Bookish Tropes & Some Ideas for Improvement ~ Top Ten Tuesday #4

It’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday! 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish (and if you haven’t already guessed, it takes place on Tuesdays). They’ll give you a prompt (such as the Top Ten Contemporary Books You’ve Read), and then you post a list of those things with descriptions! You can use any format: vlog, bullet list, pictures… whatever you want! It’s a great way to see what other bloggers are reading and to connect with them. If you’d like to check out this week’s linkup, click here.

Today I’m being creative (oooooooh la la!) with my prompt. The exact wording of today’s prompt was: Ten Bookish Things You Want to Quit (or Stop Reading About). But instead, I’m going to give you five tropes that I’m sick of, and five improvements to these said tropes.

How’s that for a novel idea? *grins proudly*

So, let’s get into the Top Five Bookish Tropes I’m Sick Of & Top Five Ideas to Improve Them.

ANNOYING TROPES:

#1: The sassy, overly funny best friend.

This may seem like a strange one. And I admit, I love BFF’s like these EVER SO MUCH. But I feel like they are becoming the ‘truth-seeing’ and ‘bold’ pals in a cliché that is rapidly getting more popular among the YA genre. That needs to stop. Make these characters protagonists or villains, but don’t keep making them the bestie of the shy main character.

#2: Bubbly, over-visualized sex scenes

You know the kind.

His eyes were bright in the sun streaming in
through the window.

I let go of a breath that I didn’t even know I was holding. Our bodies are gliding together in a harmony that I am amazed at. I melt into his muscled torso, feeling him all over.

It is amazing. I don’t even know what’s happening, but I love it.

This has GAHT to stop! Why are you portraying things in an unrealistic way? If anything, I feel like sex scenes in YA should be more awkward and silly, because that’s what it actually is like.

(Yes, I have now touched on the subject of sex in YA. Go ahead and gasp.)

#3: Flawless characters.

There are too many characters (especially love interests, as I have noticed) that are perfect beyond belief and have no flaws at all. For example, Alex in Delirium by Lauren Oliver (which I have a review of) is an outsider from the Invalids. But he is so PERFECT at everything that he just doesn’t seem believable, which is bothering.

#4: That’s not a ‘real’ genre.

My dad talks down to me about my book choices all the time. I remember one time we were at a McDonalds and I was reading Cress by Marissa Meyer. My dad picked up the book and said something like, “What is this? They all look the same. I could explain the plot to you in a heartbeat.”

THIS ANNOYS ME SO MUCH! BUGGER BUGGER DOUBLE BUGGER. Some people don’t consider YA as a ‘real’ genre. WTF is up with that? Is romance not a real genre, because it can be erotic and it’s not ‘classic literature’? Is historical fiction not a real genre, because it can be boring and new? Why have labels and discriminations gone to books? Why can’t we all just get along with book choices? Just because my book is a retelling of Rapunzel, where she’s a hacker trapped in space while a diabolical Lunar queen tries to take over New Bejiing, doesn’t mean it’s not a ‘real’ book! In fact, I think it sounds very interesting plotwise, and if somebody told me they were reading it I’d be like, “Aaaalrighty then! Lemme add that to Goodreads, Amazon, eBay, my blog… What was the name again?”

#5: Unnecessary love triangles.

Why are love triangles the bane of YA? Why does every single writer ever decide to use one to move plot along. THIS HAS JUST GOT TO STOP. Not only do you hurt your readers deep down inside *sniff*, but you waste lots of plot and character development time. I’m looking at you, Sarah J Maas. FIX IT.

POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS

#1: More intellectually deep characters. 

We need some more main characters who are actually intelligent and think things through. This would make YA so much more enjoyable and, frankly, would benefit your brain! *takes a bow*      

#2: Darker, more twisted & cynical best friends

I, for one, would really love to see some really cynical and dark best friends. People who we can relate to more: Goths, introverts, outcasts… Right?

#3: Adult mentors (like Haymitch)

Haymitch was da BOMB in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. He was smart and funny, but since he was an alcoholic, he was bedraggled and depressed too. I just thought he was wonderful, and we need more adult mentors like him in our post-apocalyptic & dystopian genres.                                                                               

#4: Dystopians that actually reflect human behavior.

Do you guys remember that AMAZING Pixar movie called Wall-E? NO!? Well, you should go watch it. It has robots and spaceships and a cute little cockroach, and it’s very deep (of course).

An interesting thing about Wall-E is that it has all these people who are obese beyond belief, floating around on hoverchairs with their eyes glued to holographic screens. Now, this is just a KID’S movie, but obviously the theme is a bit dark. I would like to see less bombs and aliens, and more this is what could actually happen to humanity dystopians.

#5: Funnier and nicer families.

Finding Audrey is an absolutely FANTASTIC contemporary by renowned author Sophie Kinsella. Audrey, the main character, has this adorable family that has fights and is a bit dysfunctional, but in the long run they all stick together and make up. I WANT TO SEE MORE OF THIS! It made the entire book happier and nicer and it made ME feel all cozy inside.

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Well, that concludes one more Top Ten Tuesday. Please share your thoughts below ( I need to know that I’m not the only person who thinks about these things all the time). 🙂