Top 5 YA Cliches I Hate
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- Опубліковано 30 чер 2024
- Let's chat bout cliches
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1. Main girl is the 'new girl' at school and has no friends.
2. Love at first hot guy she sees.
3. Main girl is 'not like the other girls'. She's "quirky" and "unique" because she has messy brown hair, doesn't wear makeup and lackluster fashion sense.
4. She's always awkward. Always.
5. Hot guy almost always falls in love with main girl later, she's the *only* person who 'understands' him. When they've known each other for like...a month.
6. Girl and hot guy get into fight over something dumb and turns into this big thing where they break up, when in reality if girl/guy just *explained* what happened in a normal convo, everything would be resolved in 5 minutes.
7. Doesn't matter because they get together again at the end.
8. (Until new love interest shows up in next book).
Rinoa Heartilly I'm reading this and "Sloppy firsts" comes to mind
Rinoa Heartilly Not only YA novels but also a basic description of 90% of FanFiction too. 😂
Rinoa Heartilly wow I feel like I just read the entire Twilight series again.
Yeah the whole awkward, clumsy, quirky girl and hot guy never happens irl!! I would know because I'm an awkward girl with messy brown hair, with no fashion sense and it's definitely not a good thing like it is in YA novels
Rinoa Heartilly
#3 you just described my physical characteristics 😂 besides the fact that I straighten and style my hair
I HATE the whole concept of a female main character who aggressively "isn't like the other girls". Like they try so hard to make her "unique" that they dismiss a lot of the typically feminine interests as shallow. Every woman is ALREADY unique. A female character can be strong AND have traditionally feminine interests.
Hannah Olivia I knowwwww, it kinda makes me feel bad about myself for liking make up, and sometimes I like to buy dresses and heels because I look good on them, like,bitch you can be extremely smart and look like a femme fatale at the same time.
PREACH
Hannah Olivia
Yes! this needed to be said
Isabelle lightwood
preach hannah preach
argh im sick to death of the plain girl who somehow grabs the attention of the super toned muscly beautiful mysterious hot af boy, who is randomly mean and rude to her, and then she snaps and is like "why are you so rude you dont even know me blah blah blah" and then you find out he was only mean to her to make sure she didnt fall in love with him, as he is already in love with her (?), because he is a [insert random mythical creature or powers here] and 'his world' is too dangerous for her to be a part of, but then she gets dragged into it anyway because it turns out she is the centre of some plot ruin the other-worldly beings, and you find out that she actually IS a part of that world in some capacity and she gets involved anyway but the boy is still sceptical and over protective. ALSO they dont have sex until/after the third book (always happens)
xxMaskedMannequinxx this is so specific but applies to like fifty books I'm laughin
LMFAO! It is amazing how on point this is about so many books XD I'm on the verge of tears.
oh my god this is so accurate lmao
xxMaskedMannequinxx this is basically LUX lol
EVERY SINGLE TIME
I really hate it when the main character of a YA book is mentally ill and then they find a love interest and suddenly their mental illness is cured. I get that it's meant to be inspiring and hopeful but it's just not an accurate representation of how mental illness works at all.
bmthhannah PREACH
bmthhannah something like the guy has depression and then this girl comes into his life and makes him happy and then cures his depression?
Personally, I'd find it a lot more compelling if the main character struggled with their mental illness throughout the entire book, but the love interest doesn't leave their side because of it. Rather the love interest wants to support them (the MC) and help them through their lowest points. To me, that seems like a more accurate representation of both mental illness and love.
You should read Am I Normal Yet? It completely avoids that trope.
what is YA
I hate hate hate the YA trope where girls are convinced their whole life has to revolve around a teenage boy. Twilight IMO is one of the worst examples for young girls to read. For instance, in New Moon, sure, it sucked that Edward broke up with her, but it seemed as if she had nothing to live for without him. And we're supposed to think that's healthy??!
Sorry for the rant, I just have a lot of feelings about this trope lol
Meredith Glenn yes i agree
It is okay because I think a lot of people agree with you. Reading it as a teenager it did seem normal, but now as adults we know better.
Meredith Glenn EXACTLY THANK YOU
Yaas bella is the worst female character to look up to
I hate under-developed villains. Bad guys with no clear motivation or unique characteristic other than they are bad. I love seeing human villains. Villains who are off the charts crazy. Or villains who's have depth. I also hate YA endings. They're generally so weird...idk how to explain it.
sebastian oh god. This is Sebastian.
Same.
the end is weird cuz you spend 3 books, around 900 pages developing a story and then in one 15 pages chapter they just end. They could have used another 10 or 20 pages to actually explain what happend to all the characters and the world that they live in.
I mean I don't read a 6 book series to end right after the big confrontation scene, just write a few lines and let is really know what happened!!
oh, gods, when villains want to destroy/rule the world - what fooor, dear!? =P
Villains who feel like people in bad situations are usually the best. They don't have to start off like a typical person if the author doesn't want to, but if the villain doesn't have a sense of personhood, then the villain just...doesn't work. Ya know what I'm saying?
*lets out breath they didn't know they were holding*
Johana Gonzalez I hate this sentence so much!
Johana Gonzalez exactly!!!!!! It annoys me soooo much
*I hate this sentence with passion* 😂💔
Johana Gonzalez my most hated sentence in books in general "she laughed despite of herself." Or anything that a character does 'despite of her/himself'.
I can't stand it when the character is like "I feel like something bad is gonna happen, I just don't know why." I just stop reading the book after I see this because guaranteed this sentence is gonna be there 27 more times and I just can't handle it
Honestly I completely agree with the love triangle thing. It's fine to fall in love with more than one person but choose one or none! Don't lead these people on and hurt them because you don't want to lose them!
And abusive relationships should never be romanticised! Also, you can't change or fix someone! That's not how people work!
