# Overused Tropes



## Holly A Hook (Sep 19, 2010)

Let's talk about overused tropes.  You know--plotlines that seem to pop up over and over.  My favorite is the vampire-human romance, especially in YA, that doesn't offer anything new.  Serial killers is another one that seems to pop up quite often in the adult books.


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## L.J. Sellers novelist (Feb 28, 2010)

Serial killers! I'm burnt out and can't read anymore no matter how much anyone raves about the book.
L.J.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

I am so very tired of Lovey-dovey romantic vampires; I am sick of horror novels that rely on blood, guts, & gore rather than psychological fright; and I don't want to see another book about someone getting splashed with something radioactive and gaining superpowers.

--Edit: Thank you for changing HOW the question was asked.


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## Holly A Hook (Sep 19, 2010)

Sorry about posting this thread.  I didn't realize there were so many like this one already.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

BTackitt said:


> you want a true answer? I am tired of questions like this: - Readers: What do you nnnnnn?...


To be similarly honest, I'd prefer to see the authors who participate here spending more time on writing the very best story that _they_ want to write and feel in their hearts, as opposed to market surveys to find out what they think will sell best. I know you want to make a living at it if you can, but I for one probably won't find your book very interesting if it's formulaic and trying to please a perceived market instead of being what _you_ are good at doing and saying what _you_ want to say.

And to answer you question, I'm tired of speculative fiction authors who cannot tell a complete story in one book. (Related books with the same characters and setting are OK, as long as each story has its own beginning, middle, and end.)



Holly A Hook said:


> Sorry about posting this thread. I didn't realize.


Not really your fault, it's been going on here for quite awhile now. E.g., see "Book Corner becoming the Writer's Marketing Research Corner?". (I personally would prefer that these types of questions be in the Book Bazaar or some other writers-oriented forum, but maybe that's just me. I still participate in them, but I don't think this is the best place for them, though the moderators didn't seem inclined to change things.)


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

Authors who write novels while envisioning the movie version.  Nothing is worse than writing to Hollwood. If authors like movies so much they should write a screenplay and stay away from novels.

Also, writing stand alone novels with the same characters.  I'm the opposite of NogDog.  A story told over multiple books is fine, but not as episodes to be read in any order.  Stories should be kept to three or four books, rarely more than that.  When the story is done No more sequels.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Holly A Hook said:


> Sorry about posting this thread. I didn't realize.


Holly, I'm not bashing you for asking the question, just for the way you ask it. There's a big difference between starting a conversation with us, and making us feel like your personal market research.


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## Holly A Hook (Sep 19, 2010)

No hard feelings.  I do see your point now.  I'll try to word things differently next time.  I'm fairly new, and didn't know so many threads like this one already existed.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

Holly A Hook said:


> Sorry about posting this thread. I didn't realize.


Holly, there are a lot of threads that are started this way so I can see why you worded it like that. I usually choose not to participate in them because I'm sick of being sold to and because I don't participate in surveys. But based on what I've seen around here, this was a logical way to word your thread. If the responses are not what you were interested in i.e. you wanted to start a conversation about what you and others are tired of reading, you can always change the wording. If you were interested in gathering data then, as said so eloquently by Emily Litella "never mind" (people under 45 can Google that)
In the spirit of conversation
It looks like I fall between NogDog and Geemont. I like a good series but I want each book in the series to have a beginning, middle and end. I'm tired of reading books in a series that don't have an ending of their own. I'm also sick of all the back story in later books in a series. If I need to be reminded of events I can go back a read or skim the earlier books.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Changed my first answer to reflect the new way Holly asked the question.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

NogDog said:


> To be similarly honest, I'd prefer to see the authors who participate here spending more time on writing the very best story that _they_ want to write and feel in their hearts, as opposed to market surveys to find out what they think will sell best.


Yep, I agree. I generally just sigh and skip over the threads that look like author research.

Mike


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## Holly A Hook (Sep 19, 2010)

Glad the new question works better.

I too am sick of lovey-dovey vampires.  If I read about vampires, I want them to actually suck blood.


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

Holly A Hook said:


> I too am sick of lovey-dovey vampires. If I read about vampires, I want them to actually suck blood.


As opposed to just sucking. 

