Tropes We Need to Leave Behind in 2018 (I'm begging you, please just stop).
2018 is ending, and with it, I hope a few horrible (in my opinion) tropes end with it.
1. Characters without character arcs.
Look, if your character has a sin issue such as pride, selfishness, the habit of being a grump, ect. ect. That's fine, flaws in characters are good, it's what makes them interesting and human...
HOWEVER, if there is never a point where they want to change their ways, or even where they realize they have some shortcomings, there's a problem, sis.
I'm really tired of characters never being or even having one moment of self-awareness.
Leave this in 2018!
The whole feminist "girls are just as strong and wicked cool as boys and go girl power!" YA movement was cool at first, but then we got the same female protagonist in every YA book.
EMOTIONS ARE OKAY. CRYING DOESN'T MAKE YOU WEAK. NOT ALL WOMEN (OR EVEN MEN) HAVE TO BE PHYSICALLY STRONG IN ORDER TO BE A STRONG PERSON!!
There are many different types of strengths, and I really hope 2019 will be the year of exploring emotional diversity in books.
People react and cope to things in different ways, some cry in order to process things (I do), some don't, I'm tired of cookie cutter girls, I'm tired of some people thinking that girls have to be just like boys in order to be strong.
Leave this in 2018!
3. Love triangles.
FOR THE LAST TIME, WHERE'S THE LOGIC IN THIS WHOLE MESS???
Leave it in 2018!!
I've read too many books were the main character will cheat on their significant other and then justify it.
Listen, I don't care if your current partner is a jerk, if you want to leave them, leave them. Don't lie to them and see someone behind their back, that's disgusting.
LEAVE. IT. IN. 2018!
5. Glorified abuse.
Please, no more Colleen Hoover books with abusive males and no more Fifty Shades of Grey wannabes. This isn't cute, staph.
Leave it... just please leave it.
6. Girl hate.
You know, I really thought that this whole trope would end in 2018, but no. Stop pitting girls against other girls!!
Leave it in 2018.
So, I asked some of you guys on Goodreads what other tropes y'all were tired of and a lot of you guys gave really good answers that I wish I thought of. Here are just a few:
"Can we please let authors write characters the way they see them, not the way we, the readers, feel they need to be. Being on both sides (reader and writer) you can't force something."
Yesss, although, authors should be listening to the voices of their readers, it is also ultimately their choice for what they do or don't put in the book, and trashing and hating on them for not following exactly what you think they should do isn't okay.
"ALSO GLORIOUS DEATH to love triangles, glorified abusive relationships, and bad boys falling for the good girls. (Done tactfully, these can be used for something epic. Done in the cliche manner they're usually used as, these are horrible.)"-Ivie Brooks
"I'm tired of shy nerds who are not a) not allowed to be the hero for some reason, and b) not allowed to stay shy nerds because "there's something wrong with you."'-Katie Hanna
"^definitely agree with Katie on shy nerds. And let’s not forget the “person who is strong and brave” by name only and never ever acts like it. And also the idea of the ONLY strong girls being the ones who can throw a punch. I need my soft sweet cinnamon girls. And I don’t need the boy version of the damsel in distress in either."-R.F. Gammon
"-Female characters who demonstrate how "strong", "empowered" or "sassy" they are by casually smacking men around. Sorry, she's not strong, she's a freakin' bully.
-When it comes to romances especially, can we please have some body-type variance?? I tire of "Ken and Barbie" being the standard.
-Probably gonna attract a bit of disagreement with this one, but I personally am sick of female "bad*****" who plow through multiple fights while looking like a Maybelline advertisement the entire time and never so much as crack a nail. I'm sorry, but as a published author on the subject of self-defense and violence dynamics, I find the trope ridiculous even when it IS "justified" with magic or pseudo-science or whatever. Violence is messy, and people who use it get messy. -Eric Plume (He had a lot more than this list, and I cut and censored some because I try to keep this blog as clean as possible, but you can read all of his on this thread).
- Instalove.
- "Sci-fi" dystopias that have no chance of ever becoming reality/that only serve as mindless, shallow entertainment fodder.
- Introducing a cultural-minority character only to hurt/kill them because they're of a minority. (Well, if their death progresses the plot realistically, that's different, but killing them just to be edgy is a massive no-no in my book.)
- "Sci-fi" dystopias that have no chance of ever becoming reality/that only serve as mindless, shallow entertainment fodder.
- Introducing a cultural-minority character only to hurt/kill them because they're of a minority. (Well, if their death progresses the plot realistically, that's different, but killing them just to be edgy is a massive no-no in my book.)
- The usage of deus ex machina outside of deliberately-comedic material."-K.C. Nicola
"– Tired of the awkward teen always finding love and that love “curing” them. (How about having to live without it in high school like 99% of us?)
– Hot girl being “not like other girls” when she really is and has no personality yet has all the guys falling for her.
– Characters who aren’t models never being taken seriously or finding a romance that’s not with another quirky-looking person."-Audrey
"Characters, especially teenagers always glorifying sex, language, drinking, and drugs. Also, as showing it as the norm. So, maybe I led a sheltered life, but this isn't the norm for me and it isn't the norm for my friends, many of whom go to public school."-Nicki Chapelway
"Probably more of a niche thing but authors that retell a story to try and make it more 'diverse' and then completely throw away what already made it diverse in the first-place. Also, fewer heroines that scorn femininity and act really tomboyish".-Elizabeth
"The same old teenagers who are always partying and drinking and if they don't do those things, they're somehow 'too pure'. Like, stop that nonsense. I'm just not into party scenes because these parties seem so boring. I'd like more characters like Lara jean (not the same but still teens who are into baking and stuff). I'd like to read about a black girl like Lara jean because usually black girls are written as super loud and sassy. Just more black introverted characters because there are literally no black characters I can relate to on personality alone? And that makes me kinda sad.
I'd like to see confident introverts. I'm not one but I know we're not all shy. Also confident quiet people?
We don't really see teens with a more conservative upbringing except for the ones who eventually turn rebellious *rolls eyes* And conservative doesn't automatically mean judgemental."-Adesuwa Grace
"The “I’ll kiss ____ and everything will be fine” trope. All this is doing is shutting up one of the characters (and usually from saying something important)"-Lauren
"The conflicting "I'm so clumsy but I can fight like a ninja" or "I'm so plain looking but I am also drop dead GORGEOUS" thing that keeps happening to way too many MCs."-Gabi
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