In fact I agree with all of these! Especially the vague characters! One of the things I loved about Harry Potter (although not really YA) was that the characters were actually described! Harry was skinny with messy hair and knobbly knees and Ron had a long thin nose and was very tall. If you don't describe the character to me, I will be picturing this vague ghost who doesn't really have any features FOR THE WHOLE BOOK! At least give me something! Hair texture and nose shape and lip size and the condition of someone's teeth and eyebrows are so essential for me to get a good picture of a character and if you don't even give me one of these features, I'm going to have to make something up, which is not the point of a book! The point of a book is that the author has made the characters and story so I can read it! It's not my job to create the characters!
Rainbow Rowell is quite good with characters. For example, I can clearly picture Levi from fan girl and the ginger girl from the other book :)
ResemeeC true
EXACTLY!
Exactly!!
The easy going parents annoy me so much! Especially since some of these characters are 16! I know when I was 16 my parents would always know where or what I was up to!
I get it, but my parents literally did not care what I was doing or what I was up to even though they still cared about me. I could stay out until 3 AM and it wouldn't matter. I agree, it doesn't have to happen in every story but it still does happen within some families.
Charlie Book Fanatic Yes exactly, I know it happens in some families but it's just the fact that it is almost the case in a lot of YA books
Irish Reader I hate that too! Rebel Belle is a prime example-if you've read that you know what I mean, especially the second one there is a part where our main character goes out and STAYS OUT ALL NIGHT AND HER PARENTS DONT EVEN CALL HER. Like...you're telling me you were gone all night and your mum and dad are like 'hey, she's fine.' LIES.
Irish Reader same!!!!!
I have a problem the other way :D My parents were easy going and I had my freedom and it was the same with all my friends. When I was like 16 I was allowed to stay out as long as I wanted. I obviously told my parents where I was going but that was enough. In all the ya books they have always problems with theire parents and have to tell them everything and get grounded all the time. Maybe it's something american but it annoys me so much. They are page and pages about this problematic and it boreds me to death. Funny how diffrent it is :D (sorry for Bad english)
Every kissing scene in YA is the saaaame, they all feel electricity running through them and suddenly their life makes sense *rolls eyes* I just skip them
Robin dont forget the butterfly in their stomach
Romance is my least favorite part of anything, cause it’s to, kissy? I don’t know, I just find it weird. Then again that’s coming from a boy who’s never had a girlfriend, and can’t ask the girl o like out even tho I straight up told her sooooo... yeah
farbror mysko young adult
"We kissed, our lips pressing against each other awkwardly as neither of us knew what we were doing. I was happy that we kissed, but a little grossed out at how his breath smelled of nachos. "
@@anothercub6958 YESS PLEASE
i hate how the girl almost always hates being girly and wearing makeup cuz you're instantly shallow if you were girly ,and i also get very annoyed when the writer doesn't mention mundane stuff like eating ,going to the bathroom ,studying isn't your character human ?!
i hate unbeatable heroes and strong/smart characters that never train/study , villains who are actually good guys but are misunderstood
I agree so much with the girly thing! Like in The Heroes of Olympus, Piper is the only child of Aphrodite that doesn't like putting an effort into her appearance and somehow she's special and better for it?? I would've preferred it if they had her be a girl who enjoys dolling up and at the same time become a strong and caring character.
Motshy M i hate the first one too. the guy is always attracted her because she's different from other girls cause she doesn't care about her appearance. and that makes her special. just because you like wearing make up it doesn't make you shallow
Mostly I'm assuming they don't write about the going to the bathroom, and etc. parts because it's kinda meaningless to the plot of the book, and I guess they'd think it's boring to read about it.
someone taking a shit would not be relevant in book about hunting vampires.
I like when a character who people thought of as a "villain" turns out to be good (as long as it's done well). Like Snape from Harry Potter! ;)
I got really distracted by the floating books
I keep trying to think about how to make those shelves happen without messing with the books in any way.
I have floating books in my room 😊
@@monkeyming5545 so you live in Hogwarts?
Every time I come across the line "I released the breath I didn't know I was holding" I want to chuck the book across the room. Why are all of these YA characters unaware of their breathing patterns and can these authors just stop already.
If it's a high-tension moment (and I mean a REAL one, like if one character decides to kill another character out of mercy but is too mortified to breathe during the act), then I can forgive it. If it's just a run-of-the-mill social interaction that just happens to have a few small stakes at risk, then it's truly eye-roll inducing.
I actually do forget to breathe sometimes - and naturally, you only realise that afterwards unless you are holding your breath on purpose... hence, this line does make sense to me and I find it quite on pointe in most situations where it's used...
I’m okay with that line if it’s in a scene where the main character does or witnesses something horrific/disturbing like murder. But in most other situations, it’s annoying.
I just think that line is hilarious lol
It’s always like ‘his hand brush against hers and suddenly she/he/they forgot how to breath.” Or like ‘once his gaze traveled somewhere else she/he/they released a breath they didn’t know they were holding.”
You've practically written a skeleton plot for a YA novel just with these cliches 😂
I hate romances that happen super fast with no realistic build-up or reason. Like "oh you're attractive and I'm attractive lets make out". I like to get to know the characters deeply for who they are outside of their romance before we introduce the heat. Let me care about them as people first!
eleiraeel Same. I recently read a story where this girl finds out that she's a fairy but has no issue with it at all. She even got attacked by a demon. She's basically just like "Okay, cool." She also meets this guy and on the first full day of them knowing each other he courts her, and the family is already starting to ship them, and they almost kiss in like the second chapter or something like that. It was just going way too fast.
