5 Tired Tropes That I'm Sick Of Seeing in YA
As readers, we have all come across stuff in YA books that have made us curl up and scream into a pillow, throw the book across the room or out the window, shriek so loud your dog goes akimbo, or in severe cases burn those books and post pictures.
That got quite poetic...That's how passionate I am about hating some of these tropes that I have come upon when reading YA
The Scorned Bad Boy/ Dark Lord Who's Actually An Abusive Asshole
Okay, 95% of us are guilty of having fallen into this trap before, especially some five years ago when the internet was brimming with books that glamorized and romanticized psychotic assholes whose abusive behavior towards a romantic partner was excused by a 'traumatic past'....Ughhhhhhh.
There's nothing wrong with a misunderstood and misjudged 'bad boy' in books every now and then, when there's an actual back-story, plot and character development...However, more than half the time, that bad boy is just a freaking asshole, and really...there's nothing 'bad' about him beside his cowardice and narcissism.
God help me if I ever come across another one of those, I've only just recovered my sanity since the last time I encountered one of these.
The Unsuspecting 'Chosen One' Who 'Didn't 'Ask For It'
This is pretty much every character ever in YA fantasy and dystopia. The normal, 'every-day' gal in jeans and a tank-top who conveniently knows how to fight with a knife and swing a mean punch, and is suddenly thrown into a dystopia where they're the 'chosen one', but oh god 'they never asked for this'...Cue the five pages of self-pity and whining, self-depreciation and 'they must be mistaken'.
There is literally nothing worse than this piece of shit plot-line in YA. If you're going to write about some poor idiot who ends up in some messed up situations, then make them grow as characters, make them reflect upon what has happened to them, make them DO something about it instead of going with the flow and seeing what happens while magically being the only one not getting killed...Like ????. It's a tired trope, we've all read it a million times over, and the only time it was acceptable was when J.K. Rowling actually did it properly first.
Love Triangles - ESPECIALLY: "I love you but I also love your brother"
Okay this was maybe an appealing trope like 356 years ago...but it's literally done now. It's been done thousands of times. It's tired. It's on the death bed. I don't understand why you people keep putting it on life support...It's literally as appealing now as punching yourself in the face.
Especially the new 'twist' on it that I've seen popping up in recent years, the 'I love you, but oh your brother who is my best friend is kinda cute too" trope? Yeah that needs to go. It doesn't make love triangles better. It makes it worse and even more disgusting. Not only are you emotionally cheating on your partner then, but you're also literally putting a rift in a family. Like get the hell out, I've no pity for your stupid ass who just 'can't chose'...
I fullheartedly give permission and encouragement for someone to write a book where the two siblings realize the abusive asshole that the main character is being, and they kick them to the curb with their super-sibling love....Honestly, you can title it "The Last Breath of Love Triangles"...I'll give you an award.
The Whiny, Pessimistic Character With No Personality
I don't know about anyone else, but when I'm fifty pages into the book and the only thing I'm getting from a character is annoying ass whining about 'how horrible' their life is, and how 'everything's going to shit'...like first of all, do I care? And second of all, what's the point of all your whining?
A character is not made more interesting or mysterious when they're being pessimistic assholes, trying to ruin everyone's day with their annoying sulking and self-pity. Honestly...get your shit together and go on an adventure that is actually worth the pages of a printed book.
Such characters tend to be those that literally have no personality. They're only personality is whining and listing all the things that are wrong with their lives. Their whole existence is just misery. That's it. That's the whole book.
Undeveloped Flaws/Disabilities for the Sake of 'Diversity'
As annoying as a bleak character is, a 'flawed' character who is only 'flawed' for the sake of not being bleak, gets under my skin ten times more. You can tell, when you read some YA books, that the 'curvy' or the 'limping' girl is only so to give her a certain edge. Ughhh.
It's so transparent that the author has done this for that reason when such fact is stated about the character and then nothing is ever brought up about it again. The character goes about behaving like the 'bleak' character, except whenever it's convenient, their 'flaw' is brought up.
Don't even get me started on stuff like throwing in a different race sidekick, giving them zero plot points and zero personality, and calling it a 'diverse' book...You can politely fuck off with your so called 'diversity'.
.....
So, that concludes the five things in YA that literally get my blood boiling and my sanity edging towards the cliff's edge with every word of this nonsense. Hope you've enjoyed my angry babbling, hehe.
Let me know in the comments below which one gets under your skin the most, and tell me what YA tropes you're super tired of seeing. All comments are so, so appreciated!
