Top 10 Worst Young Adult Literature Cliches

I think (most) authors should use less of these cliches.
The Top Ten
1 Love triangles

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 snogging some other person just because it's considered "interesting", and 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 why they feel. Just because you feel like 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 character's to be more interesting, write them so this sort of thing can actually happen without bending the character's personalities if you must include a love triangle. Give me a reason to give a damn or believe that this could happen. And if you can't, don't include it in your book.

2 Love at first sight

Love should never be based on first sight. If you really derive an entire "true love" from just seeing someone, IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK. Love takes time, and this is just lazy authors skipping this element of life, and I don't care what excuse you make up for it; it's still a stupid cliche.

The only time I can tolerate this is in Disney Movies.

Boring. Get to know each other a lil bit first

3 Bland and boring main characters

It's really hard to make 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 Sue's and Gary Stu's. They're just so flat and lifeless and ruin the book.

We read books for interesting characters. This instantly deprives us of that.

4 Crazy adults that put teenagers in danger

Examples: In ''The Maze Runner'', adults erase teenager's memory and drop them in a dangerous maze only to be observe them. In ''The Hunger Games'', adults take pleasure of seeing teens killing each others. In ''Matched'', people that aren't citizens (aberration or anomaly) are working in the Disposal Department where there are poisons and the life expectancy is low and 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. Kinda plot devicey.

5 The love interest being a jerk

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 asks themselves why young women still end in toxic relationships, with these guys as models of "boyfriend to want".

6 The ''boring characters that falls in love with the hot and perfect character'' type of story
7 Youths are always in danger while adults are rarely in danger
8 The story is always in first person (narrator)

This isn't a cliche. There are four ways you can tell a story: first person (I walked down the street), first person with changing perspectives (Chapter 1 told from Bob's mind, Chapter 2 from Charlie's), second person (You walk down the street), and third (Bob walked down the street). Authors pick whichever one works best for their story.

I don't mind it, but it kind of gets boring and also repetitive in some stories.

9 Girl falls in love with bad boy

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 anyways. Most of the time this mixes with a ton of the other cliches 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 stuff in common with me, not just some ugly "bad" guy who is my exact opposite. And the "bad boy jock" is ALWAYS an ugly dorito chinned loser with ugly chicken drumstick arms.

10 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 that they have no other personality traits besides. This is just a lazy excuse for a main character.

Strong females are good as long as they have other traits and aren't flat and annoying.

I prefer strong female characters over have weak damsel characters, though.

The Contenders
11 The main character is 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

12 The main character having a bad childhood or a bad family
13 Teenage heroes

Well, it IS supposed to be relatable.

14 Learns everything about a skill in a small, days or weeks, amount of time, or has special magic skill, because -special-
15 The quirky, can't-say-no-to best friend
16 New student and hottest person in school fall in love

I have seen this same story line so many times. New girl in school falls in love with the hottest, most popular, football quarterback (its always the quarterback) who has a girlfriend he doesn't know is a mean bully. New girl manages to overthrow girlfriend and snag guy for herself by the end.

17 Protagonist (usually female) spends entire book pining over a love interest and surprise surprise, they end up together in the end

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.

18 Romance completely takes over 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 darn romance novel...*sighs*

19 Dead parents

Hi people, I know you might hate me for this, but I have to say I disagree. What if someones parents actually did die. Would you consider THEIR LIFE boring? I'm writing a young adults novel about two orphans who live with their rich foster parents. But their abusive and discriminate them. And they try to get out and live with someone else. But read the whole thing to find out! :-) I'm at 253 pages out of at least 350 that I plan to do. by the way, I'm 12 years old. If anyone has any tips please tell me! --Junior writer
#kidauthorsrule!

20 Parents are never home with their kids
21 Teenagers doing drugs
22 “I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding.”

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)

Yes, we get it, your unrealistically perfect boyfriend is utterly breathtaking. You totally haven't made that so obvious. But please stop with this line. 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!

23 Mutually handsome boys instantly fall in love with the supposedly plain female protagonist

Just no...how many Twilights can one world take? One was enough.

24 Dystopia/paranormal romance

I read dystopian novels because how dark and interesting they can get not for the romance that I never cared about.

25 New school
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