are tropes on booktok ruining reading? 

The worst part about the proliferation of tropes as a form of advertising is that summaries have gotten significantly worse. Okay i know it’s enemies to lovers but what else happens

i don't like books being advertised with tropes, it ruins the whole discovery process, i wanna read and stumble upon a trope and then decide if it's being used correctly. am i alone in this?

Just to make clear, enemies to lovers was not meant to be bully and Stockholm syndrome victim. I hate when they marketed bullies as an "enemy" and a "lover". NO! The characters are enemies by confronting circumstances, values, political compass, socioeconomic status, etc, so when the romance happens is because they get pass those two different sides and POVs to find similarities and, of course, attraction and love. An a-h*** is not an "enemy", is just a sociopath, tag it as such.

the thing for me is: when you look for fan fiction about a certain ship/fandom/etc. you already know and love the characters and they usually are well written and fully formed. They have flaws, virtues and reasons for WHY you love them. that's why the trope filtering usually works: you know your characters, already have an idea of what they're like so you can insert them in your favourite tropes/universes. you care about them. what sometimes happens now is that authors concentrate so much on the tropes and their stereotypes that they forget to write characters with a personality, with agency, with a reason as to why they're special and as to why we should care about them. for me that's why so many of these trope centred books fall flat. yes the dynamic is fun but WHY should I care about these two being enemies who become lovers if there is no actual chemistry? no actual reason for why they hate each other? i don't care so much about the tropes but the chemistry and dynamics and actual STORYLINES I'm reading about. if they're not engaging then I will not enjoy the reading experience. thank you for coming to my tedtalk

I feel like tropes on booktok are super great for quick 15-30 second reviews, but not the only thing you should be caring about when looking for a new book to read

People are talking a lot about trope advertising, but the worst form of advertising for me is when books LIE about “if you liked [super popular book] then you’ll love this one!” And the two books are nothing alike

' no beta we die like *insert character from your fandom* '

I feel the same about tropes as I do about trigger warnings: I want the information to be out there if I go looking for it, but I don't want it to be thrown at me otherwise because, when they go into so much detail, that can be spoiler-y and make the reading experience less interesting

Yes they are so many authors are writing books with no plot and just tropes strung together to appease Booktok and it’s getting harder to find good books in the specific genres I like 🤦🏾‍♀️

I wouldn't necessarily say tropes are ruining reading. It is very annoying, though, because the book in question gets reduced to one thing and the rest of the story doesn't seem to matter anymore.

I like describing a book by its Conflict. Like what the internal conflict of the protagonist is, or the external conflict of the plot

17:22 Putting Dante when you talk of fanfiction is the most accurate thing ever. The Divine Comedy is the best example of a self-insert to ever exist and I will die on that hill

the fanficification of book publishing is actually what this goes back to honestly. same story different characters? same characters different story? tagging specific scenarios and tropes? all there. also literally publishing fanfiction is so big in the last decade too. also been on my mind as i was thinking about old greek stories. like after the illiad there was so much more written about the characters before and after that's essentially fan fiction but because it was so popular it's kind of blended in with the illiad's "canon". think the trojan horse that's not even from the original illiad but from later works taking place after.

I realized once, when thinking about tropes I like and tropes I don't, that most of the tropes I loathe to see advertised are tropes that give away the entire plot of the story, because there's fewer ways the story can play out. I mean, when you see "fake dating" on the cover, you already know pretty much every major beat of the story - contrived setup forcing the leads together, forced romantic gestures, the leads develop real feelings, after some third act contrivances they confess their love and ride off into the sunset. I don't despise the concept of fake dating in books, but once I've read one fake dating book, I really feel like I've read them all. Meanwhile, tropes like "morally gray characters" or "forbidden love" bother me a lot less because there's a lot of ways the story can play out. All enemies to lovers books are basically the same, while not all books with morally gray characters are even remotely similar, do you know what I mean?

“I think Nature is healing” YES! thank you. I think there are so many talented fanfic writers out there with the potential to become great authors and writing fanfics is a great way for them to experiment and hone their skills.