Rachel E. Aprilynne Pike?? Is that how you spell her name?
eleiraeel honestly reminds me of *the fault in our stars* in the way hazel and gus literally became an item in like the 4th chapter lol. There wasn’t even much relationship development until you basically had to conclude their status. I loved the book overall, I just feel like the 2 were a bit rushed.
i hate the "missing parent" they got divorced or one died but if you read a book its pretty rare that the parents are both there. Not that divorce or death isn't something that happens on real live but i feel like now in books we see it too much
I don't hate that it's common to have a dead/divorced parent, I do hate that the parent who is actually there doesn't seem to exist within the book. I mean, most of this characters are like 16, aren't their parents still looking out for them, even if they are widowed or divorced? It reaaally bgs me
I feel like Katniss' mom fits that trope but at the same time she doesn't. Like her mom isn't in very much of the story but when she is she's with katniss and you know she cares about her daughters and that she worries about them but until Catching Fire Katniss had been shutting her out. Like Katniss and her mom do try to mend their relationship and it does work to some degree but it makes sense. And from the first real scene with the 3 of them as a family saying goodbye to Katniss you know that her mother loves her daughters and from what you hear about when her father was alive they were a very complete family. And of course there's Katniss' undeniable love for her sister. Family is always a huge theme of the hunger games trilogy. so while at first glance her mother seems to fit the trope when you look deeper you see how wrong that is and how she doesn't fit that trope at all
right
i feel like authors tend to set the parents to a side or just kill them off so that when crazy stuff happens to underage characters these characters will have to deal w them themselves instead of having a responsible adult telling them that the decisions that they're making are terrible/potentially life threatening.
adults tend to be portrayed as hindrance to children characters' process of self-discovery and adult/children relationships are generally portrayed as unhealthy at best and at worst abusive but imo it's just lazy story telling and if authors want to denormalise this in real life they really have to start writing good parents into their stories.
themissinglambsauce couldn't agree with you more. Whenever I think of the stories I'd like to put in a book I always think of legitimate and diverse reasons why the parents couldn't get involved in the main storyline
Yeah the "bad-boy" trope is annoying... this tough guy, with dark past, "don't fall for me, I can't love you back cuz my soul is scarred", and he pushes our main female protagonist away, then he flirts with her and makes out with her, and then he pushes her away again... I mean... I just want a nice, smart or geeky guy, who has a good sense of humor or maybe is even quiet... yeah, I'd love to see that in ya fantasy
Peeta Melark?
Harry Potter
The character you're looking for is Simon Lewis.
David Stark from the Rebelle Belle series
Wendy Kim lmao Will from The Infernal Devices
The training trope annoys me so much! Especially when like the most highly trained person in that world is helping the new character and then the new character becomes the absolute best in like two months. Hard to believe.
OH MY GOD YES!
Happens in anime as well
2 months ?! Some of them spends hours or even minutes and then go to beat the villain
"I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding".... uggghhhhhh!
Abby Beck exactly like please tell me how tf you didn’t know you weren’t breathing
YA authors sometimes can't tell the difference between bad boys and abusers. It's sad, but very very true 😒
For real. Love is kind, gentle, patience, respectful, safe, and sometimes funny. You can't love a broken person who acts like a monster just cause. To make matters worse, some of these books were turn into moves.
I agree with all your choices hahaha I, personally hate the 'ugly-beauty' cliche, you know, that girl that says she's the ugliest person in the world omg, but then all men around the world think she's so gorgeous and goodness and I'm like: ok???
Arabesqueando yeeeesss absolutly hate it! Like why is there not a beautiful, funny or badass (just examples)character out there that knows that they are bad ass, funny or beautiful? I think it would be enpowering for girls to read about a girl that actually likes/accepts herself and is confident! This would show that you dont need other people to accept and like yourself, just yourself! And i mean this also can be a journey in the book for the character!
Oh man there are so many diverese and good ideas for female protagonists out there but the majority is choosing these lame ass "i'm not pretty why you say i'm beautiful?" Characters out there😂 i think they do this so that every insecure girl can relate to the protagonist but nobody is thinking of actually inspiring
A person who doesn't love themselves doesn't attract love towards them. Simple psychology dudes.
Yeah really rEaliStic
@@hotkebab3317 well then you'll love Celaena from Throne of Glass bacause she is super confident and knows she's beautiful and badass
I honestly hate heroines that are advertised as 'strong female characters' in YA novels because none of them are actually strong, if you know what I mean. Many of them are just like these flat characters who have been affected by some great calamity and don't want to fall in love for some weird reason before totally going for a guy (or two) That's literally all they have going for them, and they're somehow still called strong because of their hardened emotional state. It's like the authors have no idea what inner strength actually looks like...
YES, YOU NAILED IT WITH THE FIRST ONE, IT'S SO ANNOYING. And hey, consider this: if you can't pick between 2 people? Then you don't really love them, and maybe you need to be single for awhile! Drives me cuckoo bananas crazy too.
I commented too soon. All of the things that you're saying are so true. We need our YA novelists to step up and correct these!
AY-MEN! It is one of the reasons why I couldn't relate/like Katniss in The Hunger Games.
oh boy Katniss did my head in. I feel like she only chose Peta because of the whole Gale blowing up her sister.
Lane H. Um. Love triangles are shit, but like... being romantically attracted to more than one person doesn't mean you don't love them? Monogamy is not a natural ideal that works for everyone. The important thing with relationships is communication and trust, not exclusivity. Love triangles are fucked up because the characters aren't honest with eachother, not because they involve one person having two relationships. You don't have to choose, you just have to be honest with your partners and talk about your feelings like a goddamn adult.
I completely agree. But I don't think that's ever the construct that's being portrayed in these YA novels -- it's just indecisive or naive protagonists who haven't really thought it through. There should probably be more polyamorous relationships represented though, I think that would be awesome!
