Blog: Common Book Tropes I Can’t Stand

Yesterday, I wrote a post about how modern books are becoming incredibly tropey and how annoying those tropes have become. After writing that post, I started thinking about the tropes that I hate and compiled this list. While some of these are tropes that I hate in general, I would just like to say that if the story and the characters are well written, then I don’t have much of a problem with it. It’s just when the book relies too much on the trope or the trope is particularly problematic that I have a problem. With that disclaimer out of the way, here’s my list of my top five most hated tropes.

#1: Love Triangles

I know that most people love a love triangle in a book, but as someone who found herself in one, I can assure you that in real life, they suck. I commented on the love triangle trope a bit in an earlier post on the Twilight series, but basically my main problem with them in books (especially in YA novels) is that it glorifies playing around with peoples feelings in ways that (in many cases in these books) are toxic.

While some love triangles aren’t horrible if they’re well written and the protagonist at the center of things is someone who’s actually likeable, most of the love triangles in books nowadays just suck. They are usually centered around the main character having feelings for both love interests, choosing one, but still never fully getting over the other. This leads to the main character seeming like a vapid jerk who sends mixed signals every other scene and the fact that this is often portrayed as a good trait is ridiculous, especially since it’s mostly young women reading these books.

If you are writing a love triangle, fine; it’s your book, but please do not make it some souless, dumb plotline that’s just there to create manufactured drama. An example of a good love triangle that’s more realistic is two people are fighting over the other, but one of them is the abusive villian or will become the abusive villian who objectifies the person at the center of things who has already given their heart to the person at the other corner at the triangle who is a million times better than the villian. Something along those lines would make for a better story. Another tip I have is if you are an author who’s main character is someone of the opposite sex, do your research to better understand how a person from that sex would react to finding themselves in a love triangle and make them likeable. Once you have that down, have other people proof read your book so you can have a clear view of if the character dynamics work or not. If the two people fighting over the main character have more chemistry than they do with the person they’re fighting over, you’ve done something horribly wrong.

#2: She’s Just Not Like Other Girls!

This trope can be done well if there’s an actual reason for the girl not being like other girls. If you’re character is actually drop-dead gorgeous and is bullied because she reads or does some other “quirky” thing, her claim that “I’m not like the other girls,” becomes stupid and can sound narcissistic. Other girls can read. You’re not special. Making your not-like-other-girls character’s personality circle solely around the fact that she reads, wears glasses, has sweaty palms and bites her lip a lot doesn’t make for a good relateable character. Instead, she seems more like a cringey, self-insert character from a Wattpad fanfic.

This isn’t to say that you can’t have a character who doesn’t fit conventional stereotypes. This is just me suggesting that you need to make some valid reasons for why she doesn’t fit in. Maybe she’s an orphan or has a more reclusive personality. Maybe people don’t like her because her beliefs don’t line up with their’s. Come up with something original!

#3: Shy Girl With No Personality Meets Hot Dude

I realize that this is a common fantasy, but it has been done so many times that it’s tiring. Divergent, Twilight, etc….it just needs to stop.

#4: Hot Guy Boyfriend Who’s Just There to Look Hot

I have no problem with female characters ending up with guys that are super attractive in books. My problem comes from the fact that so many of them are straight-up abusive and emotionally detached. If nothing else, most of them just seem to be there so the author could write a ton of spicy scenes and call it “love”. Why can’t we have books where the boyfriend is both attractive, caring, and actually shows the traits that a woman would realistically want in a relationship or marriage? Why can’t the guy be a provider who’s also loyal, faithful, pious, kind, loving, etc., but who still has an aggresive, dangerous side that the woman can tame and civilize? That seems like a much better romance that I’d actually want to read that also would normalize having healthy, realistic standards.

#5: Strong-Whaman

This is self explanatory. You can have strong women in your story who are warriors and fighters without making them seem like the type of person to be laughing at your expense as the school jocks give you a swirly. Please bring back warrior women who are also showcase feminine virtues.

Until next time,

M.J.