My main problem with tropification isn't the tropes themselves or the repeatability--I love a good trope!--but that the quality of the book no longer seems as important as whether or not the trope is present. So I think a lot of books are getting published primarily because everyone knows the trope will sell; but the book isn't actually good. And there's a proliferation of these stories so there's just a rush of mediocre literature being published and it's frustrating to wade through. Don't get me wrong--I love the romance genre and tropes. But the writer also has to have skill and be talented and the book has to have a good plot and good character arcs and writing that's a little bit above average, and it doesn't seem like that's really important as long as the right trope is there.

Another option of recomending books that I LOVE is "oddly specific recomendations" such as "a book to read at 3am with a cup of tea and candlelights" or "childhood feverdream". I guess it's like the aesthetic recommendation but with words kinda.

the problem with "accepting" this tropeification is that authors think they need to write to appeal to it and can only market their book as tropes. the books themselves are losing their plots and the characters their complexity because authors are more focused on the marketing side of things (which is understandable, they're trying to sell their art in a capitalist world), but i really think we should leave "tropes" behind. when it's something niche for the tiktok and ao3 girlies (gn) it's fine, but when it becomes the only marketing strategy the publishers use, i think we need to give it a step in other direction. in conclusion, we need to come back to (re)telling stories because they're compelling, even if they're cliche, and not because the only way to be successful selling your story is through booktok.

I find micro tropes like “there was only one bed” to be so useless like at least “enemies to lovers” or “grumpy x sunshine” describes plot and character.

Tropes don't ruin books. Bad writers ruin tropes.

This video was legit art. The "video essay" community is quaking lol. Also, are those STRAWBERRY string lights and if so I need to know where to get them?! Strawberries are my thing (they were my grandma's thing, so when she passed I carried it on).

I've been subscribed to your RU-vid channel for a few years now and it is such a full circle moment to see that you referenced my article in your description and video -- the one titled "Are tropes ruining books" from the Michigan Daily. I'm so glad you liked it and thank you for making this video :) time-stamp: 34:01

An interesting thing that I’ve noticed about “tropification” is that tropes are usually romantic and commonly only present in plots/sub plots that involve romance. For example, you don’t see tropes in (for example) science fiction books I.e, they’re not condensed to being described and promoted as “sun explodes”, or “alien invasion”, or with thrillers, you don’t see people saying “books with the ‘kidnapping’/‘covering up murder’/‘police chase’ tropes. Because for all these other genres, they’re plot points, not “tropes” used to market them. It’s interesting how tropes seem to be exclusively genre-centric to romance, I’d like to see someone break down how that came to be.

I love recommending classic lit using booktoc tags. Like Crime and punishment as Grumpy x Sunshine

That moment when Leonie gives you a new source for your MA thesis on fairy tale adaptations. Thank you! :D This also means that I am counting watching this video as doing research and thus am being productive right now.

My boyfriend writes academic articles about the similarities in ancient Arabic and Greek stories. There is very little written about that, while they are sometimes so alike!

The thing with TikTok books is there's no subtlety with the tropes. It doesn't seem natural anymore because they just tell you that it's "close proximity" or whatever trope and even spoon-feed it to the readers. There are good writers who didn't even know they were creating these tropes in their story and still make it a good story without making the trope the whole story.

you quoting Levi Strauss, Barthes... my anthropologist heart getting emotional.

I’m a teenager writing my first book, and it’s honestly amazing watching your channel to understand the basics of these things so I can think about how my book would be towards people other than me. I’m learning a lot from you! Thanks for teaching me so much

this is so funny because in drama we have two category tragedy and comedy, which basically a categorization of works based on the plot, but everyone is cool whit it

Ah, the “who did this to you” combined with the “enemies to lovers” that is like my kryptonite. I will go weak for a well writtten scene with those two components

both the english major and library sciences in me are thrilled about this video. examining the working processes of narratives to categorize them, but also to understand and appreciate the art and mastery in creating the story itself- UGH i'm losing my mind. i love your video essays. thanks!

