How can you include tropes in your novel without making them feel tired or overdone? Using tropes in romances is easier than you think! Keep these four tips in mind when plotting your novel:

1. Don’t overdo it. Don’t use a million tropes just because you think it’s what you’re “supposed” to do. This can start to feel a lot like romance card bingo and less like a fleshed-out story with emotional arcs. Yes, tropes are fun and readers love them, but they need to work for your characters and their journeys. Don’t throw extra tropes in there just because you want to appeal to a group of readers. 
2. Give it a twist! How can you make a trope feel fresh? If you’re writing a billionaire romance, can the billionaire be the heroine (the billionaires in romances are typically male)? Can your enemies to lovers story happen on an alien planet? Can your two characters (love interests) arrive at a happy ending that subverts typical reader expectations? Look at recent bestsellers in the Kindle Unlimited charts and see if you can figure out what makes the tropes in each book unique. I mentioned earlier the “just one bed” trope—recently I have seen social media posts talking about a variation called “just one horse” when two characters are forced to share a horse for a long period of time. Same idea, but with a twist! 
3. Work with combinations. I suggest plotting out the basics of your novel with your main tropes as a focus. Then, think about where you can introduce others as micro-tropes to enhance your story. They need to make sense for your characters though. If you’re writing a romantic comedy, you want to be careful not to throw in a dark romance micro-trope that doesn’t match the tone of your manuscript!
4. Keep the focus on the characters. At the core of romance stories is the character journey. Readers need to see them grow and change internally, regardless of the external plot or tropes. Don’t get so caught up in using tropes that this part of your novel takes a backseat. Your characters should be genuine and drive the story. “Cardboard characters” are characters who aren’t well-rounded and aren’t given any depth. Be sure that when you write your story, you are giving each character the space to grow, change, and fall in love—regardless of any tropes present in the novel!