Fanfic tropes, explained
Fic readers shop by trope. Here is what the common ones mean, the exact AO3 tags authors use for each, and how many works on the shelves carry them.
Updated
Romance tropes
Slow burn
The couple takes a long, long time to get together, and the waiting is the point. Usually long works.
Enemies to lovers
Two people who can’t stand each other end up in love. Close cousin: rivals to lovers.
Friends to lovers
Years of friendship tip over into something more. Often paired with mutual pining.
Mutual pining
Both of them are in love, both are sure the other isn’t, and everyone around them can see it.
Fake dating
They pretend to be a couple for a reason (a wedding, a cover story, a bet) and the feelings stop being fake.
Soulmates
The universe marks two people for each other: matching words, a red string, a timer, colour appearing for the first time.
Getting together
The story of how a couple becomes a couple, usually ending as it begins for real.
Secret relationship
They are together and nobody knows. Yet.
Hanahaki
Unrequited love makes flowers grow in the lungs. Tragic, romantic, very fandom.
Mood and tone
Fluff
Soft, warm, low-stakes happiness. The fic equivalent of a blanket.
Angst
Pain on purpose. Check the tags for whether it ends happily.
Hurt/comfort
One character is hurt, physically or otherwise, and another takes care of them. Its harsher sibling is hurt/no comfort.
Happy ending
A promise from the author that it turns out fine. Readers search for it before diving into angst.
Crack
Absurd premise, played for laughs (or played completely straight, which is funnier).
Plot tropes
Found family
People with nobody find each other and become a family by choice.
Time travel
A character goes back (or forward) and tries to change things, often to save someone.
Canon divergence
The story follows canon until one moment goes differently, then follows the consequences.
Fix-it
The author repairs something canon broke: a death, a breakup, an ending.
Reincarnation
Characters are reborn, sometimes remembering their past lives, sometimes meeting each other again.
Amnesia
Someone forgets, and the people who love them have to start over.
Alternate universes (AUs)
Modern AU
Characters from a fantasy or historical canon living ordinary modern lives.
Coffee shop AU
Barista meets regular. The classic low-stakes romance setting.
College and high school AU
Everyone is a student: roommates, study groups, rival teams.
Fantasy and royalty AU
Kingdoms, knights, magic and arranged marriages, whatever the original setting.
Combining tropes
The best search is often two tropes and a ship. Type them together in the search box (every word has to match), or open a trope's page and look at the related ships and fandoms underneath. Counts here are works anyone can open; works behind the age check are not counted.