My problem with "tropes as ads" is less with them being the focus as much as the implications. If your book is sold as a set of tropes, that's all it will ever be perceived as. There is no chance to be surprised or to be impressed by the story or the writing itself, becuase you already knew - not because of your monkey brain doing pattern recognition but because ads told you - how things will play out. This isn't bad on its own, but it's... just giving up a lot of what makes reading novels engaging. The unique thing about reading a novel as opposed to watching a movie is that's a personal process through which you explore at your own pace a unique "world", a self-contained universe. By skipping this process of exploration what are you obtaining? Just the same, safe, pattern of events which you can consume like popcorn. It's turning the act of reading from this personal experience (regardless of what a book is, it is ultimately a personal experience by definition unless you are reading the same page with another person, and even then you would have to read out loud and stop to analyze every line together) into.... watching a sitcom, waiting for the punchline that you know will be there because it was in the title of the episode. On one hand I can't criticize people from engaging with an hobby as they want. On the other hand, they aren't actually being "free" in doing so. It's a market that has been built to sell mroe and more products, to push the next "big thing" and try to make people buy into something because of ads and FOMO. Booktok isn't "free", and people aren't naturally coming to this tropes-based reading on their own

37:14 I agree with this idea, I like tropes as a starting point/a short description of the book which lets you decide if you want to look into it more.

One of the first things I remember learning in creative writing classes was the argument that there are only 2 types of stories: "I am going on a journey" and "A stranger comes to town". The language we use to talk about stories may evolve over time but complete originality seems to be an unfair ask these days where not only have more books "been done" every day, but you also have immediate access to more of them than ever. The good news is that there is room for everything. Some people may get annoyed if whatever is popular is not to their taste or standards, but that doesn't mean whatever you're looking for isn't also out there. Edit: One positive of grouping books by their tropes/vibes is that it may encourage people to branch into a new genre for a trope they love. It's another tool like genre that has its usefulness but shouldn't be the end of the conversation about that book.

The fanfiction opening with dante on it made me laugh so hard. RIP Dante, you would have loved ao3

You nailed it at the start- TikTok itself waters down learning. I’m a teacher, and we had a seminar on how to start teaching in rapid 7-second increments because our students are learning in short bursts. Trope-ifying is just an extension of this… “why read an entire synopsis when we can rapidly categorise books?”

Damn, the going back to pre-printing times is such an interesting take!

I can't believe how lucky I am to be enrolled in the University of Leonie. Seriously. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't, but you always make me think and reevaluate.

I once found an existentialist fanfic for Pong. Yes, one of the original video games on the Atari. Existentialist Pong Fanfiction exists and its really really good.

my take is this; yes it's overused to use tropes as a sort of summary of the book but i feel it's more personal preference to choose books based on tropes or not. My issue actually arises when a book is marketed off a popular trope/ or combination of, but doesn't provide a good story as the background. Yes i do enjoy scratching the itch of a grumpy sunshine or fake dating sometimes but because these are so popular there's so many bland ones to get through. Most recently read powerless which is essentially just a rehash of tons of popular tropes and stories (deathly games, enemies to lovers, main girl is different) but I thought it was enjoyable, while not original. A tempest of tea also had lots of popular genre? tropes i'd say (heist, vampires, love triangle) but felt pretty hollow. So I don't hate the idea of tropes being such a big part of creating/ promoting books but i do fully believe it just creates tons of similar books. And it can be pretty hit or miss with all of these books getting popular.

The tropeification of books really is just how ao3 + others work LOL I guess they had it figured out. I really love the point about fairy tales and enjoying the comfort of familiarity, and the academic theories about humanity being applied to fanfiction 😭 it also made me think of the Hero’s Journey, which I realize is just the Trope of All Tropes, and we all enjoy that!!

If I never hear “trope” or “trigger warning” again I would be quite happy.

If literature is going trope-y, I'd love to hear ideas from people about weird/not done yet tropes! So fun to discover what people would either like OR write a trope book about! ❤❤❤

As an anthropologist by degree, I seriously admire your incorporation of anthro perspectives/schools of thought to relate pop cultural lit trends with history. I have not wished to initiate dialogue with a video essay more than yours!