What I'm tired of seeing is the darker fantasy (which is not categorized as Dark Fantasy, btw) that specifically uses extra-flawed characters. To me, they just feel broken, and the story just grates along on its axles. Every time I read a book with these characters, I get the feeling that the author is using their condition as tacit permission to do horrible things to them, since they have already taken some abuse or another in their background. Thus, these books are full of pages and pages of horrific evils, and yet everyone seems to get up and ask for more.  I'm seeing it more and more recently, and it's depressing and not fun to read. It's like emo for adults or something. I wish there were a way to tell these General or Epic Fantasy books from the rest BEFORE I start reading. So far I haven't found one.


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

I tired of heroes (Capt Kirk, Harry Potter,etc.) saving the day from extreme peril.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

I love vampire stories.  I've adored Anne Rice's vampires - especially Lestat de Lioncourt - for decades.  But this new-ish trend to make vampires sanitary, only slightly dangerous and designed to make teenage and pre-teen girls swoon is just awful.  

But then it's just another part of pop-culture sucked into a heartthrob machine that permeates all of pop culture (think boy bands, Dawson's Buffy, the Jonas Biebers ... ).  Maybe since I never was a teenage girl and the one I raised was never into that swooning thing, I just don't get it ... I just hope vampires aren't ruined forever ....

OK, I'm done.


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## monkeyluis (Oct 17, 2010)

1st I don't care for romance vampire or not. But I don't mind serial killers or vampires when the author gives a different spin on them. For instance the book is from the vampire's pov but we get to see another completely different world or psychology. Same with the serial killer.


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

Geoffrey said:


> But then it's just another part of pop-culture sucked into a heartthrob machine that permeates all of pop culture (think boy bands, Dawson's Buffy, the Jonas Biebers ... ). Maybe since I never was a teenage girl and the one I raised was never into that swooning thing, I just don't get it ... I just hope vampires aren't ruined forever ....
> 
> OK, I'm done.


I think I was the WB's target audience at the time, but the "swooning over imaginary guys wearing plenty of stage make-up" didn't make any sense. (It still doesn't.) The idea that _was_ interesting in Buffy was that Angel was this tortured character because some gypsies gave him back his soul. When he lost it again, he was infinitely more interesting (or maybe I just like sociopaths).

Shifting back to books, my irritation lies along the lines of female protagonists who are supposed to be "strong" but are really gussied-up damsels in distress. She's smart, independent, and lands herself in trouble only to be rescued by <insert male love interest here>. This may tie into the "visualizing movie scenes while writing the novel" bit.

I did post this in the Writers' Corner, but I think that readers might find it amusing as well: The Female Character Flowchart. It diagrams the common (and overused) female tropes


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## Carolyn Kephart (Feb 23, 2009)

NogDog said:


> To be similarly honest, I'd prefer to see the authors who participate here spending more time on writing the very best story that _they_ want to write and feel in their hearts, as opposed to market surveys to find out what they think will sell best. I know you want to make a living at it if you can, but I for one probably won't find your book very interesting if it's formulaic and trying to please a perceived market instead of being what _you_ are good at doing and saying what _you_ want to say.


It was such a relief to read that comment. Thank you.

My particular trope peeve: it amazes/bewilders/shocks me that extreme horror/gore/torture is so popular (or at least so prevalent) in just about every genre lately. I hope that with the classics being made cheaply available on the Kindle, readers *and* writers will be drawn to and influenced by them. We need fresh perspectives.

CK


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## D. Nathan Hilliard (Jun 5, 2010)

Glamorous CSI detectives. Anybody ever met a CSI detective?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

D. Nathan Hilliard said:


> Glamorous CSI detectives. Anybody ever met a CSI detective?


That's pretty much a given with 98% of fiction* (and 99.9% of TV/movie fiction), though: main characters who are well above average in attractiveness. Apparently two characters cannot be romantically attracted to each other if they are not physically very attractive, too. 
_________
* Note: 85.3% of my statistics are made up out of whole cloth.


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

NogDog said:


> Apparently two characters cannot be romantically attracted to each other if they are not physically very attractive, too.
> _________
> * Note: 85.3% of my statistics are made up out of whole cloth.


Silly NogDog, who wants to read about unattractive main characters?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Alice Y. Yeh said:


> Silly NogDog, who wants to read about unattractive main characters?