I don't know if it's a trope but I hate the normal person who is always involved in the main battle. Like they don't have powers or they don't know how to fight but insist on being there for absolutely no reason apart from being a distraction and no one tells them otherwise. It's in so many books like twilight, the mortal instruments etc and it really annoys me even though I love those books. It's similar to the trope you said about the person learning to fight in 2 weeks
Jazzmin C. YES omg I hate when that happens! Like, everyone that knows more about how dangerous it is or what's going on tell them to keep the fuck out of it, but they're still like 'nope, I want to help so I will be super unreasonably stubborn and be there anyway'. And then, of course, everyone has to protect them because they're usually basically helpless in comparison. That's never their own fault, but just, ugh.
Saphitri yes!! And when they join the fight, they miraculously manage to end it or become the main saviour of the day! It just frustrates me so much!
Jazzmin C. Ughhh yesss I know!
Okay but non-benders are awesome too.
I wish I could like your comment multiple times, because it annoys me so much I have to take a second to calm down when a character does that. (and that happens a lot!). :)
I hate the instalove cliche or the "I'd do anything for you boy/girl I just met". They drive me insane. I like novels that build up relationships slowly and the characters don't totally depend on the person they're with. I'm also really happy I watched this video now because it's going to help me with Nanowrimo.
I feel like a lot of this is in the shadow hunter series.....
Rebecca Russell amen
Leilah Debelle
- the stupid love triangle: Jem, Tessa, Will
- the brooding bad boy with a tragic back story who treats the girl like shit and then turns out to be super nice: Will Herondale
- the protagonist who's world gets turned upside down but accepts supernatural things right away: Clary at the beginning of TMI
I could go on but I have work to do ...
books by leynes The love triangle between Will, Tessa and Jem was not your typical love triangle though..And also Will had his reasons to treat Tessa the way he did, he didn't want to treat her bad at all, he just wanted to protect Tessa and that was by not letting her in basically. Though Clary accepting the shadowhunter world so quickly really was not so realistic
I'm so done with the YA cliche: love triangles but I have to say Jem Will and Tessa love triangle is one of a kind that you will love. Their love triangle/or like trio friendship with each other made the Infernal Devices Trilogy a great one. I really hate the The Mortal InstrumentsI but I absolutely love The Infernal Devices
+FAR Red18 Will had his reasons why he treated Tessa the way he did in order to protect her. You must know the reason behind this if you've read the Infernal Devices Trilogy.
Her: Bad boy character
me: *cough* wattpad stories *cough*
edit: whoa... i know it's late but i've never get so much likes before... thanks btw
wattpad is trash anymore. The only site where I have found decent writing is AO3 and that's not even that great (not to mention it's an only fanfic based site). But wattpad is terrible. The writers are extremely young and very inexperienced and instead of wanting to learn and grow in their writing, they post stupid "xReader" stories that have no decent writing but are popularize by the fact fangirls want to insert themselves into their favorite fandom. And fan fiction is bad, but the original stories are terrible. Wattpad has became terrible.
I like Celestial Knight on Wattpad. The original stories can be pretty good. Fan fiction is really hit or miss. Mostly miss.
Yohane_666 Daughter of Satan
wattpad stories used to be really good when it wasn't so centered around fanfiction. Now it's full of little girls with awful grammar writing terribly cliche fanfics.
Crystal Rose The only reason I still have wattpad is for Celestial Knight lol
Saadia Potato I completely understand what you mean, but I just have to defend wattpad, AO3 and fanfiction.net here for a second I think they're all amazing platforms for young people to begin writing and 'publish' it, it brings such satisfaction, a feeling of accomplishment and pride when someone reads it, shows interest and enjoys it. Even if it isn't the best story out there and doesn't have amazing characters or plot, at least they're following their passion with very little consequence. Practice makes perfect, and I think, even though some stories are very poorly written, that it's nice to encourage young people to follow their passions and dreams, they show such determination and dedication to complete their stories and that deserves some credit. If it brings joy to one person that is a very special thing! I do know what you mean and don't want to cause an argument, I just hope you see that they can be a very beneficial websites/apps for people to explore themselves, learn, read, write and grow
Lack of Black/Asian/Minority Ethnic Group protagonists. When there's a cast of 3-6 main characters and not one of them are Black/Asian/Minority Ethnic Group, it's a little irritating. I'd like to see a main character who looks like me.
SpottyDog SevenOneFour
the Lunar Chronicles had minorities in it. n it's a good series
Thank you for the recommendation. I'll check it out!
You should read Iron Cast, diverse characters that are actually fleshed out and not just there.
The Asleep series by Wendy Raven McNair is very good. Protagonist is a black teenage girl with a big chop. black love interest. and it's sci-fi. I cried when I read it because it's the first book I've read where the character is so relatable. They sing Alicia Keys!!
gladys bahamonde I'll check these out as well. Thank you!
Watching this actually really helped me fix some pretty cliche things within my Nano Novel so thank you so much for making this video!
Good for you on tackling Nanowrimo! :D
ikr! it's super helpful!
Under the Book Cover OMG! Me too!!
ikr same for me haha
A character that is vaguely described so that everyone sees themselves in them. So basically every One Direction song.. haha
Villains with a sob story...
Emma B. love your profile pic💕👌
Tamar Zakay :)
awhh i like villains with a sob story though :P They provide more context to the villain and result in more interesting villains
Not YA but, I think Daredevil had one of the best portrayals of a villain that I've seen in quite a while. They did have some scenes about his romance with one of the characters but, I think the best scene about him was when they revealed his childhood trauma or "sob story", as some would say.
Sob stories need to be hinted at and not suddenly revealed to the reader in one giant exposition through flashback. For example, the audience was numerously shown Fisk's morning routine. Some of the scenes seemed normal. While other's seemed peculiar, even disturbing. All of these hinting at his tragic past that still seems to plague him and shaped who is as a person. When his past is revealed, the viewer finally understands the motivation behind Fisk's actions, amazingly to the point of sympathy for some.