Vladimir Propp!!! Love the analysis of folktales so much I could cry. There’s a point you keep skirting around (maybe unintentionally) that I wish you had addressed- analysing and identifying patterns isn’t inherently saying there’s only value in the shared characteristics. Seeing commonalities in the structure of multiple stories doesn’t mean they’re all the same now (obviously). It’s a valid analytical lens through which to view those tales for compare-and-contrast. I don’t think finding patterns in the way people across nations tell stories takes away from those stories’s uniqueness, it’s just one way to look at them… would love to hear your ideas on this

I don't want an in-depth review before reading a book. In fact, I prefer not to read any reviews! I like having some key selling points for a book (that may or may not include tropes) to know if I should look into it further. I agree that they should be jumping off points. I have never once bought a book solely on a trope, but you shout out a specific trope I have known in the past and I'll immediately be more interested in the book.

As a newly masters graduate in Art history I really really appreciate your way of academically splitting these things into atoms haha! I really enjoy the “aesthetic” recommendations, but I also often find that i don’t feel the aesthetic I was promised, when I finally read the book. I think that people also fall into aestheticizing the aesthetic for the content, which makes sense bc who would watch the video or read a book if the aesthetic recommendation itself isn’t aesthetic? I find that my best experience is when I take recommendations from pure explained “vibes” and “feelings” and don’t get the visual aesthetic. But this may also be bc I primarily enjoy atmospherical, weird and character driven books, and couldn’t give less fcks about the plot if the above doesn’t hit me haha

I don't mind using tropes to discuss books because in my mind, it's like when you're browsing a menu. You might go in thinking "oh I want a romance with a enemies to lovers dynamic" in the same way you open an app for food delivery being like "I want something spicy with chicken". The variations there are far and wide, and most people will do a little more digging (read the description of the book vs picking a type of cuisine) before committing, but having that quick tag of a particular trope you like might be a way for readers to steer towards (or avoid) book recs. The actual experience of reading or eating is going to be so much deeper than just those tags, but those tags are short hand to get us to find the experience we're looking for.

highly recommend the podcast ‘Fansplaining’ to anyone interested in learning more about fanfiction, fandom, ao3 tagging, and transformative works. Their ‘year in fandom’ episodes cover SO much, it’s fascinating.

I love how deep you go into every theme you are presenting. I always learn something from your videos.

the gasp I gusped when you showed the supernatural coffeeshop au 😭

This is such a thoughtful dive into how books are being marketed today. Thanks for making this vid and I hope you are proud of it bc it must have taken a lot of time!!

I love that overall mild background music plays throughout the video but for the fanfiction part the music gets "the end of the world" drama level xD

i love the videos that explain books through images and music, i think it really helps to set the scene for the kind of emotions you'll be feeling within the book!

I live for these video essays 📚 this girlie knows how to do her research and deliver

When you mentioned folktales, I couldn't help but think about Strange Aeons' video on how creepypastas and how they develop actually resemble an oral tradition.

I don't think tropes are ruining books on the organic, popular marketing side. That's totally fine and understandable and I argue healthy for romance specifically. the problem is on the writing/publishing side. When authors write shallow tropes just to get picked up because publishers want trendy, then they market based only on the tropes to feed the trend, it floods the market with mediocre stories no one is happy they read. But we can't stop trying new ones anyway 😢

this is a phenomenal video, like genius level writing, your research for your views is unmatched