Those of us who are not as attractive as you? 

PS: They don't have to be ugly, but they don't necessarily always have to be exceptionally good-looking, either.


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

NogDog said:


> They don't have to be ugly, but they don't necessarily always have to be exceptionally good-looking, either.


True. _Jane Eyre_ or _Sarah, Plain and Tall_ anyone? Heck, even Hermione Granger had buckteeth and frizzy hair!

I think that particular vice may be more genre-specific, as you see more of it in erotica and and chick lit than you do in many others, unless it's Austen or Shakespeare or Wilde or--oh, who am I kidding? It's a pervasive stereotype, and somehow, I don't see it going away any time soon.


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## Lisa M. (Jun 15, 2010)

In the Rizzoli and Isles books, Rizzoli is definitely not Angie Harmon material!!!

Ok back on subject.... I'm agreeing with what most have written here about vampires. Classic vampires are the best!!


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

D. Nathan Hilliard said:


> Glamorous CSI detectives. Anybody ever met a CSI detective?


This is why I quit watching CSI:Miami completely. I like the stories, but Miami was just soooo completely PLASTIC looking I couldn't stand to watch it after about the second year.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

Vampires should not sparkle or whatever it was they did in Twilight (I quit reading after 3 pages because the writing was so bad).  I'm old school on Vampires.  That is: vampire = evil;  fangs = sucking blood from someones neck, not getting a pint from the fridge; sunlight = hideous painful permanent demise 
and I don't want to read about some stupid chick with a vampire crush!   
I'm done now.


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## Holly A Hook (Sep 19, 2010)

I personally didn't care for Twilight for the same reasons.  

I've noticed lately that 75% of the young adult rack at the bookstore is about "safe" vampires.  I only found one title about evil vampires, and that book was directed towards boys.  I don't remember the title, however.  

There seem to be a lot of angel stories coming out now, too.  I haven't read those yet, so I don't know if they're all similar or not.


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

It comes in waves, I suppose.

Think they'll figure out a way to sanitize zombies?


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## mathewferguson (Oct 24, 2010)

Character looks in the damn mirror within the first few pages so we get a description!

ARGH!  I read something a few days ago that did this and it's only because my Kindle cost $189 that I didn't hurl it across the room.

Also - the clumsy girl. No more of the clumsy girl. It's not funny, it's not cute, it's not interesting. It's stupid and denigrating to women. I mean, seriously, have you actually met a truly clumsy person in real life? I have, just once, and she was a pain in the a** to be with because her clumsiness came from being self-centred and thus often unaware of her surroundings. The kind of person who has a car accident because they keep looking in the rear-view mirror to check how good they look.

I can never understand how clumsy became a virtue rather than a sign to go to the doctor for neurological testing.


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

mathewferguson said:


> I can never understand how clumsy became a virtue rather than a sign to go to the doctor for neurological testing.


Please refer to "damsel in distress".  It makes sense if the character is supposed to be tired/hungover, but inherent clumsiness isn't endearing when the character is over the age of five, no?


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## kyrin (Dec 28, 2009)

I'm tired of the hero who has gone through hell yet still has enough energy to make love to the beautiful heroine.

Jack Bauer can get away with it after being shot, tortured, nearly blown up and stabbed but as far as I'm concerned he is a god among men.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

I am thoroughly SICK  of reading a book where a wallflower character is suddenly and unrealistically the center of attention for 2 completely over-the-top-outstanding-drop-dead-gorgeous characters as romantic interests.


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## Maria Romana (Jun 7, 2010)

BTackitt said:


> I am thoroughly SICK of reading a book where a wallflower character is suddenly and unrealistically the center of attention for 2 completely over-the-top-outstanding-drop-dead-gorgeous characters as romantic interests.


Or how the character became a wallflower in the first place, when he/she is drop-dead gorgeous himself... 

Call me unimaginative, but I like realistic characters and situations. You can create interesting conflict without doing things that are completely illogical. Drop-dead gorgeous people can have flaws that make them thoroughly undesirable, and less attractive people can (and often do) have qualities that make them very desirable. If the situation has some glimmer of reality, I can relate to it, I can imagine it possibly happening, and then it's interesting to me.