Sob stories can be big failures in a lot of stories but, that doesn't mean you should avoid writing them. You just need to be a skilled writer; foreshadowing, revealing small morsels of info about the villian, pacing, detailed descriptions, and fleshing them out just as much as your main character.
If you want to keep them as a villian though(and not become a OUaT Regina/ redemption character) then, you need to keep some of that uncertainty with the audience. You need to keep him at odds with the protagonist. Fisk may be a good person inside and might have lost his way at some point but, that doesn't excuse his actions in any way. Just because we understand the reason and sympathize, it doesn't mean we condone his actions and forgive him. He's still causing harm.
TLDR; A great sob story can only be written by a great writer. Good example; Wilson Fisk from Daredevil (not YA but whatevs).
SpookyScary Santa Rory!! I feel the same
The way romance is portrayed in general. I don't like that.
now I have to say that when I was about 14 I skipped ya altogether and directly started reading adult books because ya didn't appeal to me (and still it is only a select few books in that category that I like and/or feel appealed to read.
I am still not sure if I voluntarily read anything Middle Grade or Young Adult, apart from the Harry Potter series, once I hit my teens. I kind of found Irvine Welsh and memoirs about musicians and ran flailing in that direction. I've only now started reading YA. Most of this genre I despise. Some books are really really good and have become favourites.
All of my favorite books are the ones who either have very little romance, or none at all. It's difficult to find a book where the romance isn't the basic plot, but it's so satisfying when you do.
RabbitLovesYou try adult ;)
I find a lot of those in the adult genre.
The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs is amazing.
or the boy who drew monsters by Keith Donohue (I have seen romance as the reason for the storystart in only one of his books, but the plots revolve around other kinds of relationships.
+RabbitLovesYou Same as me too! YA and the romance genre doesn't appeal to me at all.
Any misunderstanding or such that the vast majority of people would have cleared up by a simple five minute conversation, but takes half a book before a character realizes they leapt to the wrong assumption.
Love triangles are so frustrating.
number three!!! I don't understand how people are always like "Oh vampires are real? totes new it." or "Oh, I'm the only hope in saving a magical world I've just found out about? great! that's totally a normal thing."
pickleheartsbooks holy hell are you talking abt harry potter
from a logical stance the complaint makes sense but I think everyone would find this tiresome if characters had realistic reactions. like you are reading 3 similar books and you have characters using up pages going "this can't be happening" "you are pranking me right, that was CGI or something" even with things like vampires, unless there is some original spin, its a pain to have the whole thing re explained for the 100th time. especially if the character is bit dim and keeps asking questions to which they were already give answers to
That's probably me tho, I'm down to believe anything. So whenever a character is really accepting I don't see it as weird 😂
the I didn't realise I was holding my breath line is sooooooo annoying. the dark moody mysterious bad boy is sooooo getting on my nerves. I actually don't mind love triangles but if there are more than two love interests I can get pretty annoyed. Oh I also hate the trope where the girl falls in love with this popular or mysterious boy and she wants him to be her boyfriend and they end up together. Oh and characters that are like i"m not beautiful and I'm sooo clumsy well they are the opposite. and the lack of hobbies is getting on my nerves
I took a YA literature class last semester and one of the 'keys' for a book to be YA that my teacher kept shoving at us was that there had to be either a struggle between the parents and main character or the parents had to be absent. I tried to fight him on this many times naming numerous books that this doesn't happen in that are amazing but he just wasn't having it. Let's just say I probably have more experience with the genre then he did 😂
Myranda Barton your teachers point is still valid. YA book are meant for teen audiences, they're precisely in that age where they start detaching from their parents, developing their own persona or even living independently.
That's why YA has so many families either absent or in conflict with the main character.
DarqueChocoholic I wasn't saying that it isn't prominent for there to be a family struggle in the YA genre, I'm talking about books where that's not the case. What he was talking about wasn't really a point he was making. He was saying it as fact, that there HAD to be one for that book to be considered YA which I think is an outdated "rule" since there are plenty of YA books with a healthy family dynamic.
Myranda Barton well, you know how rules in art work, usually there are as many exceptions as cases fitting the rule 😆
The annoying thing about the love triangle is how unconvincing it usually is- as in it's always obvious which one the heroine is going to choose, there's always one which most fans prefer. So the whole thing is just futile and time wasting. The Hunger Games is GOOD YA, it avoids nearly all of these tropes.
I'm quite proud of the fact that my characters get really easily confused when they get given new information on what's happening to them that's going to change their lives to at least some degree
The lack of political ideas in dystopia. It goes hand in hand with the character being plain so everyone can relate, seems like none of these character ever has an idea of how the world should run despite often being unsatisfied with how it works now. It doesn't go much deeper than: it's unfair we need to fight for freedom... please be more specific. show the limits of good intentions, the variety of opinions between poeple on the same side. Go beyond the obvious "totalitarian regimes are bad". I know it's complex, but poeple crave complexity, they crave an occasion to prove they are not stupid and can complehend more than one aspect of a situation.
I am currently writing a book that isn't dystopian, it's fantasy. However, I fully wanted to explore the true complexity of revolution, history, and politics. All books need conflict. What I really don't get about a lot of books is that they take it as the only way to have conflict is have a villain. That's not true. Conflicting ideas has always been the major rise to evil in history. The American Civil War; the Crusades; the French Revolution; the Cold War. Heck, right now, with the conflicting interests in the Middle East is causing masses of trouble. Having conflict doesn't just mean having an evil overlord and a hero that defeats him. That's simple and easy. Sometimes, that's all we need. But especially now, when it seems that's all fantasy, science fiction, and dystopia is? Even Hitler's rise to power and WWII, which seems like the stereotypical Dark Lord plot, had building blocks and many, many variables that lead to it. The world isn't black and white, and often times we are motivated by history, things that have already happened. If we truly wanted to "write what we know", we'd write about social unrest and political issues.
