Interest to come to the MC’s rescue. I despise scatterbrained MCs with questionable IQs, who has no other personality except looking cute, acting cute, eating a lot of food, and keeps getting babied by everyone around them. *shudders* Imagine a ruthless intelligent ML who turns into a henpecked wife slave the moment they see the MC, calling the MC cutesy nicknames like JiaoJiao or “wifey” and clinging onto them, rubbing their head and telling them to “be good.” This is the best way to torture me.
But other than that, I love intelligent, proactive, scheming MCs. So for their Love Interest, I do like if the writer pairs them with someone either similar (they’re both secretly black-bellied two-faced “award winning Oscar actors”, haha) or someone who is on the extreme side of who they are but respects and is incredibly doting on our MC. The MC can be their voice of reason in the relationship, or vice versa. One can be the brains, one can be the muscle.
Enemies to lovers, Enemies with benefits: +8/ -9
Yes, but only with certain ships that I find to be interesting in concept to see shipped together (the irony can be delicious, and can even be funny to think about). The character development is usually done well and it feels rewarding to see how the romance happens between these two opposing forces. I always latch on to one particular character in a franchise, and since we are in the MC’s shoes the majority of the time, I usually gravitate toward liking the MC. And, naturally, a strong villain attracts my interest. Then I think about the What-If? But whilst my ship preference tend to lean toward hero/villain (ex. B/utchlander, T/omarry), there are exceptions (ex. B/ingqiu, B/ingyuan, Y/uanjiu, H/ualian, S/tolitz, sorta R/hack, I/nuKago).
For the later half (the majority of other ships I adore), NO. Never! Not with a twelve foot pole! I will never read them for my beloved shaylas who already canonically like or (begrudgingly) respect/ tolerate each other. Their love is so pure and wholesome, it’d feel like a desecration to split my beloved canon ship apart! It’s the reason why I AVOID certain ships or character-centric stories involving certain characters in whichever franchises because I mentally recoil at the thought of reading anything about that particular character in an Enemies to Lovers romance with my NOTP. Out of respect, I will not say who these characters are but you will never guess the characters I dislike or not have any strong feelings about just by looking at my own fanfics, haha; this writer hides her bias very well (as long as I don’t say it outright in an A/N).
No particular strong feelings of like or dislike. If there are any fics I’ve read before with this trope, I judge it based on the execution of the (mutual) pining, characterizations, the overarching plot, and the story’s writing quality. It can be cute and touching, as well as sweet or hot. Or it can be boring to read, and/or aggravating. The MC or Love Interest can be painfully oblivious to an extent (it can be comedic at times), but I fully expect them to discover the extent of their feelings for their friend eventually so I won’t feel that I wasted my time on two blocks of wood. The writer can only drag out the “will they, won’t they?” so long before the narrative excuses start becoming intolerable.
Doesn’t matter to me. Usually I’d say the ship itself and writer’s execution of sex to feeling in the story matter. And that I’m okay with this trope because I know feelings will eventually develop between the two main characters. BUT if you were to put this trope into whichever story I’m reading, it doesn’t matter if I like the plot and characters, if there’s too much melodrama and angst and/or dumb poor choices made, I WILL lose my patience and probably abandon reading it.
Fake dating/relationship: -1
Doesn’t appeal to me that much because of the predictable clichés I can see a mile away. For example, you know the Love Interest will usually be accompanied by a romantic rival character (usually from their past, like an ex-fiancée or a person who had a crush on them) who will show up to antagonize and ultimately lose to the MC. For example, you know there will be some kind of misunderstanding or falling out between the MC and Love Interest for dramatic purposes, which will be resolved with a future reconciliation scene.
Anyway, if the MC and Love Interest have to lie about the status of their relationship to others to fulfill a secret agenda, I can tolerate this trope because you already know they’re going to develop feelings for each other regardless. It’s inevitable. So now you want to see how that fake relationship turns into the genuine article and real feelings come into the picture.
Depends on the ship and the characterization. I find this trope can be more on the boring side because I prefer my slowburns to have some intrigue and tension my guilty pleasure is reading about obsessed fictional yanderes; there’s only so much you can do with the (childhood) friend to lovers trope, but when this trope is executed well it’s tooth-rottenly wholesome and can even be fun/ny to read.
Let’s put aside fanfiction for now and focus on light novels. Because I have not found a light novel that hasn’t done this trope well in my personal opinion. At worst, maybe it’s just a passing blurb in the story and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But when it’s done well, it’s incredible and so emotionally touching, you feel relieved that the MC, who has gone through hell and back, has finally found a family they can call their own and have the MC’s back, or vice versa with the MC having their found family’s back as their number one backer. I recently read a no-romance QT novel where the MC transmigrates into each mission world to be the mother of the target, and changes the lives of the mission target and those around them for the better. Very wholesome, very touching, two thumbs up. Found family stories make me believe in the good of humanity again.
