Bookish Tropes I Haven’t Seen In A While
There was a time when a lot of New Adult Romance books I read or heard of were filled with clichés. I recently came across a book that brought memories of all the silly tropes that probably started out meaning well, but only managed to annoy me. It also made me realise that I must have honed my skills when it comes to avoiding such books, because it’s been a while since I read one.
I know that writing a post about tropes is cliché, but I just couldn’t resist. Besides, these types of posts seem like a rite of passage for book bloggers.
Just for kicks, I made a little story out of this. Here goes:
Oblivious Protagonist with Low Self Esteem
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Elsa. She was as beautiful as beautiful could be, with her flawless skin and flowing hair. In fact, she was so beautiful that everyone’s eyes followed her wherever she went. Birds started to sing whenever she walked into a room. Her mesmerising eyes and musical voice would have caused wars in medieval times…
You get the drift, right? Elsa is ridiculously beautiful.
But that beauty was somehow only seen by other people. It’s not like Elsa grew up without mirrors or something. In fact, she spent a lot of times in front of mirrors bemoaning her plainness. Even though everyone, including her best friends, enemies, and even the blind janitor, told her how lovely she looked, Elsa thought she was plain. Somehow, everyone in the universe must have been lying about Elsa’s beauty, because she was the only one who saw how truly ugly she was.
Cue eye roll.
Low self-esteem can’t really be avoided completely, because it’s something a lot of humans struggle with, and a cocky character would just be off-putting. But it gets annoying when the character is mind-blowingly beautiful to everyone but themselves. This would be different if they were struggling to fit in with the beauty standards of society (as is usually the case in real life). Instead, they are the beauty standard. Why are a lot of YA/NA characters (especially the female ones) so oblivious to their looks? And it’s even more annoying when some hero comes in and likes the fact that the heroine does not know that she’s beautiful. Then they somehow become the only person to convince the heroine that she might not be that ugly after all. Ugh.
Did I Mention Elsa is a Virgin?
Elsa will be turning 21 in two months, and she possesses the biggest burden known to mankind: her virginity. She has to be the oldest virgin in her school. Her best friend, Tammy, always tells her what she’s missing by not putting out. So, it’s no wonder that Tammy is Elsa’s biggest cheerleader when she goes on a cherry popping quest before her birthday.
Would you believe that my first NA book was based around this plot? And people wonder why I think the category needs a makeover. Romance is nice, but not when it reads like some virgin (or slut) shaming propaganda.
Also, what happened to good old platonic romances? And really, this just gives people the wrong impression of what goes on in university. I don’t think anyone has ever made it a point to tell me what I’m missing by not engaging in coitus. If you are mocked for your sexual habits (or lack thereof), maybe change your friends?
Love Triangles with Opposite Love Interests
Jake the jock is God’s gift to humanity, and he knows it. He’s on the school’s rugby team and has a fan club that follows him everywhere, singing his praises. According to his adoring followers, he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread; the saviour of the female gender. All the girls want him, and the boys want to be him.
On the other hand, there is Edward. He is dark where Jake is light; a broody loner who plays the guitar, writes tortured poetry and rides a motorbike. He’s a very mysterious fellow, this Edward, and his haunted eyes make the ladies want to heal him from his tortured past.
While I don’t hate love triangles, I have to admit that they have been used to death. It’s even more cliché when the love interests happen to be so different from each other. My other beef with badly written love triangles is how flaky they make the heroine seem; stringing two boys along for the whole book as if we don’t know who she’ll end up picking she doesn’t know her own mind. In fact, why does she have to choose at all? #whychoose
Unbearably Tragic Past
New born Elsa was found in a dustbin by a nurse, who handed her over to Social Services. From there, she was passed around between houses and abused in multiple ways until she was just shy of eighteen, when she managed to run away from the system and begin college on a scholarship. As a result of her horrible past, she has emotional scars (read: anxiety and PTSD and a whole host of other mental trauma).
I know very well that there are people in real life who go through situations similar to this. So, reading about characters with similar stories should be empowering to those people. However, when that kind of storyline is just added for the sake of drama and angst, the impact is cheapened. And when the author makes the mistake of showing how all the heroine needed to do was fall in love, you’ve lost me. Why? Because this automatically means that another trope is added to an already harmful one:
Love Cures All.
