forum What's your least favorite character trope?

Started January 26, 2018 by @Grace<3

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I'm just curious to know what your least favorite character archetype is (mostly so I can avoid falling into cliches lol) Mine is the ridiculously mean jock who usually serves as a one-dimensional antagonist in YA novels.

Oh gods, that's a tall order. I'm very, very tired of one-dimensional villains who only exist to be evil and mess things up for the heroes/protagonists. And useless Bella Swan-type heroines who have no personality to speak of and just seem to be carried along by the story.

I can't think of any I absolutely hate, but the weak nerd/geek girl always gets on my nerves. Like, how do you think she carries all those heavy books? With noodle arms? No. If she can carry two-three giant text books and a big book to read in her free time, then she can lift a heavy thing or two.

@FantaPop the one-dimensional villain thing bugs me SO much you have NO idea. And then there are those heroines who are obviously supposed to be badass but which end up as overly sassy and cocky and self-confident idiots who usually are extremely attractive and have deadly fighting skills and/or extremely powerful magic and dark pasts which they brood about constantly. This bugs me as much as or more than the Bella-Swan types. (Sorry I got a bit passionate there I just hate it so much).

Mine is the 'umbrige/joffrey'. those characters that are specifically designed to absolute dickwads, with no solid or believable reasoning behind their dickishness. A story is like a painting. its vast and complex and there are parts of it, characters, that are the bright colours and beautiful landscapes, and others that or the dark, brooding, ominous sections that are brilliant in their own way, and serve to accent the bright parts. The umbridge/joffery characters are the juice stains from a careless passerby. they're lazy on the writers part and in no way whatsoever pleasant to read.

@FantaPop, Isabel, Alice O'Mally, @Tarrant_Korrin I completely agree with you guys one hundred percent!! It seems that one dimensional villains seem to be the most hated trope so far. I should probably develop my own antagonist a little more to prevent him from falling victim to this awful trope. :)
Another trope that really bothers me is that one character that pretty much every novel has that had the absolute worst backstory and is extremely edgy and "dark." The tragic backstory kid usually is just way to extreme. 9 times out of 10, they're either abused, orphaned, have seen death, or the last one of their tribe (bonus points if they're all 4). It's fine to have characters with darker pasts, but when the only personality you give them is "dark and darker" than maybe you should do some rewriting.

Alice I hate that archetype almost as much as you do. IT FRUSTRATES ME UGH. I mean, this might be an unpopular opinion, but while I appreciate seeing girls being able to fight and be as good as or better than a man, I feel like it's somehow not that satisfying. To me, it feels like that's basically saying a person has the most value if they act like a buff man. I'd like to see more stories that celebrate the specific strengths that only women have, showing those strengths winning the day, strengths that men NEED to rely on, you know? Rather than just making everyone the same: badass heartless fighter who's also super hot.

I agree that the edgy, dark character can be annoying, but sometimes characters with a dark past turn out differently. they turn into Kara zor-el, or the doctor. characters that go through all that pain and suffering and loss, and it just makes them kind.

@Masterkey yes, I agree! But then there's also the fact that it's super overdone, like the author is trying way too hard. And I don't think the women should be portrayed as better or smarter as men, I feel like they should be equal.

@Tarrant_Korrin the doctor like from Doctor Who?

@Tarrant_Korrin Agreed :)

lol the average kid no one knew turns out to be the chose one.

I hate the "I'm not like everyone else" character, who claims to be unique and original, when they are just like everyone else. These also tend to be the characters who demonise people who they have never talked to, simply because they are more successful than the character.

Alice, Yes definitely, they should be equal. Being a woman isn't better than being a man, and being a man isn't better than being a woman. We all just as humans have different personalities and strengths, and we all need each other for those different strengths.

the white male nerd. they're always so incredibly entitled.
the bella swans. just no personality.
the one-dimensional villains. boring.
the Katniss everdeens (although I kinda like Katniss herself). they're super strong, beautiful, and involved in a weird love triangle. like. its the end of the world. either pick a guy or tell them both that ur kinda busy saving the world rn.
the ~black~ friend. the only black person in the group. horribly stereotyped.
I could go on…

alsoooooooooooo:

• the "popular girl". Although they are necessary for writing a novel set in highschool, I hate it when the main character describes tem as a great person

• when the princess whistles, the birds come

The white, brown haired nerd girls who wear pony-tails, sweater-vests, and have the thick glasses. They have a major crush on that jock, who love some prissy, blonde girl (bonus if she's a cheerleader) who is a jerk to the main girl. Then, after a makeover which ONLY requires taking off the glasses, the girl is suddenly super popular, gets the guy, and gets revenge on the blonde girl.

@Di o
OMG YES. This is SO overused in every school setting out there. And I HATE it when an author suddenly flips the script on the "nerd" by just taking out her braces and glasses and making her beautiful out of nowhere. This type of script isn't realistic, and is honestly so stereotyped. I also hate it when the nerd goes for the jock like you were saying, because why end up with a stuck up jock when you could be way better off without him anyways? I always try to stay away from this type of storyline!

The "last one of his species/clan trope" I can't deny a few of my character's are pretty much that but really I hate how it's like "take pity on me because i'm special and sad" It just kind of bugs me because that's practically all of their backstory

The MC can do everything and anything bc…they're the main character. SOOOO many stories have fallen victim to this trope. It's so aggravating.

The obligatory female on the male team, in which her only personality trait is that she's female.

Y'all got some good points. One thing I don't like is the story that revolves around White Boy*tm who is a normal nobody who one day gets caught up in some rebellion or something by way of coming across Badass Girl (who has built up and dedicated her life to this) and she hauls him back to HQ cuz' she has to, and the Head Honchos decide he is the Chosen One meant to destroy the Evil Government so they assign Badass Girl to train him and after one day of training he's all ready to fight and she's fallen for him and he defeats the Evil Government. This really bugs me because ya know some knuckle-headed boy is gonna take this seriously or something and it tells girls no matter how hard you try, the guy that did almost nothing will take the credit.

The Lavender Owl

YES! This trope bugs me so much! Especially when the White Boy ends up one-upping the Badass Girl, even though he only had a fraction of training compared to anyone else! And said girl just accepts it, otherwise if she gets frustrated, she's labeled as jealous.

Totally. The trope where girls hate each other for no apparent reason, or because they both dig the same guy is also despicable.
The Dumb Blonde stereotype and the damsel in distress trope are harmful as well.
The 'Cool Hot Guy or Girl (who are conveniently wearing something revealing) who is one dimensional and only there to ogle at' trope, too. (I could go on. -_- )

Heck, this one of the reasons I started writing.
We don't need those.

I'm kind of miffed at the fact that all the stories with fat girls I've read, the book revolves around their fatness and how it's such a problem. It's like, fat girls can be badass vampire hunters and warriors and princesses too, there's not enough representation for fat girls in fantasy girls. Heck, there's not enough representations for all other body types other than the standard type, or the hourglass figure!