My Least Favorite Book Tropes

Last month I talked about my favorite book tropes, so this month I want to talk about my least favorite book tropes. I could probably go on for quite a while, but I'll try to keep it short. Let's see what I've got.

Useless girl characters

You know the ones I'm talking about. We've talked about them here before. They serve no purpose to the story except to convey some information the hero could have read on the wall and be pretty. More real female characters please.

Prophesies

I can still deal with the chosen one trope, but I have a tendency to roll my eyes whenever someone says there's a prophesy. Of course there is. There have got to be more creative ways to do that then a prophesy.

Stupid male characters

To go with the useless girl characters, how about the big buff guys with no brains? Whose only purpose is to make the girl characters look more awesome and get a laugh? I want all characters to be equally well rounded, thank you.

Villains in black

I know it's hard to break out of this one. Heck, half my bad guys wear black or blood red. But what about a villain who wears bright pink? Or pure white, and somehow manages to never get blood on it? Wouldn't that be more scary?

Love triangles

Obviously this was going to be on here. I think I'd rather read insta-love than a love triangle. It seems more feasible to me. People have been known to fall in love at first sight. I've never heard of a person being torn between two other people.

Girls liking guys because they're cute

The boy arrives, the girl looks up and sees him and goes zing! And then she never actually wants to get to know him better. She never tries to know his personality. I don't mind if she thinks he's cute at first, but let the romance go deeper than that.

Weird homeschoolers

The only reason homeschoolers come into book is to be weird or learn what a weirdo they were. Please. That's not even close to accurate. More representation, please.

Annoying Christians

Another character type that is only there to be annoying or goody-two-shoes. Again, Christians can be all types of people and personalities. If other people get to represented, why can't I?

What book tropes do you hate? Is there any way you'd like to be more represented? Tell me in the comments.

Suggested Posts:

My Favorite Book Tropes
The Predictability Problem