Fav uncommon romance tropes 😗

be

                March 17, 2023

            Fav uncommon romance tropes 😗

                Monsters, skeletons, and knives: romance trope recommendations from an illustrator who looks for the uncommon grit in the fluff.

            Hi arched and armed ,
If you're a world-wide-web commoner, you're familiar with memes. It's another way to describe a joke that spans a whole community... or a hundred of them. Whether it's a reference, a new way to say 'dog', an image that represents how you feel when there's only text to work with otherwise.

Among artists, though, a 'meme' can also mean a prompt that we illustrate and propagate between us.

"Draw your original character reacting to a spider."
"6 thumbnails of mug shots of your art, go."
"Your tallest and shortest characters fight." *

Now that I have that dictionary definition out of the way, take a guess what the prompt for these would've been:

Oh yes. Favourite romance tropes.
Only issue is: I'm terrible fussy with them all. It's not enough that a monster has horns, they have to be intensely monstrous (and stay that way. Looking at you grouchily, Beauty and the Beast). And two heads' height difference isn't dramatic enough, nor is two characters with slightly contrasting personalities!
If any of these strike your fancy, then I've got an article for you with my biggest recommendations for each trope (although some of them are lacking examples, since it's difficult to find good ones):

Read for romance trope recommendations!

Why a blog article? As time goes on and I discover more cool works, I can update it with more good recs. When I do, you'll hear from me again. Also... it was just too much text to squeeze into one email ahAhahA...
And what about the projects I'm working on? In what tropes do they sit?
Behold, what you've got to look forward to:
‌ (Title TBA)
Monster & human, of course. My idea of height difference is off the charts so I wouldn't count this as one, per se!
‌ Hateship
Ditto on the monster trope, but also stabby villain dynamics, should the player so choose. ;)
‌ Title TBA
This one's quintessential tragic stabby villains. And reverse height difference... in that they're both stupidly tall (I think turning the trope upside down still counts)!
‌ Title TBA
Something on the backburner for now. Other than stating the obvious trope, you can expect a one-two punch of contrasting personalities with height difference.

What are your favourite uncommon story couple tropes? And any recommendations for the ones above?

catch you next time,
Jennifer
P.S. *... dangit, I have to draw all these prompts now too, don't I?

Project updates
Just about three weeks ago, I released my miserable-monster-dating demo game, Hateship!
As I'm getting back into the swing of things after my holiday, I'm continuing to write beyond the demo when you take your chosen date companion on a mission. So far, poster-boy Thok is getting all the attention.

Because he's that fabulous.
Also: if you've already downloaded the game, make sure to grab the latest version (v0.2) for a few bug fixes!
The reactions I've received so far for Hateship have been at once heart-warming and floor-rolling hilarious. Here's just a small sample from Tumblr and itch.io:

Be very afraid.

New Art
As I went on my trip to New Zealand to visit family and friends (yes, I copped the cyclone where I was staying, but thankfully none of the people I know personally were affected and I could fly home okay), I had the chance to try out my friend's laser-cutter machine!
‌ 

Some cool generic demons, a serious bounty hunter accessorized, and my scary skeleton lad, Silas, as a wooden bookmark. He'll threaten me into reading, I'm sure.

‌	(Title TBA) Monster & human, of course. My idea of height difference is off the charts so I wouldn't count this as one, per se!
‌	Hateship Ditto on the monster trope, but also stabby villain dynamics, should the player so choose. ;)
‌	Title TBA This one's quintessential tragic stabby villains. And reverse height difference... in that they're both stupidly tall (I think turning the trope upside down still counts)!
‌	Title TBA Something on the backburner for now. Other than stating the obvious trope, you can expect a one-two punch of contrasting personalities with height difference.