Fanfiction Tropes and Dynamics, or why some stories can wreck us and we love them anyway

If someone asked me which fanfiction I love most, I could probably answer fairly quickly. But if they wanted me to list all my favourite tropes, we'd most likely still be sitting here tomorrow. I have a weakness for Fake Dating, Arranged Marriage, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Power Imbalance and Found Family, and the list would be suspiciously incomplete if I forgot dark tropes. Those I welcome with open arms, which may say something interesting about me, though probably not what you'd think at first glance at this list.

Because it isn't necessarily about how much suffering an author can put the characters through. I'm far more interested in what it does to them. How their decisions change, what they can admit to themselves, what they hide from others and where the line lies beyond which they can't go on the way they did before. Sometimes I'm fascinated by a relationship born out of duty, other times by one the characters refuse to admit even though everyone around them has long been convinced they're in love. And now and then I'm in the mood for something so emotionally complicated that one honest conversation would solve half the plot. Except, of course, someone would have to work up the courage to have that conversation.

The more I think about my taste as a reader, the more I realise there's a connection between my favourite tropes. Most of them put characters in situations where they have to deal with their own vulnerability, desire, fear, duty or need for control. And even though they're often romantic stories, romance itself is rarely the only reason I read them.

I'm interested in the psychology of characters. I need to understand why someone made a certain decision, why they couldn't say something that was obvious at first glance, or why they react exactly this way when someone else would do the complete opposite. I don't like it when characters change just because the author happens to need it for the plot. Feel free to put them into a completely different world, change the circumstances of their lives or give them a conflict they would never face in the original, but give me a reason to believe they're still themselves. And that's exactly why I love tropes so much. They give authors the chance to take familiar characters and explore them from angles the original story may never have reached.

But there's an endless number of fanfiction tropes. Some are known even to people who have never opened AO3, others are used mainly in particular fandoms, and others grow out of very specific combinations of established motifs. That's why I decided to write a longer guide that explains not only what they mean, but also what you can expect from them.

What is a trope, and why do you find them almost everywhere?

A trope is a recurring motif, situation, character dynamic or storytelling device that shows up across different stories. It doesn't have to be a cliché or something bad. Two stories can use exactly the same trope and still feel completely different, because it all depends on the characters, their motivations and the way the author develops the motif.

Take Fake Dating, for example. Two characters, for some reason, pretend to be in a romantic relationship. Once they need to silence a nosy family, another time to gain a social advantage, and a third time to avoid someone who can't take no for an answer. The starting point can be similar, but its consequences will differ depending on who ends up in it.

And then imagine that one of those characters is Wei Wuxian and the other Lan Wangji. Suddenly I'm not only interested in when they'll finally kiss, but also in how each of them copes with the gap between what they pretend and what they really feel.

On AO3 you'll meet tropes mainly in Additional Tags. It's good to know, though, that not every label in that section is a trope. Some describe the atmosphere, others the structure of the story, sexual content, a relationship dynamic or an important event. Many of these categories overlap, and the fandom community doesn't always use them consistently. So take the following breakdown mainly as an overview that will help you while reading, not as an official list of categories someone on AO3 set in stone.

Love that begins as a deal, a duty or a simple lie

I'll admit I have a weakness for this kind of story. Two characters end up in a relationship they didn't enter out of love, and little by little they find out that their own emotions are starting to complicate their lives. But that's exactly where all the fun can be. There's a difference between what you tell others, what you tell yourself and what you truly feel.

Love that begins as a deal, a duty or a simple lie · show overview (16)