I’m sure there are good stories that do the hurt/comfort trope justice, but stories with ONLY hurt/comfort for, like, 60%-90% of the plot will get a HARD PASS from me. I get annoyed by weak characters who do nothing but whine and cry and need to be coddled or babied. There is also a higher risk of a character being written OOC with this specific trope, with so much angst and insufferable melodrama shoved down my throat. So I tend to avoid the hurt/comfort genre entirely (I can tolerate only a little hurt/comfort in a story before I start becoming impatient with the MC and want them to grow up/ develop a thick skin/ grow a spine/ scheme against the people who’d wronged them). I like my fierce, strong, smart, independent MCs who are a one-wo/man army themself and are emotionally mature; where the writer rarely and purposely lets down their MC’s walls only sometimes to show their emotional vulnerability so it leaves a stronger impact.
A good writer knows just how long they can afford to drag out the love triangle conundrum—before readers get tired of seeing the indecisive MC waffle back and forth again and again and again and again about who they ought to choose.
If I knew going in that the love triangle leads to a threesome, hmm, I need to see its execution first but I would give it a chance to convince me.
If it’s a love triangle for the sake of giving the Fe/Male Lead (the winner) competition and having them eat vinegar (slang: be jealous) to discover their true feelings for the MC, ehhhhh, I also need to see its execution. The soap opera-like angst and melodrama can become tiring—especially if the MC is indecisive for too long, or the writer performs an abrupt character assassination and makes the Second Fe/Male Lead OOC just to make the First Fe/male Lead the winner of the love triangle. Truthfully I usually won’t give a shite about the Secondary Fe/male Lead of the story because I know 99.99999% of the time they are the losers of the love triangle and that the MC will choose the main Love Interest, so I don’t waste any emotional investment into them. Instead I either skim, skip, or impatiently read through their scenes so we can hurry up to the scenes with the MC interacting with the main Love Interest.
Poly, open relationships: +3 / nope
Nope to open relationships. The lack of commitment, countless dramatic jealousy scenes, and the duplicitous MC sometimes feeling it is necessary to downplay and deceive their Love Interests into believing they aren’t cheating on them with other women, just to save their own hide, make me irked.
Harem stories though can be fun to read. Collecting waifus/ hubbies is similar to collecting Pokémon cards, haha. But unless it’s a palace intrigue premise in a pseudohistorical feudal setting about an emperor/empress and his/her harem (with the MC overcoming the jealous concubines and/or current Empress to steal the Love Interest’s heart and win the Emperor/Empress position), I will 99.9999% of the time probably never voluntarily seek out to read an open relationship centric fanfic. It’s so hard to execute this concept without the writer unintentionally making their MC come across as an emotionally-oblivious, insensitive, two-timing cheating Gary-Stu pervert with a bland personality; similarly if it’s a reverse harem where the gender of the MC is female, with a “fairy-like beauty.” Personally I will always have my favorites in a harem story, and the Best Girl/ Best Boy for me will almost always be the Main Love Interest (usually the first FL | ML we are introduced to in the story) that occupies at least 70% of the MC’s scenes. Everyone else fades into the background but at least I expect to see the MC love all of them equally, even with the jealous lovers cliché.
Light novels, on the other hand, are a different matter. I’m a little more amenable to poly—but 1) I need to know going in that it’s a harem story where the MC commits to ALL their Love Interests and 2) I need to like/ be able to tolerate ALL the waifus/ husbandos. I have just recently dropped a 300+ chapter harem light novel after already being 200+ chapters in once I saw who the final waifu was going to be; I liked the first, second, and third FLs decently enough because they all had tender and loving scenes with our villainous MC—but I fundamentally disagreed with the fourth because it was a coerced love/hate relationship and loveless and, quite frankly, came across as a tad misogynistic. Which was why I regrettably ended up abandoning the author’s book.
Mistaken/hidden identity: +7
Execution matters but, so far of all the fics I’ve read that feature the mistaken/hidden identity trope, I haven’t come across a writer that’s majorly fucked it up at worst it’s disappointingly anticlimactic. It’s exciting to read about the characters’ reactions when the identity reveal finally happens and is often what I look forward to.
You would think, after reading all my threadfic oneshots and perusing my AO3 writing portfolio, that I’d probably be super into this trope; the truth is, eh, not quite. You have to understand, I used to like it A LOT in my teens and happily wrote about taboo human interspecies romances with vampires, werewolves, and demons. But after reading a lot of this trope, the monsterfucking trope eventually starts becoming boring to you once you start recognizing patterns. And once you start recognizing patterns, you can predict the incoming clichés and stereotypes—and now the previously interesting story has become far less appealing to continue because now there’s no tension or excitement. So you become picky.