Definitely agree.
Blume Shullman that's why 1984 is way better than divergenr
The borderline abusive bad boy is my least favorite trope in YA, thank god you mentioned it. It especially annoys me when, near the end of the book/series its revealed "no, something awful happened to him in the past and that's why he's rude!!" Nope. Bad things happening do not count as a pass for being abusive and emotionally distant to your significant other *cough* the infernal devices *cough cough*
Jocelyn didn't bother to check on her Clary in City of Lost Souls and thought she was sleeping in the guest bedroom the whole time! Lets also not forget how Clary opened a portal to Idris in City of Glass without properly knowing how to do so just so she could be with "❤️Jace❤️" UGH!
James Lawner she didnt open the portel to be with jace it was so she could go to idris and meet the guy who could wake her mom
When my mom was alive, I sneaked out of the house without my mom even knowing. The thing is, parents expect you to be in the bedroom without having to check on you all the time. But who knows the real reason. Besides, if Jocelyn were to check, we wouldn't have gotten the rest of the book. You can't just throw in stuff all the time without causing a conflict that could just be pointless and unnecessary.
James Lawner the book was told from Clary,s pov so we don't know if she checked on Clary or not
I honestly related so hard to all of these, especially the family one. One cliche that I really hate is the whole "epiphany moment" where a character realizes that they "aren't living life to the fullest" and need to "embrace each day" because I feel like that happens way too much. Also when a protagonist is captivated by a "romantic" interest who turns out to be a horrible person and they realize that the person "right in front of them all along" is the one for them.
The "I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding"
one cliche I dislike is the epilogue where you see the main character married to their teen love interest and living happily ever after. I mean , it doesn't make sense, not all people end up married to their high school sweetheart.
That's more in shoujo manga than YA.
My worst favorite trope: The Chosen One.
I find it so sad that it has to be said that your partner should be nice to you, but it so does.
I'm surprised that insta love wasn't mentioned.
I hate how there are so many female mains that have to be short and petite with uncommon hair or eyes. I want a 6' girl with brown hair and brown eyes.
I think the Grisha series has a main like you describe!
TRUE!!!!!
Huh. That's mine 😆
Rowan. He was so mean in Heir of Fire that I don't understand why people fell in love with him in that book. I MEAN, HE WAS SO MEAN!!!
One thing I'm tired of seeing in YA are these female characters that are like super bad-ass, and can fight, that are quick on their feet and smart, but that can't dance or walk in high heels or anything like that because then they suddenly get really clumsy. I mean, if you are super skilled at throwing knives or you've spent your childhood making a living as a thief, mastering the art of doing girly stuff shouldn't be a problem.
Teresebooo In the case of this book, Caelana can walk in high heels and dance and act ladylike which was how she was able to infiltrate into many places. Her dancing skills are mentioned in book 4 and her ladylike skills in book one (Lady Lillian)
Teresebooo And as for Rowan he was so mean to her because he was under a blood oath for Queen Maeve and could not do anything that was against her will. And treating Celaena nicely was definitely not her plan.
Trupthi Janet Well, even under a blood oath, there was no need for him to be mean. I doubt Maeve ordered him to do so.
But my problem, really, is the fact that so many think that kind of behavior is "sexy". Which is just crazy, I think:
As for Celaena, I was actually thinking about her when writing my comment, because I do find her to be such a wonderful character, that can both be bad-ass and girly. I love her.
Teresebooo I totally agree with you but the reason why I like Rowan is because of his character development. He could have been nicer to her but then again why would he? He didn't have to. And the he's mean so hes sexy and all is just bs.
I like Rowan, too, as a character - and later as a person. But not in Heir of Fire, really :)
I'm writing a YA book right now with no main character romance. Some of the side characters do but it's not a prominent plot point because I'm just not interested in reading or writing it (seems like I'm the only teen with that opinion for some reason?)
Nat Anglin I'm with you on that one. I'm tired of the main characters immediately having to be in a relationship just because they're the main characters.
I HATE romance in books, it seem to take over the actual plot most of the time. *Cough Sarah.J. Maas *Cough*
I am writing a YA book too. It's sort of like a dystopian- sci-fi book. I am thinking of including no romance but then I am also thinking of self-publishing it, and I don't really think that many people are going to go ahead and read it if there is no romance
I HATE ROMANCE SOOO MUCH! I FEEL SO ALONE AND THE BOOK IM WRITING HAS NO MAIN CHARACTER ROMANCE!!!
Nat Anglin no you're not the only one!! I hate shen romance is like the main storyline of a book, a little romance is ok, but I find books that focus on it pretty boring^^
I soooo agree with the underwhelming response to an entirely new world. Like what the fuck? If I were introduced to a magical world I would be looking for the cameras and someone saying "sike, you just got pranked"
this quality and lighting looks great
anyone else here who hates the suicide cliche? it seems nowadays that YA books (especially watt pad books) have to have some suicidal character or someone who kills themself.
lauren_the_otaku1 I'm not familiar with this cliche. I doubt that it really is a cliche in professionally published books, because suicide and suicidal thoughts are both very heavy and mature subjects.
I am writing an YA fantasy trilogy of my own and it makes me happy to hear that I'm not the only one hating these clichés (and I promise to avoid all lf them in my own books) :D I don't understand why authors use them so much!
Abusive 'bad boys' are the WORST. I'm looking at you, Jess from Gilmore Girls -.-
OMG, YES! I was thinking about him the whole time. I loved them together before they actually started dating. He was just so rude and abusive! I can't believe people actually ship Rory and him. I'm Logan all the way.
Rachel McCarthy Jess was annoying and not even remotely attractive.