--Maria


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## kyrin (Dec 28, 2009)

I always get annoyed with characters who find the time to hold long drawn out conversations while they are in the middle of killing one another especially during a fist or knife fight.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

Does the world really need any more stories in which a cop falls in love/lust with the prime murder suspect?


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

kyrin said:


> I always get annoyed with characters who find the time to hold long drawn out conversations while they are in the middle of killing one another especially during a fist or knife fight.


In what reality do they bad guys ever spend 15 minutes outlining their whole plan thus giving the good guy time to escape? Bad guys shoot first... talk later.


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## Guest (Nov 1, 2010)

Death. How come people have to die in every single book? Is that the only way to make a story meaningful, to have somebody die in it?


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## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

For me, it's dream sequences.  I get really tired of reading them.  Most of the time, they're just there to add mystery or excitement to an otherwise boring plot.

Vicki


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## Paul Clayton (Sep 12, 2009)

Cereal killers are passe.  Not folks are into pancake killers.  Also, I'm told by my spy in the Big NYC agency that Bagel and Lox killers are soon to be the big thing.  Get ready!


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

callingcrow said:


> Cereal killers are passe. Not folks are into pancake killers. Also, I'm told by my spy in the Big NYC agency that Bagel and Lox killers are soon to be the big thing. Get ready!


Foolish foodies, don't they know that pizza monsters already cornered the market on evil carbs?

What about the space cadet of a best friend? You know, the super happy-go-lucky one who drags the morose heroine out of bed when she's depressed?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Geesh, if we get rid of all of these cliches, what will be left: a novel about a reasonably pleasant looking if slightly overweight thirty-something soccer mom, married to a man starting to go through a mid-life crisis (but dealing with it OK by buying a new BMW), and taking her 11-year-old son to soccer practice, where there is neither a dismembered corpse lying beneath the bush, nor a tiny gnome beckoning them to a passage to a magical realm?


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## D. Nathan Hilliard (Jun 5, 2010)

NogDog said:


> Geesh, if we get rid of all of these cliches, what will be left: a novel about a reasonably pleasant looking if slightly overweight thirty-something soccer mom, married to a man starting to go through a mid-life crisis (but dealing with it OK by buying a new BMW), and taking her 11-year-old son to soccer practice, where there is neither a dismembered corpse lying beneath the bush, nor a tiny gnome beckoning them to a passage to a magical realm?


Yes. But then there will be knock on the door...and it will be Benjamin Franklin! Well, that hasn't been done before.


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

Holly A Hook said:


> There seem to be a lot of angel stories coming out now, too. I haven't read those yet, so I don't know if they're all similar or not.


A friend and I were talking about this the other day. My theory is that Edward seems more angelic than vampiric (angelic in a very irritating way, I might add), and so these angel writers are trying to spin off _Twilight_ without being so obvious about it. Har-dee-har-har.



foreverjuly said:


> Death. How come people have to die in every single book? Is that the only way to make a story meaningful, to have somebody die in it?


I've wondered this myself. Some books, like _A Summer to Die_, that explore in depth what death actually means for a family or community, I enjoy reading and gain wisdom in the process. However, I don't like it when the author kills characters off just to make a story more dramatic--it makes me feel manipulated and a bit sick, like I'm in an audience in ancient Rome watching gladiators fight to the death. I enjoy reading about dynamic characters who change and grow and interact in interesting ways with each other over the course of a story or series--they can't do this if they're dying every other page.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

Death is a central fact of life, and coming to terms with knowing about our own inevitable deaths is one of the great central dilemmas of human existence -- not every story needs it, but literature would be awfully impoverished if it pretended death didn't exist.


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

Victorine said:


> For me, it's dream sequences. I get really tired of reading them. Most of the time, they're just there to add mystery or excitement to an otherwise boring plot.
> 
> Vicki


This. I just do not like Dream Sequences at all, not unless there's a dang good reason for them.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Half-Orc said:


> This. I just do not like Dream Sequences at all, not unless there's a dang good reason for them.


Plus they are usually way too literal or obviously symbolic: the vast majority of my dreams (of the few I remember) tend to be mundane, or senseless (to me), or just plain silly when seen in hindsight -- I almost never dream of something that pertains directly to things I'm currently dealing with in life, or if I do, it never provides some sort of obvious allegory or other insightful symbolism that means anything to me.