Trope	What it means and what to expect
Fake Dating / Fake Relationship	The characters pretend to be in a romantic relationship, usually for a specific goal. The interesting part is the tension between performed intimacy and real feelings that may slowly appear.
Arranged Marriage	The marriage is arranged by family, social rules or other circumstances. It doesn't have to be forced, and the characters may have varying degrees of say in what it looks like.
Forced Marriage	One or more characters enter a marriage against their will. The theme touches on autonomy, pressure and power, and it doesn't necessarily lead to a romantic relationship.
Marriage of Convenience	A marriage made for practical reasons, such as inheritance, citizenship, protection or social standing. Romantic feelings may come only later.
Contract Marriage	A relationship or marriage based on terms agreed in advance. It often deals with what happens when real emotions start seeping into the deal.
Marriage Before Love	The characters marry first and only then gradually build a romantic relationship.
Political Marriage	A marriage driven by political interests, alliances or the stability of a group or state. It works especially well in fantasy and historical stories.
Secret Relationship	The characters hide their relationship from the people around them. The reason can be family, social rules, work or personal fears.
Forbidden Love	A romantic relationship blocked by a significant social, family, legal or other obstacle.
Second Chance Romance	The characters get another chance to build a relationship that didn't work out in the past.
Exes to Lovers	Former partners gradually find their way back to each other. The story often explores whether whatever destroyed their relationship has changed.
Marriage in Trouble	The plot focuses on an existing relationship going through a crisis. So the romance doesn't have to be just beginning.
Accidental Marriage	The characters end up married by mistake, through unexpected circumstances or, for example, a magical rule.
Forced Proximity	The characters have to spend time together even though they might not choose to otherwise. It can be a shared journey, work or being locked in one place.
Only One Bed	Two characters have to share one bed. A seemingly simple situation that can create comic, romantic and tense moments alike.
Roommates to Lovers	People who at first only share a home gradually fall into a romantic relationship.

Why I think Fake Dating and Arranged Marriage work so well

What I love most about both tropes is that the relationship between the characters gets its form before its real emotional content is built. In Fake Dating, people have to act like a couple in public even though they aren't one. In Arranged Marriage, they may officially be married while barely knowing each other.

And that kind of situation offers so much room for small changes, which the characters often notice only once they can no longer ignore them. A touch that was originally part of the pretence suddenly feels different. An evening spent together stops being a duty. One character starts noticing things that never interested them before.

With Arranged Marriage, I also find the question of personal choice fascinating. The fact that circumstances decided the shape of the relationship doesn't mean they can decide the feelings too. And the difference between social duty and a truly personal decision can make a very strong story.

That's why I wouldn't confuse Arranged Marriage with Forced Marriage. The first can be an arranged marriage both sides agree to. In the second, the absence of free choice is the core theme. And that creates a completely different dynamic.

Enemies, rivals and people who refuse to admit their own feelings

Some romantic stories start with mutual affection, others with friendship, and others with a situation where the characters would rather never have met. The way the author manages to transform their relationship often decides whether I believe the result.

Enemies, rivals and people who refuse to admit their own feelings · show overview (20)

Trope	What it means and what to expect
Enemies to Lovers	The characters start as enemies and a romantic relationship gradually grows between them. What matters is how their motivations, their view of each other and the conflict itself develop.
Rivals to Lovers	The characters compete with each other but don't necessarily hate each other. The rivalry can come from school, work, sport or another setting.
Friends to Lovers	A friendship slowly turns into a romantic relationship. There's often a fear that confessing feelings will destroy the closeness they already have.
Strangers to Lovers	Two characters who didn't know each other meet and gradually find their way to each other.
Childhood Friends to Lovers	A relationship between people who have known each other since childhood gradually takes on a romantic dimension.
Enemies to Friends to Lovers	The original hostility first turns into friendship and only then into romance.
Slow Burn	The romantic connection develops slowly, often through a long period of uncertainty, conflict and gradual change.
Mutual Pining	Both characters feel something for each other, but for various reasons they don't know about the other's feelings or don't believe in them.
Unrequited Love	One sided love where the feelings aren't returned.
Oblivious Love	A character doesn't notice someone else's romantic feelings, or even their own.
Idiots in Love	A humorous label for characters who are in love but, despite obvious signals, can't manage to talk about it.
Emotional Constipation	A character struggles to recognise, admit or express their own emotions. The term is exaggerated and doesn't have to mean a mental disorder.
Denial of Feelings	A character refuses to admit romantic feelings even though their behaviour often gives them away.
Miscommunication	The conflict comes from unclear, insufficient or missing communication.
Misunderstandings	The characters misread a situation, behaviour or piece of information.
Jealousy	Jealousy affects relationships, decisions or the characters' actions. It can be comic or very dark.
Love Confession	A confession of romantic feelings. In some stories it's the climax of a long emotional journey.
Pining While Oblivious	A character feels intense romantic longing but doesn't understand their own feelings or what causes them.
Opposites Attract	A relationship between people with very different personalities, values or ways of life.
Grumpy/Sunshine	A dynamic between a reserved, grumpy or closed off character and their more optimistic counterpart.

