It’s possible to have some common book tropes that you hate, just like in movies. A Reddit user asked ‘What are some common tropes in books that you hate?’ and here are 30 of the responses.
1.
Miscommunication leading to conflict.
Especially when the characters point blank refuse to utter another word to each other, even when a simple sentence of explanation could resolve the entire problem.
Forced drama like that makes me hate a book.
2.
I feel like oftentimes characters are able to read just a little too much simply by looking into another’s eyes. “She looked into his eyes and saw hope with a tinge of sadness, layered with uncertainty mixed with conviction.”
Obviously that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you see my point.
3.
Basically, anything where “No” from a female character means “you haven’t earned my trust yet and I act ~uppity~ due to modern feminism; you must prove yourself by protecting me from the danger I walked into due to my childish refusal to listen to men; only then will my inner woman be unlocked”. *gag*
I hate hate everything about that trope and it needed to have died in the 80’s.
Bonus: she’s got an endearing reason to be super insecure, like a small birthmark, or being held prisoner her whole life. Here, “no” means “I can’t believe anyone will find me beautiful and it’s going to take some persistence to persuade me you do”
F**k everything about these “women don’t really mean it when they refuse you” tropes.
4.
“Two people of opposite sex have to solve this problem together. There is no way in hell that they aren’t going to fall in love, that would just be weird. What are friends or colleagues?”
5.
I definitely dislike ‘enemies to lovers’ but more so as a librarian myself I cannot stand the ‘mousy, no personality, meek librarian who solves the day’ storyline. Librarians definitely kick butt but we are not all mousy, bland women!
6.
My biggest pet peeve in books is the chosen one trope. It’s okay when you’re a kid but when you’re an adult you just see lazy writing
Another trope I hate is the rough exterior “b****y” woman with a heart of gold who predictably falls for the hero, like we get it fellas, it’s your fantasy to win over women who aren’t interested in you one bit
Lastly the “weird” girl who doesn’t know shes conventionally attractive trope, she doesn’t care about dresses or boys or “girly” things so she never got attention despite being beautiful and approachable for the main character to romance, like please
7.
As a woman who married a widower, I really dislike romances where one of them was married before, and even if he or she thought it was a happy relationship, they have to find out how secretly evil and twisted their first love was before they can fall in love with the new love interest. Like… it’s possible to be in love more than once in your life. It doesn’t undervalue your present relationship to say your last one was also good. Especially when the person is dead.
8.
Hard-drinking, heavy-smoking, emotionally-disconnected, gruff-rough-and-tough, rumpled-trench-coat-wearing, middle-aged, wife-left-me-because-I’m-a-shitty-husband, blues/jazz-loving, I’ll-do-it-my-way, hang-the-consequences, lone-wolf detective that manages to always get-their-man. Yawn.
9.
Making a girl obnoxious and extremely confrontational means they’re strong and independent. This is also done purely because the character is a girl.
There are so many better ways to portray this but some authors get really weird when writing women.
10.
How about the ” I’m just an average teenage girl…who has superpowers….three love interests….always getting into trouble and then miraculously saved. Blame everyone for my problems and never take responsibility. And by the final book in my series I will not have learned or grown in any way but I’m still somehow the heroine” trope. I’ve read too many bad YA lol