(Some day I'll tell you about one dream I wrote down, one part of which had me trying to pass a semi on a freeway while driving an open-wheel race car, and since I couldn't get around it quickly enough, I started pushing against the pavement with my hands to help me get past.  )


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## Glenn Bullion (Sep 28, 2010)

I agree with most of the ones you've all come up with, especially the de-fanging of vampires lately.

For me, it has to be the love triangle.  I can't even put into words why.  There can be an interesting romantic relationship between two characters, with ups and down, without the third wheel (or is it fifth wheel?).

I know I might get stoned for this, but I actually didn't *hate* Twilight when I first saw it (at least until it got overexposed).  I thought it was an interesting story, and was actually looking forward to the second one.

Then I heard and got from the commercials:  "Now she might like that werewolf dude too."

Oh no, sorry, I'm out.


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

Thalia the Muse said:


> Death is a central fact of life, and coming to terms with knowing about our own inevitable deaths is one of the great central dilemmas of human existence -- not every story needs it, but literature would be awfully impoverished if it pretended death didn't exist.


I agree. That's why I don't like it when authors treat it gratuituously. I just posted about this on another thread, but I'll repeat it here. Our culture has huge issues with death--we avoid the reality of it as much as possible, yet then turn around and clamor for gory deaths in our entertainment. The deaths in a lot of entertainment seemed designed to desensitize us to death, which is not a good thing.


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## Keith Blenman (May 31, 2009)

D. Nathan Hilliard said:


> Glamorous CSI detectives. Anybody ever met a CSI detective?


I'm earning my certification in forensic investigation and a majority of us view CSI stories like the saturday morning cartoon version of what we do. Ultra flashy, leather panted thrills and spills that don't involve standing by the GC/MS/MS for hours and hours on end to reach conclusions like, "Well... they're similar." Honestly, I can't read those books or watch most of those shows without getting frustrated. Except for NCIS. The interrogation scenes in that show are excellent mini-textbook examples of how to handle suspects and witnesses. And I'm mildly in love with Pauley Perrette. So that show is just fine, but only for those two reasons.


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

My favorite thread topics are about writing from the reader's point of view. Maybe this would make a good thread for readers and writers? A separate space for dialog, where you can't plug your book, but you can debate the merits of style?  

Well, I'll just put in my top five.

Sanitary Vampires AND oversexed Vampires with a 'heart of gold' have both been done to death.

Tortured heroine who is a 'hardened vigilante' - but is written 'too stupid to live.' Most of them can't pass a Mary Sue test. The flowchart is a good example of female tropes but Wiki 'Mary Sue' to get the scoop on her.

My pet peeve is 'fight then kiss' scenes. I get 'kiss and make up' but that's AFTER the fight, not in the middle of it. Historical romances do this a lot. I think it's a leftover from the rape scene.

Graphic torture makes my hit list as well as rape scenes in 'Killer Thriller' books no matter what the genre. This includes the trend towards BDSM. I've got a low squick threshhold. 

Alpha Heroes who are woman-hating idiots. I wonder if some of those writers have ever met the kind of men they write about? There is nothing sexy about a man who hates women.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

K. A. Jordan said:


> There is nothing sexy about a man who hates women.


I could not agree with you more on this.. I have met some of these men in RL, and there's no way I (or any woman I know) would want to be near them long enough to even share air with by choice.


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

Just thought of another one - Rich characters who don't have jobs. The Urban fantasy type who hangs in bad neighborhood with lots of toys and no visible means of support. 

I've always wondered why vampires are potrayed as rich when they can't hold jobs? Where do they get the money for all those fancy cars? Would these women fall for a homeless vampire? You know, it is a good idea for a story - homeless vampire meets girl with house, hooks up with her to hide in her basement...yeah.

I got a kick out of Tanya Huff's Henry who was a romance novelist. The son of King Henry the 8th, he was rich because he was a best selling author - and had been for 50 or more years.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

K. A. Jordan said:


> Just thought of another one - Rich characters who don't have jobs. The Urban fantasy type who hangs in bad neighborhood with lots of toys and no visible means of support.
> 
> I've always wondered why vampires are potrayed as rich when they can't hold jobs? Where do they get the money for all those fancy cars? Would these women fall for a homeless vampire? You know, it is a good idea for a story - homeless vampire meets girl with house, hooks up with her to hide in her basement...yeah....


