Top 10 Worst Cliches in Young Adult Literature
I think (most) authors should use fewer of these clichés.
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Love triangle
It should be obvious why this is first on the list. Love triangles are always terrible in writing - ALWAYS! One thing that really bothers me is when the main character decides to cheat on their partner and start kissing someone else just because it's considered "interesting." Then they proceed to recognize what they did wrong, and they CONTINUE TO CHEAT. LITERALLY, WHY?
The author barely makes the love triangle believable either. Why are two people in love with the same person? Is there a reason, or is it just there for sexual tension? Are you just trying to make the story more dramatic? Or is your character just a self-insert, and this is just wish fulfillment?
Characters need to have motivations and reasons for why they do the things they do or why they feel the way they feel. Just because you think the plot calls for it or because you think it's hot doesn't mean it's a good idea for your book. Write your characters to be more interesting. If you must include a love triangle, write it so this sort of thing can actually happen without bending the characters' personalities.
Give me a reason to care or believe that this could happen. And if you can't, don't include it in your book.
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Love at first sight
Love should never be based on first sight. If you really believe in "true love" from just seeing someone, it's not going to work. Love takes time, and this is just lazy authors skipping this essential element of life. I don't care what excuse you make up for it. It's still a stupid cliché.
The only time I can tolerate this is in Disney movies.
Boring. Get to know each other a little bit first.
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Bland and boring main characters
It's really hard to create a good main character in a book - I say that from personal experience. But geez, why are 95% of book characters so bland?
Yes. I absolutely loathe Mary Sues and Gary Stus. They're just so flat and lifeless and ruin the book.
We read books for interesting characters. This instantly deprives us of that.
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Crazy adults who put teenagers in danger
Examples: In The Maze Runner, adults erase teenagers' memories and drop them in a dangerous maze only to observe them. In The Hunger Games, adults take pleasure in seeing teens kill each other. In Matched, people who aren't citizens (aberrations or anomalies) work in the Disposal Department, where there are poisons and the life expectancy is low. Strangely, most of them are TEENAGERS.
The thing about this one is that it's never really explained why the adults do this. They're just evil for no reason, only there so the teens can go against the grain. It's a plot device, and it shows.
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Love interests who are jerks
I hate this. I'm a shy 5'0" girl, and I am introverted and unpopular. People take these traits and add them to a Mary Sue who falls in love with the "hot" guy who bullies her. LAME. I would NEVER date a guy who bullies me. And I am NOT and NEVER will be attracted to "bad boys."
I also hate the stereotypical "hot" guy images. More like ugly nacho-chin losers!
Had to get this off my chest.
And people ask themselves why young women still end up in toxic relationships when these guys are held up as models of "boyfriends to want."
I hate that in anime and manga too.
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Boring characters who fall in love with hot and perfect characters
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Teenagers always being in danger while adults rarely are
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Stories always written in first person narration
I don't mind it, but it does get boring and repetitive in some stories.
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Girls falling in love with bad boys
I don't mind this on its own, but about 99 percent of the time, the "bad boy" is borderline abusive (if not actually abusive), and the girl's attraction to him is completely unjustified. But they get together anyway. Most of the time, this mixes with a ton of other clichés on this list as well, especially "love at first sight."
It CAN be done well, but it almost never is.
My personality fits the "shy girl" trope, but I loathe bad boys, and I certainly loathe anyone who bullies me. I would prefer someone who has things in common with me, not just some ugly "bad" guy who is my exact opposite. The "bad boy jock" is always an ugly, Dorito-chinned loser with ugly, chicken-drumstick arms.
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Strong female character trope
You know, there are more ways to be a strong female without actually having to be a warrior or a kickass. Also, these women are usually defined by the trope, which means they have no other personality traits. This is just a lazy excuse for a main character.
Strong female characters are good as long as they have other traits and aren't flat and annoying.
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Becoming best friends with an old rival
For some reason, the protagonist always ends up being friends with their original nemesis!
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Overuse of a specific word
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Main characters who are perfect
Because everyone in the world is perfect, so why not?
Aelin Galathynius all the way. The way she's always 20 steps ahead of literally everyone is so goddamn annoying.
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Main characters with bad childhoods or bad families
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Teenage heroes
Well, it IS supposed to be relatable.
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Learning an entire skill or mastering magic in days or weeks because they're "special"
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a really good book series, but what the hell? Percy suddenly discovers his sword skills, and he's suddenly literally the most powerful demigod.
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Quirky best friends who can't say no
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New students falling in love with the hottest person in school
I have seen this same storyline so many times. The new girl in school falls in love with the hottest, most popular football quarterback (it's always the quarterback) who has a girlfriend he doesn't realize is a mean bully. The new girl manages to overthrow the girlfriend and snag the guy for herself by the end.
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Female protagonists pining over a love interest and ending up together
Every YA romance novel ever. This is why I prefer YA fantasy - it has romance, but it isn't the entire focus. But seriously, YA authors, enough with characters being added just for romantic interests, especially when you drag it out over multiple books. I'm really sick of it.
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Romance completely overtaking the plot
The tensions are high. The protagonist seems to be struggling against the whole world itself. The reader hangs onto every word, waiting to see what will happen... And then along comes Mr. Bad-Boy-Alpha McAttitude. The entire plot of the fantasy/thriller is completely thrown to the side as we wait for three to six chapters for the protagonist to dramatically realize that this dude is her soulmate and that he's all that's important anymore.
Forget saving the world or surviving the zombie apocalypse! Love, relationship drama, and romantic confusion are the new main plot now, despite the fact that this is not a romance novel... *sighs*
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Dead parents
Why can't parents be alive for once? Oh, because they would get in the way of the hero/heroine's adventures. More authors should work around this cliché.
Not actually true of all protagonists! Jacob Portman from Miss Peregrine's still has his parents, who actually present a big problem as the story unfolds, to my delight.
Harry Potter has dead parents.
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Parents who are never home with their kids
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Teenagers doing drugs
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Handsome boys falling in love with a supposedly plain female protagonist
Just no... How many Twilight clones can one world take? One was enough.
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"I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding in."
Yes, we get it, your unrealistically perfect boyfriend is utterly breathtaking. You totally haven't made that obvious already. But please, stop with this line. It makes me cringe and wonder why I even thought this book wouldn't be like other books.
How are you not dead? And how do you not notice when you hold your breath? I always feel dizzy after so many seconds!
Is that from The Brooklyn Nine? Because I read that exact sentence earlier today while reading that book. (The book is about baseball, not romance, and that sentence is when Jimmy Flint interacts with bullies.)
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Describing eyes as "orbs"
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Female protagonists who are skinny, have brown hair and dark eyes, think they're ugly but everyone else disagrees, and have a weapon or power