All the love,
Samanta.
12 comments
Sam I totally understand you on the bad boy trope! *cough* ACOTAR series *cough* it's honestly disturbing to me and I never find those males attractive. I also hate the different race sidekick for "diversity." It almost seems as if a non-white girl can't achieve anything while her white friend gets all the glory.
ReplyDeleteYes!! I totally agree... Although I enjoy the overall aspect of ACOTAR, I do have quite a few *side-eyes* moments with most of the male characters...Although I've heard her other series is much worse in that aspect so I'm not sure if I want to go near that.
DeleteThe white supremacy in books is the thing that I don't want to see ever ever ever again. It's disgusting honestly.
Thank you so much for your comment! -Sam. x
Lol! A lot of these bug me as well, especially the love triangles involving siblings in love with the same person. Great post, Sam. :)
ReplyDeleteYes oh my God...I cried and cringed my way through a series involving this love triangle, purely because everyone else seemed to have loved it....but oh God never again. It's so cringey and disgusting, I dint get why anyone as an author would be compelled to write that haha.
DeleteThank you so much for your comment! -Sam .x
I COMPLETELY agree with everything you've put. I mean, the 'Chosen One' who 'didn't ask for it' is the most common and that's SUPER annoying! Like, I'd LOVE to be the 'Chosen One' and save the freakin' world, and yet, these people who want boring-ass lives are like WHY ME, WHY AM I SO SPECIAL, shut ya pie hole. I'll do it and be badass 8)
ReplyDeleteHahah, Harry is the Chosen One hipster who started the trend, and he is the best at it.
Love triangles - YES. These need to stop. I don't know anyone who likes these or has ever HAD this issue. "Woe is me, two men love me" shh no. I'd like ONE person to like me, but TWO? Lucky bitch! XD I've not seen the 'brother' storyline and I hope I don't, it sounds awful.
Those two annoy me the most but I love this whole list. Why authors need to put someone so whiny (which is what I'm doing right now, but I'm not in a book :P ) is irritating and just makes you wish they'd at least crack a smile once in a while. Nobody likes a whiner. I'd understand if someone had reasons to dislike something but to be so negative about literally everything is a huge headache. It gets very repetitive.
I've got my rant out the way with :D let's hope for more diverse books in more than 1 way. Different love stories, unique protagonists and side characters, fresh stories and villains that are fleshed out and interesting.
Fantastic post!
- Natalie.
Hahaha you're so true! In a world where an "average" girl struggles to keep a single guy interested, the chances of having two chasing her skirt are zero. So not only are love triangles disgusting, but they're also very unrealistic...
DeleteYou're comment made me so happy! Thank you so much for it! -Sam .x
I completely agree about the bad boy trope! It makes me sick that abusive relationships are romanticised so much in YA, and the fact that it's 'okay' because they had a traumatic past. No. It's still abuse. And the whole diversity for diversity's sake thing, too. It's an important issue but at least make it genuine - it's not that hard.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, yes, yes!! There's honestly nothing else to say about the bad boy thing when he's not 'bad' but just simply put...he's abusive. It makes me so mad to think that young girls read that craps and think that its okay for a man to treat them like that...that it's romantic or sexy. Like no...Why do people who write stuff like that even called author's when when they promote abuse smh.
DeleteThank you so much for your comment!-Sam. X
Ugh, the no personality main character is the worst. If a book has a main character who I actually like, you can almost ensure I'll like the book but so many of them are whiny. I can't stand whiny characters. Main characters make books so they better be good.
ReplyDeleteYes exactly! I mean we invest out time reading about this character...and when the only thing you're getting from them is pessimism and whining...then what's the point, right?
DeleteThank you so much for your comment! -Sam. x
You know how much I hate the abusive asshole trope! I feel like it's in so many books nowadays (ACOTAR, DIMILY, Lux, etc.) and there's literally no reason for it? One instance where I felt it was done well was Pushing the Limits. The guy was not an abusive asshole (because that's inexcusable), but it was the typical bad boy rough around the edges, but idk it was done in a way that I actually enjoyed the trope.
ReplyDeleteAlso the love triangles, ugh. WHY DO THEY EXIST!
Great post! <3
Jen
Oh man the amount of those type of relationships in YA is actually mind-boggling, why why and why?? It's almost impossible to dodge them honestly, they're everywhere in some form of it...Ugh.
DeleteI don't even talk about love triangles anymore...it's like that one family member that no one likes but they're so present you just accept it...Or not hehe.
Thanks so much for your comment!