I love Slow Burn, but only when the author really knows why the relationship is moving slowly. If two characters spend three hundred thousand words refusing to say one simple sentence, and their behaviour has no psychological logic behind it, I stop enjoying it.

On the other hand, I can be completely swallowed by a story where the obstacles are truly part of who the characters are. One struggles to trust, the other is afraid of rejection, both carry their own experiences and neither can take the next step without risking something.

That's also why I tell Enemies to Lovers and Rivals to Lovers apart. Competing with someone for first place at school isn't the same as seeing them as a real enemy. In Enemies to Lovers I want to see how the very foundation of the conflict changes, because romance can't convincingly grow out of nothing just because the author decided the time had come for that chapter. After all, in my own story A Confession Years Later, it all begins with Sirius's sincere hatred of Severus, and the whole story is really about what hides behind it.

Angst, Hurt/Comfort and stories that put us through it emotionally

This group is among my favourites and at the same time one that can take an enormous number of forms. Some stories are melancholic, others can truly take you apart. And this is where I most appreciate authors who understand their characters and can work with emotions without constantly having to explain them to the reader.

Angst, Hurt/Comfort and stories that put us through it emotionally · show overview (23)

Trope	What it means and what to expect
Angst	Emotional pain, inner conflict, uncertainty, sadness or other psychologically demanding experiences. It doesn't necessarily mean a tragic ending.
Heavy Angst	Very intense emotional suffering, often tied to long term conflicts or traumatic events.
Angst with a Happy Ending	An emotionally demanding story that eventually heads towards a positive ending.
Angst with a Hopeful Ending	A story with a hard journey and an ending that leaves hope but doesn't have to solve every problem.
Hurt/Comfort	One character goes through physical or emotional suffering and the other offers care, support or comfort.
Emotional Hurt/Comfort	The focus is on emotional pain and emotional support.
Physical Hurt/Comfort	A physical injury or illness creates room for care and for the relationship between the characters to change.
Hurt/No Comfort	A character suffers but receives no comfort or support that would ease their situation.
Hurt/Hurt	A story focused on ongoing or repeated suffering with no real room for comfort.
Whump	The motif of a favourite character going through significant physical or emotional suffering. Care may follow, but it doesn't have to.
Sickfic	A story where illness plays an important role, often along with caring for the sick character.
Injury Recovery	Recovering from a physical injury, which can include rehabilitation, limitations and changes in relationships.
Trauma Recovery	A story focused on coming to terms with the consequences of a traumatic experience.
Grief/Mourning	Sorrow and mourning after the loss of a loved one or another significant loss.
Survivor's Guilt	The guilt of someone who survived an event in which others died or were harmed.
Nightmares	Nightmares used, for example, to capture fear, memories or psychological tension.
Panic Attacks	Panic attacks as part of a character's experience. How they're handled can vary greatly between stories.
Emotional Breakdown	The moment a character can no longer hold the emotional tension that has built up.
Comfort Food / Domestic Comfort	Care and comfort through ordinary everyday gestures, shared meals or a calm home.
Fluff	Gentle, pleasant or kind content, often focused on closeness, joy and a happy relationship.
Fluff and Angst	A mix of warm and emotionally demanding moments.
Bittersweet Ending	An ending that combines positive and painful elements.
Tragedy	A story heading towards a tragic outcome, which may come from the characters' decisions or from circumstances beyond their control.

Why Hurt/Comfort means more to me than just pain and a hug

What I love about Hurt/Comfort is above all the chance to see what happens when a character can't handle everything alone. Of course you can write a story where someone gets hurt and the other one takes care of them. But you can just as well create a far more complicated situation, where a physical injury reveals something the character has been hiding for a long time. And that's exactly where it starts to interest me.

Care doesn't have to mean only dressing a wound, a hug or a few kind words. Sometimes it matters far more that the other person respects boundaries, can be present without unnecessary questions, or accepts that help may not be welcome right away. That's exactly what guided me when I wrote Don't Say a Word, where Severus survives, but the real story only begins with the question of who will stay on his side.

With traumatic experiences it's even more complicated. A character doesn't have to start healing the moment someone confesses their love, and they certainly don't have to react in the way the reader would find most logical. That's why I love stories that give characters room to be complicated, to make mistakes and to change at their own pace.