Alright, as a fanfic writer myself, here's the thing-we already have a backdrop to work with. We're choosing characters that we and readers know and love and we're putting them in situations to get rid of the brain rot that continues to wreak havoc and devastation in our brains and for you to enjoy. We're picking and choosing parts of canon we want and shaping it to fit the story we want to tell. And that's where the most important part comes in, you're familiar with these characters, you like 'em you hate 'em, you're aware of the worldbuilding and stuff in canon, all we need to do is choose the parts we like and present them to you. This gives us a steady ground to build our framework on, the reason why fanfiction works so well. Because you have a reason to love these characters, you know them inside out, and now you just want to see them in a particular situation. You want an avalanche of angst? Sure. Oh, you want a fix-it episode? No problem. You want to see them in a soft-horror setting with the perfect amount of angst based on a Panic At The Disco Song with an obnoxious amount of Mockingjay metaphors? Coming right up. It's essentially a book of requirement, which is why the "don't like, don't read" comes into play in fanfiction. Because you have the choice to read what you want, the only new thing we can do is try to make a different characterization, theories, or development of a minor character. But, we don't have to go through the trouble of building lore, it's already done for us - not that it stops us from searching up an insane amount of information to make sure the three-second cameo is correct, but semantics - so it makes our thing a lot more easier. Now, I'm definitely not saying that it's okay to harass authors about their work. The "don't like, don't read" thing definitely comes into play here too. Just in a different way. While in fanfiction, you have the choice to filter and search for the tags you want to see. These books that we're talking about today essentially don't face the same situation, mostly because they're filled with tropes that come up for a mere second before vanishing, making it tedious. Those poor souls trapped in trope-laden tales are like popsicle sticks in a hurricane-flimsy, forgettable, and ultimately, flavorless. You have no reason to care for these characters. You don't love them enough to want to see more of them in different situations and you have nothing to work with that makes you want to do that. They're one-note characters. Without a plot, without purpose, they're just hollow shells masquerading as stories. Building a narrative on tropes alone is like constructing a house of cards in a wind tunnel-destined to crumble at the slightest breeze.

I LOOOOOOVE how you are incorporating literary theory in your videos

It is so funny to see someone make a video essay about stuff that I researched extensively for a university paper last year. Back then, I took a seminar about fanfiction and for my final grade I wrote a paper about fanfic versions of red riding hood and analysed some through a feminist lense. While only little bits of the reading made it into the paper, the whole history of the fairytale categories and also the discussions about fanfiction and the history of "originality" in literature and the concept of authorship/copyright was what I spend most time on. I went deep down thay research rabbit hole and I loved it. (I love that my university is open to topics like that in my German and English literature degree.) Anyway, all that said, great video! I love that you are able to summarise all that in one video that is accessable and understandable for peope outside of academia.

this has got to be my favourite video from you! Growing up I have been OBSESSED with the idea that cultures share similar storylines.

This is now one of my favorite videos from you, Leonie! I appreciate the amount of research and personal insight that have gone into making this. Please keep up the good work, I absolutely love your RU-vid channel❤

Her hair!!!! sooo sooo pretty! I love the asthetics it shows how a book will make you feel where its set with music that adds to the asthetic of the book its in my opinion way better than reducing a book down to the 'who did this to you trope'. And maybe this is just me but i don't think i would read a book just becouse it has one scene where a love interest say 'who did this to you' really liked this video :)

As a published author, answering the question on the title, absolutely yes, tropes are kinda ruining modern literature. Specially in my country, where the majority of synopsis is no longer telling the premise, but describing the main characters in the most ridiculous way (for example, Cassie is an ordinary girl with a mysterious past, Dylan is a hot tough guy with a soft side that only Cassie knows, etc) and listing the tropes chronologically, which gives the impression of lack of effort in the writing, like "you can't think on a fresh premise, so you rely on what others did, huh".

I've seen a couple of other good videos and read some articles about "tropification" and this is by far the best. Such really great points!

I love the connection you made between academics and fanfiction/tiktok, it makes sense! History just keeps repeating itself

You usually mention the Brothers Grimm when talking about the most famous versions of fairytales in the western world, but I would like to point out that Charles Perrault, a french writer of the XVII century is actually considered the guy who invented "fairy tales" as a genre, based on the common folk tales in Europe. A lot of the most famous versions of these fairy tales like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty are his published versions. This is also because Disney decided to adapt Perrault's versions to their animation studios instead of the more dark versions of the german writers (as the movies were intended fo all ages).

The idea that the tropication comes from fanfiction is interesting, but, at the very least, not complete. I've been a self published author since 2010. And very quickly after that, my writing group of successful authors were very focused on tropes, making sure to include them in the titles and call them out in the descriptions. So, the heightened focus on tropes might have arisen at the same time as with fanfiction. But I was one of the ones who helped push it in my writing group and I had no idea what fanfiction was back then. And when I looked for a list of tropes for my books, the list I found online was from TV shows. So, fanfiction didn't invent it or popularize it. It just used tropes like everyone else did as an indexing tool. And now TikTok is doing the same. But that doesn't take anything away from your very interesting and well researched video. I enjoyed it! 😊

