Trope Tuesday: Enemies to lovers

Welcome to a new writing series on my blog, where I’ll be sharing different tropes present in fiction books on Tuesdays! We’ll cover what these tropes are, how to write them effectively yourself, and some examples of books that include them. We’ll be looking at all kinds of tropes from a variety of genres, from romance and thrillers to fantasy.

There will be at least one – possibly two – Trope Tuesdays per month. If there are any tropes you’re keen for me to cover, let me know by leaving a comment!

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The enemies to lovers trope

Today, let’s talk about the enemies to lovers trope! This trope comes into play mainly in the romance genre of fiction, but it can be present in other books (such as the fantasy genre) as a subplot or a side arc for certain characters.

The enemies to lovers trope means that two characters begin as enemies or rivals, and finish up in a relationship together.

The degree to which the main couple are enemies can vary based on genre.

For example, in a sweet contemporary romance, it may be more of a rivalry, rather than them being mortal enemies. In a fantasy novel or a dark romance, it’s far more likely that the couple will be enemies in a much more dangerous sense – such as an assassin and a law enforcer, or a couple destined to kill each other.

Books featuring the enemies to lovers trope

Writing the enemies to lovers trope effectively

Setup

When writing the enemies to lovers trope, it’s important to make sure that the relationship between the two characters starts with opposition, dislike, or some kind of hostility. These two characters need a reason to be opposed to one another – and again, this will largely be genre-dependent.

They might be opposed simply because they’ve entered the same competition and are going up against each other. They want or believe different things. Or they’re on opposing sides of a cause and have opposite goals.

It doesn’t have to necessarily involve an extreme dislike or hatred (especially if it’s a romcom or sweet romance) but it should still involve opposition.

You could also choose to have the characters strongly dislike each other or downright hate each other (maybe they have mismatched personalities, or they have a history together).

Either way, they should have a very good reason to oppose each other.

There may be more extreme hostility in certain genres than others, especially fantasy. Maybe their nations are at war, or one is spying on the other.

The journey of enemies to lovers

The relationship should involve a gradual shift. There will be a connection or an attraction between them that they’ll struggle to fight!

They will move away from their initial opposition, dislike, or hostility. Over the course of the book, they might do things like explore their conflicting viewpoints or team up to solve a problem.

But they’ll need to walk before they can run. Have them spend plenty of time getting to know each other. Force them into situations together where they have to work as a team and learn to trust each other. Have them reveal themselves to one another slowly.

Show the reader what makes them tick, and why they might be a better match than they think. And make sure there is plenty of romantic and sexual tension along the way!

How to end an enemies to lovers story

By now, your characters should have been on a journey of change, gradually opening up to one another, learning to work together, and challenging their own feelings about the other person.

By the end, they’ll be fully ready to admit how they feel and move into a relationship.

If they entered into a relationship together in the midsection of the novel and continued grappling with challenges together, the ending can be about rounding off their relationship. Where does that relationship end up? Does one make a sacrifice for the other?

There should be plenty of satisfaction for readers here at the end – so make it impactful! Give us a glimpse into their future life together and what that might look like.

Some authors choose to write an epilogue with a time-skip – readers often enjoy seeing what a couple are doing after some time has passed, so this could be a good element to include!

Hopefully this post gave you a better understanding of the enemies to lovers trope, and how to use it in your writing!

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