Hurt/Comfort and Whump can overlap, but they aren't the same. Whump often puts more emphasis on the suffering or danger itself, while in Hurt/Comfort care and comfort form an important part of the story's dynamic. And if you're drawn more to quiet sorrow, Where the Heart Lingers is a story about a family that has to come to terms with Wei Wuxian slowly losing his strength.

Power, control and relationships where the rules aren't the same for everyone

Power Imbalance is one of the motifs that can really grab me, because it brings questions into a relationship that can't be solved just by confessing feelings. If one character has significant power over the other, it matters not only what both of them want, but also how freely they can actually choose.

Power, control and relationships where the rules aren't the same for everyone · show overview (16)

Trope	What it means and what to expect
Power Imbalance	An imbalance of power between characters, coming for example from social standing, knowledge, money or personal dependence.
Power Dynamics	The way power, influence and control play out in the relationships between characters. It doesn't always have to mean abuse.
Captor/Captive	A relationship or conflict dynamic between a captor and a captive.
Prisoner of War	A character is held captive as a result of war or armed conflict.
Master/Servant	A relationship between characters with very unequal social or institutional standing.
Royalty/Commoner	A dynamic between a member of a ruling family and someone of lower social standing.
Bodyguard AU	One character protects the other, often with room for a personal relationship to grow.
Mutual Dependency	The characters depend on each other and their decisions are intertwined.
Codependency	An unhealthily strong emotional dependence in which the characters' boundaries and own needs can be seriously eroded.
Blackmail	Coercion through the threat of revealing information or causing other harm.
Manipulation	Influencing another character through hidden motives, deception or emotional pressure.
Mind Control	Controlling a character's thoughts or actions without their free will, often through magic or technology.
Magical Bond	A magical connection between characters that can affect their abilities, emotions or ability to be apart.
Soulbond	A deep bond between souls, which can be romantic or not, voluntary or not, depending on the story's rules.
Loss of Autonomy	A character loses the ability to decide about their own body, life or actions.
Unequal Relationship	A relationship where the characters have different standing, experience or influence. The inequality alone doesn't determine whether the relationship is abusive.

With Power Imbalance, I'm mostly interested in what happens beyond the visible conflict. When one character can order the other around, refuse them or take away some of their freedom, the question is how that plays into their emotional relationship. I play with a similar dynamic in Claiming the Unbroken, where Wen Ruohan sets his sights on Lan Qiren and their clash is, from the very start, mostly about power, will and boundaries.

And this is exactly where it's very easy to write a story that romanticises a certain dynamic, or, on the contrary, one that consciously explores it as problematic. Both can appear in fiction, but the reader should be able to tell what they're dealing with. Power Imbalance alone doesn't automatically mean violence, just as the presence of romance doesn't mean the relationship is healthy.

Dark tropes, or when a story doesn't have to be pleasant to be interesting

What fascinates me about darker fanfiction is how far an author can go in exploring human behaviour, motivations and limits. Sometimes these are stories where characters do morally indefensible things. Other times they're psychological dramas where it isn't easy to say who is right, who bears responsibility, or whether a good ending is even possible.

I think it's important to distinguish between what interests us in fiction and what we would approve of in real life. You can read about manipulation, violence, obsession or a destructive relationship without wanting to experience anything like it. At the same time, not every dark story has to be a psychological study. Some are written as horror, others as tragedy, others as fantasy or as deliberately disturbing storytelling.

Dark tropes, or when a story doesn't have to be pleasant to be interesting · show overview (21)