Leonie I ATE UP this video omg. I study linguistics with a particular focus on psycholinguistics and you have sparked so many ideas, questions, theories etc. that I can’t wait to explore further. These sorts of videos make me appreciate your book reviews even more than I already did! Also the rip memes had me giggling so that’s a plus too 🤣

Your videos are so well researched I can’t imagine how long it takes haha

I honestly think half of it is also preference of how you want to discover a book. But honestly, it links so much into that short attention span people have gotten from short form media and doom scrolling. Instead of taking the effort to read a blurb or read a synopsis, people just want a sentence to sum up the whole book. Furthermore, it goes into the "smut" side of it. I saw a video once of a comment that said "Does White Nights have any smut in it?" ...it's Dostoevsky. It ruined my faith in readers lol

I personally dont like it. I wish it had stayed as part of fanfiction. It literally spoils aspects of the relationships and plots are thrown aside to fit into them. I wouldnt even mind as much if the publishing industry wouldnt follow this for most of the recent mainstream realeases, or if said releases werent SO bad. I hate it because now its harder to find a book that has a nice plot instead of feeling like a bunch of tropes combined with no good development.

I’m only 12 min in and the resources you’ve found on the fairytale categorisation is blowing my mind! Thank you so much!!! 🤩✨🌸🙏

Leonie, its so impressive how much work you put in your videos. Gathering and structuring all these insights, seriously so cool. I always feel very entertained and feel like i learn something :) thank you so much! ❤

My issue with (overt) tropification is not that these books have these tropes but that they replaced the fundamental elements of crafting an original story. With the way people talk about stories changing, the authors' approach to writing a story also shifted. I agree that tropes can be comforting with their familiarity but to me if the book/plot/characters entirely hinge on tropes, I have no reason to feel any emotional attachment, so tropes feel meaningless, existing in the air, attached to nothing. This is fundamentally very different from fanfiction where the source material hooks the reader emotionally already and now we want to see these characters roleplay different scenarios; fanfiction is a different medium with its own story elements. Now, this is a personal taste in what I like to read, maybe other people feel the thrill and the comfort even when the characters are cardboard cutouts as long as they deliver the codified tropes, but it's becoming increasingly hard to bet on new books and authors when they are advertised this way. When you say "enemies to lovers" before anything else about your book, all I hear is that while writing your priority was hitting every single plot beat of that trope instead of creating complex characters and an engaging story. So even if you went that length, maybe even did some interesting subversion or deconstructing, I'm not gonna pick it up. And the other side of tropes that people don't talk enough about: the death of literary criticism. When books are talked in this bite-sized, easy consumption way, the criticism also becomes superficial. "This is a bad book because Trope X happened." is not a meaningful sentence, the same as "Read this because it has Trope Y!" is not a meaningful sentence. Why did you hate Trope X? The execution? The implications? Did it ruin the themes or undermine character development? Do you understand why Trope X is even happening, why characters are in this position for Trope X to happen? No trope is fundamentally good or bad, they say nothing beyond "this thing happens" and anytime I see a top Goodreads review that's just a string of tropes (with negative OR positive connotations) a part of me dies. I don't think tropification ruined reading, you can still go out and find great books and great book criticism, but it's become increasingly hard in this hyper-capital world where creating content easy to consume and market means more coins.

the music at II. Fanfiction had me DYING

I just need to say: THIS IS SUCH AN AMAZING CONTENT! Thank you Leoni for the awesome video as always ❤

The depth of this essey is on another level, so is the aesthetic - those old illustrations, and everyrhing - joy for my brain and eyes 😊 And I totally agree - tropes are sometimes usefull, sometimes used wrong and Tiktok is a force of it's own - there is a lot of low quality content, but once you learn to navigate it, you can get a lot of good stuff from there.

Also, for people who love reading I totes get how modern tropes are annoying (they can be spoliery or strip a book down when it's much more than that etc) BUT for people new to reading who just like tropes? Good, at least people are reading. That's really the main thing imo. Now, does it make books "popular" that otherwise wouldn't be.. yeah. Authors kinda get this template that pushes mid books if they have the right tropes. BUT, there's no accounting for taste. So if people are reading I have a hard time being a hater. I'm a veracious reader and have been for 20 years, so I have no trouble sorting them out. Libby has a great thing where you can listen to a chapter before you borrow and it saves me lol.