Harry Styles fanfiction-
The only love triangle that i can handle is the one in The Infernal Devices.
Loved your video, subscribed
Daniela eXACT SAME THING
Daniela yes haha I also thought of that immediately! Love these guys!
I'm with you on the bad boy trope, like it especially annoys me when there is a bad boy but then it's like 'but he's really not tho, he's a nice person but he's just really sarcky' and I'm like...eh what?! Like you make up this character who is supposedly bad and then you turn it around and be all 'oh it's all a front he's a great guy...' Stop. And I don't like love triangles either. So annoying.
When the characters start repeating themselves throughout the entire book and I can just skip two whole chapters and not miss anything new. I kinda felt that a lot while reading the 5th Waves series :/
THE "I'M SHORT BUT FIESTY" FEMALE HEROINE THING just because i'm 5'10 and i'm like where are my tall heroines at? Literally all of the recent YA books I've read have this
First of all: Your eyeliner and lipstick look amazing!
Second: I agree on everything you said. I have some trigger words, including 'mysterious boy' and ' love of her life', that lead me to put the book down whenever I read them on the back. That's why it took me so long to read the Raven Boys.
I nearly abandoned YA books, because everything seems to be the same...
I definitely agree with what you said! I also hate it when it's clear that 2 characters have feelings for one another but then one character pushes the other one away in order to "protect" them for some sort of reason... The whole miscommunication/lack of communication FRUSTRATES ME SO MUCH.
i love how she says that the mortal instruments is a good book series, when most of these tropes apply to them, and by love i mean i find it really ironic
THIS. THIS IS THE REASON YA FRUSTRATES ME SO MUCH. Most of the times the summary interests me, the plot interests me, I like the writing, I like secondary characters, BUT I CANT KEEP MYSELF FROM SNORTING AT THE ACTUAL ACTION, I loose patience, I start to just look at the book thinking "what the fuck are you doing main character? Just WHY?" And I end up not finishing it and googling the ending. You just got yourself a new subscriber (and I may or may not have clapped when you mentioned shadowhunters, although I like the tv show's representation and handling of the character more that the books... please don't murder me)
im going to add to that "vague brunette female main character thing" like, they're always suppose to be this "strong" female character as well...which is great and all but like its always the same thing with them. the "chosen" "strong" (and usually white btw) female character with brooding handsome abusive boyfriend, like bruh...give me something else to work with
The second one is really important. I feel so sad to see that so many times a male character who we're supposed to believe is this desirable person for a relationship is nothing but a hot looking abusive douchebag. And the book is pretending like it isn't happening. We're selling this to young girls across the globe and it's supposed to be okay? It isn't. It hurts the most when I see these stories come from female authors. I just think what kind of issues with internalized misogyny and internalized patriarchy do you have, lady? Shit's *dangerous*.
I just realized now how amazing the Lunar Chronicles is. The bad boy turns out to be very sweet and gentle, despite literally being a monster, there are absolutely no actual love triangles, the people with special skills all had to work for said skills, when Cinder is thrown into her destiny she kinda freakin' hates it, etc
This actually helps me because my story that I'm writing includes a couple of these tropes. It makes me think about how I can change the cliches to make it interesting and unique to my story so it won't be awful. 😅😅
Lack of family! That's my biggest problem with YA. The teens lives with their families and yet there's basicaly no interaction with them. It's totally weird and non realistc. For exemple: I love Morgan Matson's book, but in Since You've Been Gone Emily's best friend and her family disappears and she doesn't even mention it to her parents the whole summer! If that happened to me, I would tell my parents and call the police.
I sooooo agree with you! The five clichés you described are also the ones that drive me crazy but I'm happy when I notice that finally one writer has made the effort to be more realistic about their main character's reactions, and then I love the book even more!
I think a lot of writers get “flirty teasing” confused with “we actually really hate each other and it’s toxic but we’re going to date”. I don’t mind characters who at first hate each other and turn out loving each other, but the disdain needs to be equally mutual, they need to challenge each other healthily and help the other grow, and people can dislike each other without it having to be a bullying relationship. I hate it so much when a character is verbally and sometimes physically abusive to the MC and he ends up the love interest!
AGREE AGREE AGREE! Agree with 100% of what you said it was liking you were reading my mind. Especially the lack of diversity in these characters. Also the lack of diversity in the love interests!! Like HELLO YA AUTHORS believe it or not but some white girls like black guys, some white guys like latinas, some black girls like asians like come on! Just please please PLEASE switch up the character's and their love interests because I swear if i read another ya book about a boring looking white girl falling in love with a hot white guy i am going to scream
you forgot about the "chosen one". but good lists.
I agree about the family. It's nice to read about the support families give characters. Till this day, the weasleys are family goals to me. Especially Molly. Perfect representation of crazy momma :'D
I love this video and you voiced so many of my own annoyances with YA! Regarding Bella's dad, however, I think he had pretty realistic reactions to a lot of things. He grounded Bella for running off to Italy without telling him and for riding motorcycles with Jake. He flipped out when she suggested that she would go to Seattle in Eclipse when there were a bunch of murders happening. I see him as a pretty realistic and involved dad. Besides being kind of emotionally awkward sometimes.
The infernal devices' love triangle is done so tastefully and amazingly
I feel the same way about love triangle situations. It has always come off as very selfish when the one person is stringing the other two people along while trying to figure out their feelings.
Totally agree with EVERYTHING you said! Another trope that bothers me a great deal is that of an introverted girl meeting a handsome boy and suddenly realizing that she wants more from life. It's just so trite..
the only conflicting love interest plot i'm down for is the love pentagram
#4 is definitely my major YA pet peeve. I feel like they all are the exact same characters conquering vaguely different adversaries who also seem like the same characters.
1. The bad-boy and womanizer who could have any girl he wants but decides to love the female protagonist for... what reason? Best example: Daemon and Katy from the Lux-Series. I never understood that, he was just mean to her and they have nothing in common.