Trope or label	What it means and what to expect
Darkfic	A general label for fanfiction with strongly dark, disturbing or morally complicated themes.
Toxic Relationship	A relationship in which harmful, manipulative or destructive patterns keep repeating.
Obsession	Obsession with another character, a goal or an idea that strongly shapes someone's actions.
Possessiveness	Possessive behaviour where a character wants to control the other or claims their attention and closeness.
Stalking	Repeatedly following or pursuing another character without their consent.
Emotional Abuse	Emotional harm through humiliation, intimidation, manipulation or other forms of pressure.
Psychological Abuse	Psychological abuse that can erode a sense of safety, self worth or the ability to make decisions independently.
Gaslighting	Manipulation that leads a person to doubt their own perception and judgement.
Betrayal	A betrayal of trust, loyalty or a shared agreement.
Revenge	Revenge as the main motive of a character or the driving force of the story.
Corruption Arc	A character's gradual moral shift towards destructive or cruel behaviour.
Villain Romance	A romantic story involving a character in the role of antagonist or villain.
Morally Grey Characters	Characters whose actions can't simply be divided into clearly good or bad.
Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms	Unhealthy ways of dealing with stress, loss or trauma.
Captivity	Captivity or an involuntary loss of freedom as an important part of the plot.
Torture	Physical or psychological torture of a character, which can serve various narrative purposes.
Hurt/Hurt	Storytelling focused on suffering without real comfort or a positive resolution.
Tragic Romance	A romantic story heading towards tragic consequences.
Unhappy Ending	The story doesn't end well and may leave conflicts unresolved or end in loss.
No Redemption	A character goes through no moral redemption or significant positive change.
Redemption Arc	A character tries to come to terms with past actions and gradually change their behaviour. Success isn't guaranteed.

By the way, I'm quite demanding when it comes to Redemption Arcs. It isn't enough for me that someone does the right thing once and everyone immediately forgives them for everything they caused. If a character's change is to be believable, I need to see not only regret, but also decisions, responsibility and consequences.

In the same way, I'm not interested only in a good character becoming a villain. I'm interested in the path that led them there, how they justify their own actions and whether there's a moment when they realise they've crossed a line they once considered uncrossable. And if they never realise it at all, the resulting story can be all the more disturbing.

Sexual violence, consent and working with trauma

This is a part I wouldn't want to leave out just because it can be hard to talk about. On AO3 you may come across stories that contain sexual violence, coercion or situations with questionable consent. Sometimes these motifs are shown directly, other times they're only talked about or are part of a character's past. And the way they're handled can vary enormously.

For me personally, the most interesting part doesn't have to be the event itself, but what follows. How the character's relationship to their own body, to trust, closeness or the ability to decide for themselves changes. How they communicate with others, whether they avoid certain situations or, on the contrary, seem exactly the same as before on the outside, while inside they're coming to terms with something very complex.

Such a story doesn't have to contain an explicit depiction of violence at all. It can begin only once the event is in the past and focus on its long term consequences. And that's exactly where very demanding and emotionally powerful character work can happen.

Sexual violence, consent and working with trauma · show overview (17)

Label	What it means and what to expect
Rape/Non-Con	The official AO3 archive warning for sexual activity without consent.
Non-Consensual Sexual Activity	Sexual activity without free consent. The phrase can also appear among additional tags or in a work's summary.
Dubious Consent / Dub-Con	A situation where consent is unclear, problematic or shaped by circumstances. There's no single universally accepted line.
Coercion	Pressure where a character's actions are influenced by threats, dependence or another form of force.
Sexual Coercion	Sexual pressure where the decision isn't the result of a free and voluntary choice.
Past Sexual Assault	Sexual violence is part of a character's past rather than necessarily an event shown directly.
Referenced Sexual Assault	Sexual violence is mentioned in the story. The tag alone doesn't say how detailed it is.
Rape Recovery	A story focused on coming to terms with the consequences of sexual violence.
Trauma Recovery	A broader label for stories about the consequences of traumatic experiences and working through them.
Rebuilding Trust	Gradually rebuilding trust after betrayal, violence or another damaging experience.
Fear of Intimacy	A fear of intimacy or closeness that may be connected with past experiences, insecurity or other circumstances.
Boundary Negotiation	Negotiating personal boundaries and the rules of physical contact.
Non-Sexual Intimacy	Closeness and intimacy without sexual content, for example through care, shared space or trust.
Aftermath of Violence	A story about the consequences of violence and its impact on the characters.
Dissociation	Disconnection from feelings, memory or perception, which can appear in psychologically focused stories.
Flashbacks	Past experiences coming back, sometimes as unwanted re-living of certain memories.
Recovery Is Not Linear	A label for stories that emphasise that recovery doesn't have to move evenly and can include periods of improvement and difficulty alike.

With this group, though, I'd like to stress one thing. There's no single right way for a person to behave after a traumatic experience. Someone may seem calm on the outside, another reacts with anger, one seeks closeness and another needs distance. None of these reactions automatically means the author doesn't understand their character. It depends on the context, on the character's previous characterisation and on how their experience fits into the whole story.

