COMMON TROPES IN YA LITERATURE (mostly fantasy)
Common Tropes in YA Literature (mostly fantasy)
A post by Jeana To
★★★★☆
Hello
y’all!
I’ve
mostly been writing on this blog about the many different YA books I’ve been
reading, but this time I thought it’d be fun to write about common tropes and
themes found in YA fiction because as all fans and anti-fans of YA fiction
knows: there are tropes, and there are lots of them.
These
are in no particular order; I just listed them out as they came to mind. Also,
as a side note: I’m not saying that these tropes are bad, I’m saying that they
exist. I myself love a good YA novel with all of those cheesy storylines and
plots -- that’s why I read them. ;D
- THE CHOSEN
ONE
This
is that one super common trope where the main character is special or chosen in
some way, with the fate of the universe and the cosmos or whatever resting in
their hands. The main character is always your average-looking commoner (PS, in
YA fiction, “average” translates to supermodel gorgeous) who finds out that
they can wield lost magic of mysterious origin and unrivaled power because they
just happen to be the long-lost heir of a powerful kingdom. I mean, who could
the lost princess be? Surely not the completely ordinary female
protagonist who somehow exactly matches the description and age!
- CHILDHOOD FRIEND VS HOT NEWCOMER
This
is a less talked about one, which is weird in my opinion because it’s so, so,
SO common in YA romances. This the thing when the girl -- usually it’s a girl,
sorry guys -- has to choose between her childhood friend that she’s known since
forever (who’s also in love with her, obviously) and the hot new guy in town
who’s connected to her in myssssssteeeeeerious ways. I know! She just
can’t choose!
- TEEN LEADS REBELLION
World
War VII. Government is real bad now. Gotta overthrow it and no, it can’t be done
peacefully. And while we’re at it, why not throw a kid to the front?
- PERFECT
KICKBUTT HEROINE
“I
can fight, I'm super witty, I'm the most beautiful girl on the planet, I get all the guys, I'm
amazingly powerful, I'm the lost princess, and not to mention, the only one who
can save the world. What are you talking about? Of course I’m not
perfect."
I’m
not saying that this is a bad thing, but lately (is it just me?) there seems to
have been an increasing number of stories specifically about heroines who are
super-duper badass and kick butt. Maybe it’s because I have a tendency to read
these kinds of books over others? Anyway, the protagonist is usually headstrong
and doesn’t like to listen to what other people have to say, and they like to
take a lot of risks. I mean, it’s also a YA novel, so everything will work out
anyway. Also, the character is always perfect except for the one
perfection-that-kinda-looks-like-a-flaw. Usually without mentioning the
“perfection” part.
- DEAD/USELESS PARENTS
“They
died in a terrible golf cart accident” (sniffle sniffle)
Of
course the main character of any YA novel has to have a tragic backstory
-- and unfortunately for our beloved mothers and fathers, this tragic backstory
tends to revolve around dead parents. Sorry mom, sorry dad!
- LOVE TRIANGLES
Here’s
another uber-important trope to know if you’re planning to write a fantasy
novel with a little romantic aspect -- the love triangle. Or a love
square, or pentagon, or circle (haha). When two girls like a guy, or two guys
like a girl, or when a girl likes a guy who likes a girl who likes a guy who
likes the first girl, or some other variation of a love shape. These always end
tragically for at least one person.
- THAT ONE SIDE CHARACTER WHO’S LEFT OUT IN THE
LOVE TRIANGLE
I
don’t know, I just had to include this. I always feel so bad for them! I feel
bad even if I shipped the main couple super hard! So sad :(
- “BAD GUY
AIM”
Y’know,
in the movies, when the bad guys are over here with heat-seeking missiles and
the good guys are over there with a slingshot, and the bad guys still miss and
the good guys still win. Basically when the bad guys are stupid. There’s also
that thing when they feel like they have to stop and explain every single
little detail of their evil plan in a crucial moment. Or those books with an
amazing plot...until you realize that the bad guys could have avoided literally
everything that happened by getting rid of one random dude at the beginning.
Ruins the whole book.
And
that’s all that I could think of for now! Thanks for reading. And if you guys
can think of any other common tropes, feel free to comment!
This is really informative! I liked how you pointed out common tropes in novels many of us have read while making it funny and engaging to read. These themes are definitely found throughout the books I have encountered and it was nice to see them all laid out. Overall, great job with this post -- it was fun to read!