2. The use of any version of the name "Damon" for the bad-boy love interest (Damon from Vampire Diaries, Daemon from the Lux series and Damen from Evermore... and there are even more). They are all so similar! I'm so annoyed by this.
3. Instalove. It happens all the time and it's just ridiculous.
4. The female "strong" protagonist in a dystopian world. Why cant it be a male for a change?
5. The love triangle that makes no sense and feels totally forced (Vampire Diaries, Lux series and don't forget house of night)
One of the cliches I hate the MOST is when someone is withholding information and it blows up into a huge argument and conspiracy/paranoia with someone close to them. This person could easily just TELL THEM what was going on but instead decides to not trust "who they trust the most" with whatever information they have. Its a horrible plot device and I'd like to see it abolished, frankly
One thing I'm starting to notice in lots of books is the "opposite of the cliche" characters. Like the author tried so hard to not have a cliche but it ends up backfiring because everyone's doing it. Like "pretty girl that is secretly hardcore and good at fighting" or "big macho man with a weakness that most people would think is stupid"
The "I'm here to add diversity" cliché. Like I am all for diversity, but if you don't know how to write a relatable, realistic POC, LGBT person, disabled person, strong female character, religion that you are not person, etc, then don't. It's honestly a lot worse to see your representation in stereotypes than to not see representation.
And the "strong female" cliché. There is a huge difference between a strong, complex female character with goals and aspirations and weaknesses and strengths and a girl who can "shoot like the boys."
As soon as she mentioned the abusive bad boys i immediately thought of hush hush lmfao
Her: they can throw knives and jump off walls
Me: cough cough Divergent cough
Just once, I would like to see a love triangle end with the heroine breaking things off with both people, having realised that the situation existing in the first place means she can't really love either of them. She realises she needs to get to know herself better before finding her soulmate, and... CUT. The end. Seriously, why does she HAVE to end the book in a relationship?
While people direct films or write books for the protagonist to feel as relatable as possible or so that you can reflect yourself upon them, I really don't think it reaches me? I still relate to all the other characters that aren't even written to be vague or boring enough for me to relate... Just make interesting characters, everyone will relate to it one way or another.
I completely agree with the love triangle thing, it bugs me so much to see it done over and over again.
I totally agree with you on the vague main character! I feel like they're trying to play it safe. I also find the books that give me the most detail in describing their personality/looks/character, even if it's not similar or relatable to me are the ones that I find most interesting.
lol the love shapes. My friend and I watch Arrow and there's so many sides to that shape we've just decided to call it a "Love Hot Mess" XDD I 100% agree with you on that though. Actually I agree on this whole video. The book series I finished a little bit ago (i say series, it was 2 books) Sisters of Blood and Spirit) the main character lives with her grandma who is constantly asking if she's alright. In the second book she even notices something happening, breaks up a fight and grounds the girls ON THE SPOT. Like this grandma is involved! That's the kind of parenting I want to see more often than not. and the family in Fangirl? much more relatable and accurate. I'm really enjoying your channel! Hope you have a good day!
so true, I would add a phrase I hate "i liked how his name rolled in my mount/tongue"
Michelle Ruiz "his lips crushed against mine"
Their tongues battled for dominance
His eyes were emerald orbs
I'm not like other girls, other girls are blond cheerleaders and therefore idiots.
In the ACOTAR series *spoilers* (I tried to make it as vague as possible but don't read on if you don't want to know certain things *not all* about it) it's sort of like a love triangle, but not really. In the first book they obviously liked love interest 1 but in book two they realized that they really weren't good together and (even before love interest 2 was going to be a love interest) they broke up with them. I thought it was really interesting and refreshing as opposed to someone who juggles two guys at once and loves them both.
Another cliche that bothers me so much is that almost all of the YA protagonists are only children! Most people have at least one sibling, often more than one, and yet you almost never see that. It's so weird!
OMG!!!!! Your freckles are EVERYTHING!!!!
I dislike that almost every romantic interest guy in a book series (especially fantasy) has a six pack.
ruth less remember there's a huge difference between looking strong and being strong
Let's take Shawn Michaels as example. One of the world's best wrestlers - now compare him to the world's best bodybuilders
ruth less yes of course. I just wanted to point out that the body Can be trained in different ways to achieve the goal. A runner needs strong legs, but not any arm muscles, a svimmer needs a sleek but strong body and a tv hunk needs whatever makes him look attractive. This is of course something hard to describe, by the author, in a novelle.
guys, I know plenty of young men who are fighters (boxer, martial arts), who are strong, who work out, etc. Almost none of them have a well defined six pack. It's all in the shoulders and arms. It just feels unrealistic in books when EVERY hot guy has a six pack. Guys can be hot in other ways too :P
it makes sense if it happens a couple of times. But to EVERY SINGLE ROMANTIC DUDE CHARACTER? That's just pandering. It doesn't make sense and guys can be attractive in ways other than a six pack. This wouldn't bother me if it didn't happen in almost every single YA book.
Thank you so much for speaking about the abundance of romanticized unhealthy to straight up emotionally abusive relationships in YA. This is becoming more and more popular and it drives me out of my mind. It is okay to have those kinds of relationships in novels, JUST STOP ROMANTICIZING THEM PLEASE.
i love watching these ya cliches videos especially during NaNoWriMo theyre the best checklist to see if im doing any of this in my writing
the ' oh no my loved one has had their mind completely erased of all memories of me' cliché in dystopian trilogies.
in some ways some authors can pull off a love triangle tastefully. I like that
Tara Lippincott yeah see did because even though Tessa had feelings for both jem and will she didn't lead them on
Ally Vandergaast BICH SPOILERS
Alyssa Arts sorry
Ally Vandergaast lol its ok