I also wouldn't want stories like these to create the impression that a romantic relationship can automatically fix the consequences of trauma. Love and support can be very important, but they don't have to replace time, one's own decisions or other forms of help. If an author works with a sensitive topic, they have the chance to show a far more complex process than simply meeting the right person.

Archive Warnings aren't the same as fanfiction tropes

Since we've got to the darker motifs, I have to stop at one thing I consider very important when using AO3. Not everything you see among a story's labels is a story trope. Some labels serve mainly as warnings about content not every reader may be comfortable with.

AO3 has its own system of Archive Warnings. The author has to choose at least one option, or use the label saying they decided not to use specific warnings. And while Additional Tags can describe almost anything, the archive warnings apply only to a few selected areas.

Archive Warnings aren't the same as fanfiction tropes · show overview (6)

Archive Warning	What it means
Graphic Depictions of Violence	The work may contain detailed or vivid depictions of violence.
Major Character Death	An important character dies in the story.
Rape/Non-Con	The work may contain sexual activity without consent.
Underage	The work may contain described or depicted sexual activity involving people under eighteen.
No Archive Warnings Apply	According to the author, none of the four specific archive warning categories applies to the work.
Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings	The author decided not to say which specific archive warnings might apply to the work.

I'd pay special attention to the last two options, because they're very easy to confuse. No Archive Warnings Apply doesn't mean you're in for a pleasant story with no sensitive content at all. It only means that, according to the author, it doesn't contain content requiring one of the four specific archive warnings. You can easily come across a story about psychological abuse, manipulation or another very unpleasant situation that isn't among those categories.

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings is something else entirely. The author is essentially telling you they won't share the specific archive warnings with you. Maybe they don't want to give away an important plot twist, maybe they aren't sure whether a certain warning fits their text, or they have another reason. What matters for the reader is that a work marked this way may contain some of the sensitive topics without them being named. And that's exactly why it makes sense to read the Additional Tags and any author's notes too.

Imagine a story tagged Hurt/Comfort, Trauma Recovery and Past Sexual Assault. You can conclude that the author is working with a past experience of sexual violence and its impact on the character, but the combination alone won't tell you how the theme will be handled. Whether it will be memories, conversations, psychological experience or something else depends on the particular story.

Similarly, you may come across the label Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, which the fandom community uses as a warning that you should take the other listed tags seriously and not automatically expect them to be softened or morally condemned. Its use has spread over the years, though, and some readers today see it generally as a warning for very dark content. So Dead Dove alone isn't a substitute for specific archive warnings, and without the other tags it won't tell you everything you need to know.

None of these labels is, for me, a judgement of literary quality or the author's moral worth. They're mainly there so that the reader can decide what they do or don't want to open.

Found Family and relationships that don't grow out of romance

Even though I love complicated romantic relationships, there's one more kind of story that gets me every single time. Found Family is one of the most beautiful motifs for me, because it focuses on something that doesn't have to have anything to do with romance, on relationships in which people gradually build a sense of safety, acceptance and closeness even though nothing connected them at first.

Found Family and relationships that don't grow out of romance · show overview (16)

Trope	What it means and what to expect
Found Family	A group of people gradually builds relationships that resemble a family, without being related by blood.
Family of Choice / Chosen Family	A family built on mutual acceptance and one's own choice. The meaning often overlaps with Found Family.
Accidental Adoption	A character unexpectedly takes on a parental or caring role towards someone they never planned to take into their family.
Protective Character	A character strongly protects another person, often because of a close bond or awareness of their vulnerability.
Overprotective Character	A character's protectiveness goes beyond the usual and may start limiting the other person's independence.
Caretaking	Caring for another character, for example during illness, after an injury or in a difficult life situation.
Parental Figure	A character takes on the role of a parental authority or source of support without being a biological parent.
Mentor/Student Bond	A relationship between a more and a less experienced character, built on guidance, learning or gradually growing trust.
Estranged Family	Family relationships damaged by long term estrangement or conflict.
Family Reconciliation	An attempt to repair damaged family relationships. It doesn't necessarily succeed.
Sibling Bonding	Developing or deepening the relationship between siblings.
Adoption	Adoption or the creation of a new parental relationship as an important part of the plot.
Domestic Fluff	Gentle everyday situations focused on closeness, care and living together.
Platonic Soulmates	A deep non romantic bond between two characters that can be just as important as a romantic relationship.
Unconditional Love	Love or acceptance that doesn't depend on meeting particular expectations.
Rebuilding Family Bonds	Gradually rebuilding trust and relationships between members of a family or a chosen family.

