FRIENDSHIP TROPES

Friendship Tropes for the Writing Heart

BY J. MINAYA

Here’s a list of friendship tropes that have helped me write. I hope it helps you too.

• Befriending the enemy - MC becomes friends with someone they consider a threat in order to obtain their goal.

• Naive/Innocent friend - The MC is less experienced than their friend, leading the friend to become their mentor in the art of being bad. The roles can also be reversed where the MC is the experienced one, and the friend is their clueless counterpart.

• Childhood friend - Two or more friends who have known each other since childhood. For the sake of storytelling, conflict could arise once they are grown, putting their friendship in danger.

• Bros before hoes - Typically, two friends who put their friendship above any romantic interest they might have.

• Rival friends - Two characters whose competitive drive against each other has made them become friends. It can also be two lifelong friends competing for a specific goal while keeping their friendship alive. (e.g., same job title, first place in a sports competition).

• Friend betrayal - This is a great friendship conflict for your next WIP. It shows how the friendship is tested due to one character betraying the other.

• Friends to lovers - Usually two lifelong friends whose platonic relationship turns romantic. The risk of ruining their friendship could be the conflict keeping them apart despite their strong feelings for one another.

• Friends to romantic rivals - This one is similar to the rival friends trope mentioned on this list, except their mutual goal is to get the girl (or guy).

• Imaginary/ghost friend - (I personally love this one) This trope would show how a living person becomes friends with their imaginary friend, the monster under the bed, or the ghost haunting their home.

• Interclass friendship - Two friends who are from different social classes. (e.g., a CEO and a vagrant. A king and his servant).

• Join the group to fit in - This one is self-explanatory. The MC will join a group of like-minded individuals in order to fit in or gain intel against them.

• Friendzoned - One of the MCs is in love with their friend, but they cannot show their feelings either because they’re afraid or because their love interest never allows them to step out of the “friend zone.”
  

• Wingman - One friend helping the other to romance their love interest. In my opinion, the best and worst kinds of friends are wingmen and wingwomen.

• The three amigos - Three friends who stay together through thick and thin. They are usually each other’s support team.