Obviously, somewhere along the line they have bitten some wealthy people, made them their vamp-slaves, and appropriated most of their wealth and then made wise investments with it.


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

_"Obviously, somewhere along the line they have bitten some wealthy people, made them their vamp-slaves, and appropriated most of their wealth and then made wise investments with it."_

Hmm, not a bad answer.


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## unknown2cherubim (Sep 10, 2010)

Hmmm, lessee...

A middle-aged, divorced loner hero with a kid he loves and an ex-wife his own age who deserts or cheats on him, thus conveniently leaving him free and guiltless to pursue a PYT (albeit a scientist, psychologist, attorney or FBI agent PYT), who adores him even though he's 20 years older than her.

Hypocritical religious people who are cynically bilking people of their money or otherwise doing really bad things (Exception that makes the rule: Big Jim Rennie of Stephen King's _Under the Dome_. He _(edit: is_) a terrific character).

Stories that revolve around various skullduggeries practiced toward Mother Gaia; not limited to but including: evil, suit-wearing, corporate soulless suckers and two-faced politicians who are hell-bent on polluting our children's future for their own avarice.

I don't read vampire books so am unqualified to pass judgment on such.


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## Holly A Hook (Sep 19, 2010)

I'm surprised this thread is still going!  Must be a lot of tropes out there!

Here's one I just thought of that irritates me.  It's usually found in fantasy.

Why is it, in high fantasy, does the hero's mother always die in childbirth or from illness when the hero is young?  (and the father is always missing/the bad guy/the wise old mentor?)  It seems that in the fantasy world, childbirth has a 100% mortality rate.


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## Luke King (Nov 4, 2010)

Any fantasy novel that sounds even vaguely like Lord of the Rings.


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## tbrookside (Nov 4, 2009)

unknown2cherubim said:


> Stories that revolve around various skullduggeries practiced toward Mother Gaia; not limited to but including: evil, suit-wearing, corporate soulless suckers and two-faced politicians who are hell-bent on polluting our children's future for their own avarice.
> 
> I don't read vampire books so am unqualified to pass judgment on such.


Gotta agree here.

I think that in general the "evil corporation" and/or "evil shadowy government agency" story has been done to death across the board, and not just for environmental matters.

I have considered writing a story where the hero _thinks_ he's exposing and fighting an evil corporate/government plot, but it turns out in the end that without realizing it he's been fighting a _good_ corporation and _good_ government agency who have been jointly trying to save the world.


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## SidneyW (Aug 6, 2010)

I'm tired of everything unless there's a new spin on things involved. You never know when a new way to look at a subject or trope will crop up.


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## Kathelm (Sep 27, 2010)

My biggest pet peeve is poorly developed villains: people who commit atrocities just so the reader won't like them, and don't have any motivations other than "because I'm evil!"


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I try not to judge and I can take a lot but the one thing that has me eye rolling is when people are running from danger and stop to have sex.  There's a race against time to save the day and all everyone can think about is having sex.  Can ye not wait for an hour, no?


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## sal (Aug 4, 2009)

You all have pretty much nailed most of the things that bug me too.
My top 5 would be:

1. Mysogynistic protagonists 
2. Deus Ex Machina (a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new character, ability, or object)
3. Protagonist never changes or learns throughout the course of the story
4. Wizards
5. Vampires

Sal


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## K. A. Jordan (Aug 5, 2010)

Kathelm said:


> My biggest pet peeve is poorly developed villains: people who commit atrocities just so the reader won't like them, and don't have any motivations other than "because I'm evil!"


*Yeah!* I think of them as the "I'm so bad, I eat babies for breakfast" villain trope. 

As for the 'dead mother' trope - well, did your mother let you run off 'to see the wizard' when you were a teenager? I think not, most likely she'd have locked you in your room.  You can only be the 'secret Prince saving the world' if you don't have ANY parents.

We love these tropes because when they work, they are part of the 'mythology' of humankind. And when they don't work they are like 'The Bored of the Rings' very funny in a sick kind of way.


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