I love your video essays, you truly add value to the booktube community 😊I think your analysis are complete but still entertaining to watch and you pay attention to nuances on the topic you are covering

Very interesting and in-depth exploration of this topic. I will say that using a moodboard to represent a story is something that was very popular back in the day on tumblr, which is very similar to the aesthetic presentation that you mentioned at the end

my favorite romance novel to this point is The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochran and it's honestly because I went into it not knowing what the tropes would be. I didn't realize the kind of romance would arise or between which characters. I get that tropes help readers get an idea what to expect, but having a surprise to know how relationships develop when entering a story is half the journey itself. spice levels and trigger warnings are great, but just like in real life, I prefer relationships to develop naturally and unexpectedly in books.

I just hate arraigned marriage tropes. I use them as a warning. If the book is done well enough, tropes don’t ruin it for me. I get why others don’t like them. I just like knowing what I’m getting into before I commit and have to return a DNF.

loved the video and the throwback to ancient "tropification". I love a good history chat!

This was such an interesting video. I loved the history parts added throughout the video as someone who loves history and booktok.

How many times have you watched office? How many times have you watched the hand scene? 👀 Girl! Cease fire… the attack has landed 😂😂😂

i think that tropes kinda ruin the whole reading experience cuz' nowadays it's harder to find books that are unique first of all, and it's harmfull in the sense that writers are more likely to not get into the publishing if their book can't fit well into one or more of the common tropes. Also i just don't like the stuff that most if not every popular trope is coming with, it's not my kind of thing, so i'm way more likely to find nice books for myself that are quite old or just not newly pyblished, which sucks to be honest, i wanna find new interesting books. Also If i'm interested in a book and later on i hear someone discribe it with any of the popular tropes i instantly don't want to read it XD even if it could be actually a good book, and it shouldn't be this way.

I think you are absolutely brilliant. Your deep dive and analysis style videos are some of my favorites ever to watch. I feel like I think extra deeply about things after and you always bring incredible takes ☺️❤️

really enjoyed this video!! connecting that academic rabbit hole to current-day tiktok and ao3 is super interesting! definitely agree that recommending books by tropes has both pros and cons. I haven't seen recommendations based on aesthetics on tiktok as much but I think those are kind of cool, very curious to see if they become more of a thing

i really feel like fanfiction and "original" works are fundamentally different ways to approach art and that's where my issue with the tropification of published fiction stems from. fanfiction is about putting the characters you already know in a specific situation. you already know those characters. with og fiction, you don't. and the fact that the authors and fans are both massively focused on the tropes i think is partly what contributes to the shit quality of the writing. the tiktok trope books basically are just the same books over and over and they genuinely just don't even attempt to flesh out characters or a plot or anything because they only care about the tropes. or it's something that is reduced to a single trope when that book has way more to offer.

yaaaaaaayyyyyy!!!!!!!!! I’m so happy when you post Leonie, perfect for during my breakfast tomorrow :)

This is an amazing video - I can't imagine the work that went into this.

What an incredible video! The amount of research you did is remarkable. I can't believe I watched a video about tik tok trends that also covered Russian formalists and deconstructist theory, stuff I read for my master's and phd on literature. Amazing work! Also, I love when the light gets a bit darker and the candles behind you get super intense and warm 🥰

Is it just me or is the tropification at the moment kinda more prevalent in romance books?

The "one word troupe" that I have boycotted is "unputdownable" Seriously?!? The publishing industry is literally a word of words, and THIS is a hot new buzzword? WTF! Do better book industry!

You don’t know how happy it made me to see the text theory analysis and theories in this video. I love structuralism and post structuralism, and the way you’ve explained it was so well, and it made me so happy

Super interesting Leonie, I love your researched videos in which you bring together different perspectives, makes me thinm about stuff! It's still somehow interesting how our human need of classification is ever present is most everything that we do, but at the same time our need to escape from it.

I wish we had something like Book of the Month in Germany. I usually skip sponsor ads but this one got me intrigued.😄