Nowadays I would only seek out monsterfucking centric stories if 1) the plot is decent to keep my interest, 2) the characterizations, and 3) there is a fresh creative take on the monster lore. Make it fucked up. Make it at least somewhat original. Don’t make it tame; I want to see the MC be fucked by an actual monster (what’s the point of writing a monsterfucking fic if your monster behaves less of a monster and more like a human dressed up as one? If I’d wanted to read a human/human story, I would read that and not the monsterfucking story you promised us based on your tags+summary; you need to deliver on what you promised). I will read about your human character fucking an eldritch god or Zerg alien; being bred by a shapeshifting protagonist who can turn into all the monster races such as an elf, a dragon with two hemipenes, a demon, a cat demon with accurate feline reproductive organ, a literal lich, etc; being drained of “vitality” by a ghost king or zombie king; a shapeshifting slime monster; etc—but it has to just be an element to spice up the story and not be the only selling point of why I should read the story. Personally the frequent papapa-ing (the smut) is honestly not what’s going to keep me invested in a story. So whilst I would rate monsterfucking a 0 now because of my current neutrality, I marked it -1 because I tend to avoid reading it nowadays after having grown out of my teenage vampire and werewolf phase, and now having certain conditions that must be met for me to click on a monsterfucking fic.
I never intentionally seek out stories that feature the pregnancy trope front and center, whether it’s F/M, omegaverse, or mpreg. If it just comes with the story as a small plot device, sure, I’ll still read it (*sighs* it’s not like I have a choice; who told the writer to include it in their novel-long story that I’ve been diligently reading since ch1?). There can be sweet moments, especially during the prenatal care and allows the writer to create loveydovey opportunities between their Main Character and Love Interest that make me smile. But very few writers give the laborious child birthing process the proper respect it deserves and instead comes across as a writer’s not-so-secret fetish, with so much OOCness (and/or the exaggerated emasculation of a canonically masculine male character if it’s an mpreg). I do admire and respect writers who can execute this trope well, but it cannot be a main ingredient of a story to convince me to give it an honest chance. The plot and characterizations will determine if I continue reading this story or abandon reading it.
This is essentially a Fix-It, no?
If this is like the “reborn” FL/ML genre where the slighted MC is reborn into their childhood (or insert whatever time in the past) and proactively schemes and manipulates their way to get their happy ending whilst face-slapping everyone who’d wronged them in their previous life and/or finds a MUCH better dream lover than their previous scummy ex, sign me up! I love this trope! Especially if the inncocent and good-hearted FL/ML becomes this two-faced green tea white lotus with Oscar award acting as they take down their foes and deal their revenge!
If this is, like the “wife chasing crematorium” genre, where the ML fucks up and regrets how they mistreated the MC after their death/divorce and, hence, have to grovel and “chase” their runaway wife/husband until they love them again, -99999999. There’s only two stories I can think of where I didn’t mind it, but they were the Quick Transmigration C-novels that span over 100+ chapters where the MC played the scummy ML in the palm of their hand and it was very satisfying seeing the ML get their just desserts and being emotionally tortured by the MC—until their actions speak for themselves (even then, I prefer if the scummy ML regrets and always yearns for the MC for the rest of their life, unable to recapture the MC’s affections because the MC has moved on to live a fulfilling life and till the end of their life, not looking back at this “old discarded shoe” of theirs). There are a lot of incredibly well-written novels/manhua/manga/manhwa/dramas that I liked—until the strong FL/MC returns to the arms of their abuser who’d caused them that much torment and emotional pain in their first life. These kind of battered wife syndrome ending can ruin the enjoyment of an entire story for me. What a waste of character development.
You’re looking at a bookworm who has consumed 2,000+ chapter light novel behemoths without batting an eye (pssst, this is a hint for you to read light novel series like Overgeared (ahhhhh my goat!), Overlord, Solo Leveling, etc). If any of you have read light novels before (C-novels and/or K-novels in particular), then you know how much of a sloooooowburn those stories tend to be, how long winded the text can get, full of purple prose and flowery euphemisms. What do you mean in a 300+ chapter story, our MC and the Love Interest only finally managed to hold hands at chapter 150? What do you mean they only kiss at chapter 225? For me, as long as the plot is interesting and the characters are smart and fun to follow along and I know there will be a satisfactory Happy Ending waiting for me at the end of the journey, I have an exceptionally high patience for slowburns and will, usually, love them. This might be my personal bias speaking, but slowburns tend to be more vibrant, more emotionally stirring, with room to show character growth and intrigue and worldbuilding. A slowburn is an investment, a gamble to trust the writer, and I want my time to be compensated and well worth the commitment. I can’t wait to laugh and cry with these characters as I follow them on their “hero’s journey” and hope to see they get a fitting ending that they deserve after all the trials and tribulations. A genuinely good slowburn shows the writer’s writing chops—and you usually know you’re in for a good time.
Soulmates are an inherently romantic concept. And I’ve never seen a Soulmate premise not executed well by others. This trope is practically fail safe. The possibilities are endless, whether it can be taken literally in a romantic light, or platonic soulmates, or imbued with drama because what do you mean two sworn enemies are each other’s soulmates? The irony. The drama. Do they fight fate or accept it? The worst that could be done with this concept is if the writer makes the story or characters boring, but I’ve seen many refreshing creative interpretations of Soulmate AUs—whether it’s seeing color for the first time when they meet their soulmate, being born with their soulmate’s name, symbol, or words inscribed on their bodies, being born with a soul bond, etc.
