justanorthernlight

Stolen from muccamukk 

Slow burn OR love at first sight: If a couple is together before the 100k mark they are moving way too fast. On the other hand, hate at first sight can be loads of fun.

Fake dating OR secret dating: Mostly because the reasons for keeping the dating a secret in secret dating are usually... bad. Also, fake dating is kind of a supertrope of undercover as married, which is the best version.

Enemies to lovers OR best friends to lovers: Ideally it's actually Enemies to Friends to Lovers. Enemies forced together by circumstance or some greater threat, despising each other at first but growing to understand, sympathize, trust, and eventually care for one other.

Oh no there's only one bed OR long distance with correspondence: 'Nuff said.

Fantasy au OR modern au: This is a tough one because most of my fandoms are fantasy or fantasy-adjacent, but so many modern aus are really bland.

Smut OR fluff: I do like smut, I just have to be in a specific mood for it. But I can read fluff almost anytime.

Mutual pining OR domestic bliss: Unpopular opinion here, because while mutual pining is great and all so few writers can (or even bother to try to) write a functional established relationship without going into unnecessary (and usually plot-logic-defying) break up-get back together-break up again spirals. (This is mostly a criticism of the source media, but its something I've always wished more fic writers would address as well. Just give me a reasonably happy couple facing the outside world together as a team, is that too much to ask?)

Alternate universe OR future fic: I love AUs. Turn left canon divergent aus, different setting aus, role reversal aus, it's just fun to see the same characters in every single setting or situation imaginable.

One shot OR multi-chapter: I love longform media and have a hard time getting into short things. There is literally nothing better than a 300k+ longfic I can slowly sink into and use to forget about my problems.

Kid fic OR road trip fic: I don't particularly seek out either of these tropes, but kids are really hard to write well (and people seem to have no comprehension of the differences in development, understanding, and speech patters between say a 5 year old and a 12 year old), kids take a lot of time and attention, and also I like the action/adventure parts of most of my fandoms, which most kid fics abandon. I used to really like the de-aging kind of kid fic, but the few I've stumbled across in recent years have not been very good, and I'm no longer sure if it was ever good or if I was just too young to realize how bad it was.

Reincarnation OR character death: Most of my fandoms have enough character deaths in canon, they don't need to be any more grimdark than they already are. On the other hand, reincarnation to me is very hopeful, it's a second chance to get things right.

Arranged marriage OR accidental marriage: Arranged marriage can be done well, but I have some personal irl baggage with it. Accidental marriage can be fun though, as a whoops-we'd-better-get-around-to-getting-that-annulled, wait-how-did-I-fall-in-love-with-you-along-the-way kind of thing.

Time travel OR isolated together: Both are very good, but time travel is my favorite trope ever so it just edges out isolated together, which is one of my favorite catalysts for romance when I'm in the mood for romance. Time travel is just more versatile.

Neighbors OR roommates: I think there is something extremely romantic about opening up and deliberately inviting someone into your private spaces (both metaphorically and otherwise ;P). Neighbors has a certain degree of forced proximity, while still leaving the intimacy itself as a choice. Also, I had some unbearable roommate situations in college, don't particularly want to relive them.

Sci-fi au OR magic au: I don't have strong feelings on this one, I like both but magic is more common and I guess easier to do, much less worldbuilding to be done on the author's part (unless it's a fusion with an established sci fic canon).

Bodyswap OR genderbend: I don't have strong feelings on this one either, but trying to keep a bodyswap secret and characters trying to play one another is usually funny (as long as it doesn't cross into consent issues territory).

Angst OR crack: Crack can be fun but I live for angst, especially if there's hurt/comfort involved.

Apocalyptic OR mundane: Again I don't particularly like either, but most of my fandoms are grimdark enough as it is so if I have to chose I'd go mundane.