It took a while, but Elsa finally figured out that all she needed to do was find the man of her dreams who would save her from her terrible past. Loving Edward turned out to be the ultimate cure, because knowing his love was there made her able to weather any mental storm (something no therapy session could ever do).
And no, it doesn’t. In fact, money probably cures more (because money means you can afford medical attention).
When last did you read a book with irritating tropes? Do you deliberately avoid such books or do you think authors have magically gotten a clue?
22 Comments
Anthea
OMG those tropes really started to bug me. I got to the point where I did start actively avoiding YA and NA books because I couldn’t stand it anymore. How do these keep getting published?
Ibukun
That’s a very good question! How do these get published? How do people write these without feeling ridiculous? At this point, I’m beginning to think there’s actually a market for these sorts of books 🤷♀️
Kerys
This post is genuinely so awesome!! I haven’t seen anything like this before but it’s brilliant! The mini stories made me laugh so hard! 😂💛
Ibukun
Thank you!
Lottie @ LottieIsWriting
It is tropes like these that pushed me away from YA. I used to not mind tropes, but at this point I’ve read pretty much every combination of every trope (or so it feels, anyway) and I’m bored of them.
Ibukun
I can relate! Tropes have tempted me so many times to move on to other genres. Alas, there’s no escaping them (at least, not completely).
Tecsie
I think I’m pretty good at either ignoring or just not finding tropes annoying to begin with but some of your examples here were hilarious! Especially the virginity one :’)
Ibukun
Not finding tropes annoying is a skill I’d love to acquire 😅
Clo @ Book Dragons
Cherry popping quest *snorts* Loved the story format, I don’t mind love triangles if they’re erm done well. It’s a trope I actually don’t mind, insta love though *rolls eyes hard* no thanks, I think as readers we tend to avoid certain books we think we won’t like due to tropes etc. Also I do think writers are getting a clue about certain tropes…but erm could still use some improvement.
Ibukun
Don’t even get me started on insta love 😂
Yep. I agree with you on both points.
Nora Eliana
Omg this was perfect!!
And I agree with everything you said. The virgin one (shaming) and the tragic backstory just for drama coupled with love cures all are the worst!
And I loved your story! 😁
Oh and the “plain” Mc not knowing how stunning she is … I’m conflicted on that one. Because I find it quite annoying to read about, especially when it’s constantly mentioned! But then again, I probably could be that character 😅
But I think for that reason I’d like to see more mcs being unapologetically confident of their looks. And people not bashing them for knowing they look good (which I’ve seen way too often when books have confident female characters!)
Ibukun
Thank you! I think I’m starting to realise anyone could be that character 😄 but unapologetically confident characters would a much welcome break from that trope.
SURBHI DAS
Awesome post! Loved the story format😊😊
Ibukun
Thank you!
Kristina
omg that little story XD I love it ahaha specially snorted at “on a cherry popping quest before her birthday.”
*aherm* I do love the opposite love interest though.. although maybe not in a love triangle but like, so different from the MC and YET they get in love with each other.
Ibukun
Lol I see what you mean. Opposite love interests is cool when it’s an opposites attract situation. In fact, I don’t even mind it in love triangles, I just think it’s so cliché.
Para
Yup. Agreed with all of the above – and I don’t think I read a book with an obnoxiously tropey romantic subplot in a long time either (actually don’t think I encountered the virgin trope ever). Which is pretty good really! 😛
Ibukun
Lucky you! The virgin trope is just so yucky.
Danielle
I LOVEEE me a good trope but I have to say I can relate to the “She’s beautiful and doesn’t know it” trope the most, in my opinion. I get told that I’m pretty, beautiful, stunning, naturally beautiful, but 9 times out of 10, I think of myself as average, normal, plain looking. I’m just now starting to love myself the way I am but I’m nowhere near thinking of myself as 100% gorgeous. So reading a character who feels the same way as me helps that I’m not alone. But that’s just MY 2 cents, of course. 🙂
Ibukun
Hmmm. That certainly gives me something to think about. I can’t say for sure that if I had everyone telling me how beautiful I was, I’d start believing it, but the logical part of me would like to think I’d think of myself a bit more favourably.
Oh well. I guess self esteem is something no one can really explain logically. It’s interesting to see a different perspective on this topic, though. Thanks for reading!
Simple Naija Girl
Lol I wouldn’t say I’ve deliberately avoided such books, but I haven’t read one written like this in a minute.
Ibukun
And isn’t that a blessing, really!