ReplyDeleteNice post! I completely agree with all the common tropes you pointed out, especially the first one. The part about the lost princesses reminded me of the Barbie Princess Charm School movie (the best Barbie movie btw), and the first trope is also true for most YA fantasy, like Harry Potter and Keeper of the Lost Cities. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this post, and I look forward to reading more of your blog in the future!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! This was a lot of fun to read, and I really agree with all of the tropes you mentioned. I especially liked the points about the "chosen one," the perfect heroine, and the stupid villains. Lately I've been sifting through a lot of cookie-cutter fantasies containing three or more of these cliches, and it's nice to see someone noticing the same things I did. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteThis post was so funny! I honestly really enjoyed and was entertained by reading it. Also, this is a great idea for a blog post since it is a unique idea. Anyways, I definitely related to what you were saying about these tropes. In every YA novel I read, there is always at least one of those cliche plot ideas. It's okay though, everyone loves a little cliche:). Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post! I think you nailed a lot of the clichés that show up in YA literature and I could think of at least one example for every trope that you mentioned (I think I've even read one with all of the aforementioned tropes). Your descriptions were funny and very entertaining and I really enjoyed this post. Great job!
ReplyDeleteLOL I completely agree, this is an amazing post and made me laugh a lot! I think like a lot of other bloggers here, you use a somewhat casual tone to your advantage - the whole post has a semi satirical feel to it, and I really enjoyed it. Thanks for the review, and I look forward to more!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Considering the majority of what I read consists of fantasy novels, I too often come across these tropes. Another trope I might include is the idea of a "quest" similar to the one found in The Lord of The Rings, The Neverending Story (no thanks), and The Lightning Thief. Overall, I like how entertaining you made this blog post by including humor, yet still maintaining your opinions.
ReplyDeleteThis post was so hilariously intriguing and accurate! I definitely enjoyed reading this one with all your sarcastic and well-placed remarks about the tropes. I completely agree with all your points as I have encountered all of these cliches while reading through different YA novels. Overall, great post!
ReplyDeleteI really liked reading this post and it made me laugh. All the cliche tropes you mentioned I have read before in many YA books. I really like the satirical way you described each trope and agree with each of your points. I know what you mean by 'that one side character who's left out of the love triangle'. I have read so many books where the side character was the literally the nicest and probably would've had the most stable relationship with the main character.
ReplyDeleteThis was an excellent post and I totally agree with your assessments. I liked all of your sarcastic but accurate commentary and I've seen all of these tropes in books I've read. Another trope I can think of is plot armor, where the main character is basically invincible for the purposes of continuing the plot (bad guy aim sorta falls into this). Overall, I really liked your review and it made me laugh!
ReplyDeleteThis post was amusing and informative, which is always a nice combo. While reading, I recalled books that had these tropes (especially dead parents. Lots of books have dead parents). I do think authors should try to create characters/plots that do not fit into these categories. Who knows, they might create a whole new cliche. Anyway, nice job!
ReplyDeleteThis is all SO TRUE! And I agree with your last paragraph - it is annoying when the villains or protagonists can avoid their problems really easily but don't for the sake of the story (or so the book can be longer). Also is it just me or are love "triangles" getting more and more complicated? I miss the days when it was just Percy and Annabeth taking forever to figure out they like each other (plus Rachel in there somewhere). Now it's honestly hard to keep track of how many people are in love with Sophie and how many of them she has shot down or been oblivious to. Anyway, ranting aside, this was a great, informative, and hilarious post!
ReplyDeleteYour assessments of YA tropes was perfect! My personal favorite was the dead/useless parents, mostly because it is so refreshing when the parents are an actual part of the story while keeping the focus on the protagonists. Your noticeable but not overused humor and sarcasm made this one of the most fun posts to read for me. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteGreat job! This is a really funny, clever post, and even though I wouldn't have identified all of these as common cliches right away, I'm starting to realize how much some of these tropes pop up! It was really fun to be able to read a post and think through all the books I've read that fit perfectly with what you're saying (not to mention one or two I can come up with that fit all of these tropes... yikes), and I having an almost interactive blog post like this one was really fun and refreshing. Also, one sort-of-trope I might add is perfectly plot-convenient timing (for example, some character arrives juuuuuuust in time to stop our main character from doing something or there's just the perfect amount of time for two characters to stop and have a heart-to-heart conversation before the action starts again). Overall, this was a really funny, well-written post!
ReplyDelete