Romance Novel Tropes

I’ve never studied tropes, but it seems more and more that my dream publisher is looking for them. A year ago, if I tried to name tropes, I would have listed sub-genres, like urban fantasy and paranormal, along with Mpreg and fairy tales rewritten to be gay.

Since then, I found TV Tropes, and the sub-category, “Romance Novel Tropes.”

Some of them are downright frightening. “All Men are Rapists,” for example. Some I recognize as transferring easily to M/M, like “Cannot Spit It Out,” where the words, “I love you,” aren’t said until it’s almost too late. I admit, I may have used this already, without knowing it was a trope.

I’m supposed to be writing 5,000 words this weekend. I wanted to write those words on something new, but the news earlier this week, that my dream publisher is changing their focus and even moving away from their regular authors, worried me. I know, I should focus on writing what I want to write, and worry about finding a home for it later. Another part of me keeps wondering, “What if you wrote one trope novel, and they loved it?”

So I’m looking for the right trope. Even though I’ve found this site, which details some main romance tropes, I don’t see anything that catches my eye. What are your favorite romance tropes?