Tropes and Cliches

Enemies to Lovers

So what is with mortal enemies becoming a couple?

So, this is another trope I don't necessarily care for. Why? Well....I believe it's not something...it's weird,it's creepy, and sounds like it dips into "Romantized Abuse". So why and how does enemies turn into lovers? Well...we can sort of blame fanfiction for this..okay I can blame fanfiction.The basis of this is that two characters often have a long history of conflict with each other. They may be on opposite sides of a struggle, or may have just met under unfortunate circumstances and their personalities clashed. Normally, you'd think of superheroes and the supernatural, but there is some in slice of life type stuff. 
For example, they can be enemies since preschool, because one of them accidentally knocked over the blocks they were playing with. And in turn the other one knocks paints onto a picture and it goes from there. They meet again as almost adults and they still hate each other and will pull harmless, yet annoying pranks on each other. Turns out it was another kid and it was just a misunderstanding but years of pranks are a fuel of tension in their relationship, but they make it work.
On the other end of the spectrum is them actively trying to kill each other or a loved one. Let's dip into Avatar: The Last Airbender. Zuko and Katara is a fan favorite couple. A lot of people think they would be perfect for each other. But you know, Zuko had a lot issues to work out and let his sister sort of kill Aang, and the whole stalking thing. I completely understand why they aren't a couple. But fanfiction, people. Now they do have that tension there, but on another level. 

The only one I'm actually a fan of is Bulma and Vegeta....Let me explain. Vegeta basically killed her then boyfriend, Yamcha, though indirectly. Making him her enemy by default. He later becomes a Z-Fighter and he has a child with Bulma. They both retain their personalities from the beginning, though more mature as the years go by, and they become a family. Now we don't get to see how this happen but a lot of people assumed it was a pride thing. And this is the example I'm going to be using. 

So instead of ragging on why I hate this trope, I'm going to try to help you guys write it better. Because again, a lot of people have a tendency to dip into Romanticized Abuse. 

Step 1- Why do they hate each other? Well when you write an enemy, you want an established why they hate each other. Are they competing for a spot on an elite team? Did one of them accidentally kill someone the other loves? Did one of them drink all the milk and left a gulp in the carton and then put it back? These are the questions people. Most writers will start out with bad first impressions or a misunderstanding. They do this because you ultimately need your characters to fall in love and you want your reader to fall a little in love with them, so they both have to be good/likable characters on some level.( See any Hallmark movie). Bulma has every reason to hate Vegeta. He killed a lot of people, including her then boyfriend, some on his own accord. And Bulma was a weak Earth woman, in his eyes, she had no value or whatever. So you can either work with that framework (which has worked for many authors) or you can come up with something different that gives your characters a genuine reason to not like each other (more people need to do this). 

Step 2- Escalating the hate.  Turn up the hatred, and let it flow through them.. For example, having to characters competing for a promotion isn't enough to build a genuine emotional competition. But if one character believes that the only value they have as a person is financial and the other character believes they can only bring about change if you are the sole person in charge, you can use that flawed thinking to inform the rivalry AND a bunch of other decisions your character makes to create a character that feels cohesive and unique. Going back to the whole Vegeta kill her friends thing, the hatred is flowing. 

Step 3- Breaking through the hate to something else

This part is the easiest to dissect but the hardest to craft genuinely. You basically need a shared moment of vulnerability. One of your characters has to crack and the other needs to reciprocate. After the whole Namek thing, Bulma took Vegeta in and basically took care of him. Vegeta basically trains to the point he could crap out his spin, and Bulma nursed him back to health. The idea of being taken care of the way she did was foriegn to Vegeta. It was a moment of weakness.

Step 4- Old rivalries flare up.Once your characters get together, a lot of the tension dissolves in the relationship and your readers might start to lose interest. The way to maintain tension is to reignite the hostility. The truth is, it's hard to go from enemies to trusting lovers, so a period of distrust is pretty normal. The way this distrust manifests itself has to be related to your established character flaws. Let's go back  If you manufacture coincidental distrust or distrust based on misunderstanding, it's going to feel shallow and will make your whole romance feel shallow and cliched. The whole Majin Buu incident was enough to make anyone questioned if Vegeta was reverting back to his old ways. 

Step 5- Happily Ever After

Since everything you have done so far has been (theoretically) tied to your character's flawed ideology, the way they are finally able to overcome their differences with the other character is to overcome their flawed way of thinking about themselves or the world. Here, you create a moment where your character realizes the distrust they feel for their romantic interest is rooted in their own flawed thinking so your character makes the choice to try to abandon that ideology in order to have the relationship.How exactly they got together is still a mystery in my eye. I mean, Bulma has a questionable taste in men already due to her think Zarbon was hot, until he transformed. ( but there is also another trope at play here so...) They're still together and had a kid. So something must of happened. 

Now, again, I don't care for this trope. The reason is the problem behind it. It's a male-female pairing, then the male is a monster ( even though it the female could be starting the physical fights). If they're the same gender, then it's hot, even though a lot of people can see the toxicity in. Uneven grounds, the cause of why their enemies, even how they got together. It's a work in progress, but not something I can see as something I can enjoy.