What interests me most about Found Family is how the relationships form. It isn't enough for me when an author puts a few characters in one room and announces that from now on they're a family. I want to see why they grew close, how they deal with different needs and what the decision to accept someone means to them. In my multi chapter story The Best Man I Ever Knew, Harry decides to raise the son Severus left behind, and exactly that kind of unexpected stepping into a parent's role is, for me, the heart of Accidental Adoption.

This motif can work especially beautifully combined with Hurt/Comfort, because the chance to belong somewhere can matter most to a character who is used to relying only on themselves. At the same time, it doesn't have to be a story where everything gets fixed right away. Even a family you choose yourself can have complicated relationships, conflicts and periods of misunderstanding.

And maybe that's exactly why Found Family is so interesting to me. It isn't about perfect relationships, but about the ones people decide to build despite their own imperfections.

Fate, alternate lives and second chances

Some fanfiction motifs let us see characters in situations that could never happen in their original world. Others give them the chance to change the past, fix their mistakes or meet someone they've already lost.

Fate, alternate lives and second chances · show overview (16)

Trope	What it means and what to expect
Soulmates / Soulmate AU	A world where some predestined form of connection between people exists. Its rules differ from story to story.
Soulmarks	A physical or magical mark connected with a soulmate. It can take the form of a name, a symbol or another sign.
Red String of Fate	The motif of two people bound by fate through an invisible red thread.
Reincarnation	A character is reborn into another life, sometimes with memories of their previous existence.
Time Travel Fix-It	Time travel used to try to fix a past event or change a tragic outcome.
Time Loop	A character repeatedly relives the same stretch of time and tries to change how it goes.
Alternate Timeline	A story set in a different timeline where some events happened differently.
Identity Reveal	The revealing of a character's true identity, which can fundamentally change relationships and existing conflicts.
Secret Identity	A character hides part of their identity from the people around them.
Amnesia / Memory Loss	A loss of memories that affects self image, relationships or the ability to understand the past.
Body Swap	Two characters swap bodies and have to deal with life from the other's perspective.
Identity Crisis	A character goes through a crisis of identity and tries to understand who they are or who they want to be.
Rebirth	A character's rebirth or new beginning, sometimes with the chance to change past decisions.
Fate vs. Free Will	The conflict between predestination and the freedom to decide about one's own life.
Alternate Self	Meeting another version of oneself or exploring different forms of one's own identity.
Fix-It Fic	A story that changes or repairs an event from the original work, such as a tragic death or a broken relationship.

What I love about the motif of fate is combining it with the question of free will. If two characters find out they're destined for each other, does that automatically mean they have to love each other? And if one of them is convinced they want to choose their own life, what does such a destiny actually mean to them?

These are questions that can turn a seemingly simple Soulmate AU into a very interesting psychological story. And time travel works in a similar way, because the chance to change the past doesn't mean a character can foresee every consequence of their decision. In the Silence of Shadows, We Belong, on the other hand, rests on Wei Ying having no idea who Lan Wangji really is, and the reveal of his identity changes absolutely everything.

How to combine tropes, and why less is sometimes more

One of the best things about the fanfiction world is that individual tropes don't have to exist on their own. You can write Fake Dating with Mutual Pining, Arranged Marriage with Power Imbalance, or Found Family combined with Hurt/Comfort and Trauma Recovery. It's often the combinations that decide what kind of emotional experience the reader gets.

