YA Tropes | October Writeathon 1/31

I really dislike most Young Adult Novels. There are a lot of reasons why, such as unrelatable characters, conflicting story beats, and very drab character development, but one thing that bugs me more than all that is the use of common YA tropes that takes away intrigue and pulls you out of the story. I know that many YA writers use these tropes because it'll sell better, but this takes away from the main purpose of fiction, which is to tell a story. It doest matter how much passion an author pours into their YA novel, if they follow these tropes, I probably won't like their book. Remember that this is my own personal opinion and without further ado let's get into 17 Common YA Tropes 

1. Female Protagonists- The undeniable truth is that almost all YA protagonists are female. This is understandable as the books are marketed towards girls, since statistically girls read more. I understand this, but for those male readers out there, it makes YA an incredibly difficult genre to get into. I, as a male reader, have never been able to get into the stories because I don't have a window into their world that is easily relatable to me. While it's an understandable trope, I still wish that there were a few more YA novels aimed at boys.
2. All adult are useless, cryptic and/or evil- Parent's in YA novels are horribly irresponsible. At the novels beginning they've either already abandoned their kid or are totally chill with their child doing some incredibly dangerous task. Granted, sometimes the parents have no choice, but the other important adults in the protagonist life are useless too. If they're good they just sit around and give out hard to understand advice. If their not good, their just outright evil. There are very few important adult deuteragonists in YA novels, and it sometimes breaks the immersion of the story.
3. Protagonists can spend the entire day battling without needing the bathroom once- YA protagonists seem to have near infinite stamina. No matter how much they run, kick, flip, and punch during a battle, they never seem to run out of breathe, in spite of being "ordinary" people. That's because you want you're protagonist to be a good role model, even if this suspends realism.
4. The protagonist thinks of themselves as plain for no reason- A requirement of all YA protagonists is that be incredibly beautiful, but in most stories they have no idea. Disregarding the message this sends to readers, it also makes no sense. Why would you believe you're plain looking when people are constantly telling you you're gorgeous, and your competed over by at least two smoking hot men. It makes no sense, and it again takes away realism and connectability.
5. You must wage war against the System- YA books are all about fighting the man. This ties into the dystopian setting of many YA novels, but even books like Twilight have some sort of hierarchy that's trying to put down the protagonists. This is because this appeals to young adults in their time of rebellion against their parents, so it can add to the immersion, but only if the conflict is close and personal, which it almost never is.
6. Monumental decisions are taken in stride- If you were to suddenly discover that you were half-human, half-mythological creature, how would you respond? You would probably freak out, be confused, and undergo a complete existentational crisis. Not if your a YA protagonist. Their immune ti that kind of stuff, so the only struggle they have is mastering their awesome new powers. It destroys your connection to the story.
7. A Resistance made you their leader, no experience necessary- Teens should not lead rebellions, especially inexperienced ones. This seems logical, but not to the mind of a dystopian rebellion. They think it's a great decision, and by dumb luck alone they manage to succeed. This makes the character an okay role model and teaches that you can achieve you're goals no matter how young you are, so i think I can give this trope a pass.
8. They never know they're holding their breathe- This one has nothing to do with story, it's just annoying. YA protagonists never realize their holding their breathe, and often release it with out even realizing they were holding it. It just annoys me so I wanted to include it.

So you may or may not have realized a pattern with these tropes, and it's that they tend to

1. Pull you out of the story and detract from the immersion
2. Exist only to make the protagonist a better role model

Tats the state of young adult fiction, and it's weakening writing as a whole. As more people grow up with these kinds of stories, they begin to think that they're okay. We need to be pickier about the literature we create and consume. The take away here is that we need to be the change we want to see, so any next time your doing some writing, try and avoid these tropes, and help bring back the Golden Age of books.

This was the first post of my October Writathon, and I hope that you enjoyed it, If you did, you can come back everyday this month for more content like this. Until tomorrow, have a very fine day.