How to combine tropes, and why less is sometimes more · show overview (10)

Combination	What it can create in a story
Fake Dating + Mutual Pining	Both characters pretend to be together even though they've long been genuinely in love.
Arranged Marriage + Slow Burn	Slowly building intimacy between people who are officially bound but are only just getting to know each other emotionally.
Enemies to Lovers + Redemption Arc	A romance tied to a change in values, responsibility and how the characters see each other.
Hurt/Comfort + Found Family	A character finds support and acceptance in a group of people who gradually become their family.
Power Imbalance + Forced Marriage	A conflict between duty, freedom of choice and the characters' unequal standing.
Angst + Miscommunication	Emotional tension caused by what the characters can't say or properly understand.
Non-Con Aftermath + Trauma Recovery	A focus on the consequences of sexual violence and gradually coming to terms with them, without needing to depict the event itself.
Time Travel Fix-It + Survivor's Guilt	A character tries to change the past because they can't come to terms with having survived or having failed to save someone.
Soulmates + Forbidden Love	A conflict between supposed fate and the social rules standing in the way of the relationship.
Found Family + Accidental Adoption	An unplanned caring role gradually leads to a real family bond.

Personally, I think the better an author understands their own story, the less they need to use tropes as a list of mandatory ingredients. If you add five favourite motifs to a story, it doesn't automatically mean it will be five times more interesting. What matters is that the individual elements grow out of the characters and their situation.

In the same way, I don't recommend automatically ticking everything you love when searching on AO3. If you choose too many specific tags, you may end up with zero results, even though some less precisely tagged stories could have thrilled you.

That's why I usually choose by pairing, completion, language and number of kudos, and only then read the summary and tags. When I'm in the mood for something specific, I start narrowing the search, but otherwise I like to leave room for surprise.

Why we keep coming back to some tropes

When I think about my favourite stories, I find that similar questions keep coming up in them. What happens when someone loses control over their own life? When do they start trusting someone? What do they have to live through to change their mind about a person they once hated? And can they really change without losing something of themselves?

Maybe that's exactly why I can keep coming back to the same tropes across different fandoms without getting bored. The starting point may be similar, but each time it's lived by different characters with different experiences, values and motivations.

And of course there are moments when I don't need any deep psychological study. Sometimes I just want to open a story where my favourite characters love each other, nobody dies and the biggest problem is that one of the heroes is afraid to confess his feelings. For moments like that, I have The Holiday Plot Twist or Severus's Secret Passion tucked away in my drawer. But other times I'm in the mood for something far more complicated that will keep me thinking long after I've finished.

That's exactly the freedom I love about fanfiction. I don't have to decide to read only one genre, one relationship dynamic or one type of story. I can love Fluff and Darkfic, Found Family and toxic relationships, romantic comedies and psychological tragedies, without those preferences having to be in any conflict.

Fiction lets us explore things we would never want to experience in real life. It can offer comfort, suspense, curiosity, an emotional experience or just a few hours spent in a world we love coming back to.

And if there's one thing I truly love about all of this, it's the chance to watch familiar characters in situations their original author never wrote, and still recognise in them exactly the personalities I fell in love with in the first place.

So the next time you open AO3 and see a list of tags that looks like a completely random mix of romance, tragedy, magic and emotional suffering, try to remember that each of them may stand for a different part of the story. One hints at what relationship will develop, another warns about sensitive content, and another tells you whether to get ready for a happy ending or for several hours of intense reflection on your own life choices.

And if you ask me which tropes I love most, I'll probably answer the same way as at the beginning. It depends on the story, the characters and what the author manages to do with them. Because a well written story can thrill me even when it uses a trope I would never have gone looking for myself.

Yours, Mimosa

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Want to find your way around fanfiction even better?

If abbreviations like AU, OOC or OTP keep confusing you while reading, I've also put together a big fanfiction dictionary where you'll find what they mean and how they're used.

And if you're only just getting to know Archive of Our Own, I recommend starting with my AO3 guide, where I explain how to use filters, find your way around tags and find stories that suit your taste. For fans of Chinese danmei, there's also a separate danmei glossary on the blog.

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Mimosa Confiante

By day, I work somewhere between marketing, copy and campaigns; by night, I usually end up somewhere between fanfiction, cosplay and yet another “what if” that refuses to leave me alone. I write mainly in the Harry Potter and Mo Dao Zu Shi fandoms, most often Snarry, Snamione, HarryLu and WangXian. My healthcare background means that anatomy, medicine and far too much research occasionally find their way into my stories. Cosplay is another way for me to play with the characters I love, whether I stay close to canon or turn them into my own fanfiction and AU versions. In Diary of a Slytherin Girl with ADHD, I write openly about life with a brain that usually has far too many tabs open at once.

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