>

12 juil. 2017

Types of Characters I'm Sick of in YA

Hello everyone !

Today I want to talk about the types of characters I am sick of in YA. I'm warning you, I think I was a bit too sarcastic in this post.
Let's go !


Main Characters

  • The insecure MC. Everyone hits on her but she's not beautiful compared to the mean – perfect – girl. She has to be insecure because no one can relate to a confident MC.
    I don't mind insecurities but I want deeper ones and not just the « I'm not pretty compared to ... »

  • The assassin who suck at his/her job. Dear assassins, if your mission is to kill someone, the least you could do is try. Yes, even if the target is hot. Yes, even if they have piercing eyes and they smell like sandalwood. 

  • « I have a goal, I really do ! ». I didn't know how to sum up this type of MCs but basically they're the ones who have a goal at the beginning of the book and just forget about it after meeting their love interest.

Side Characters 

 
  • The bad parents. Parenting is time consuming. They can't work, drink, gossip with their friends, argue all the time with their children and be good parents. Priorities, guys.

  • The mean girl. She has to be mean, you know ? Otherwise who would made the MC feel bad about herself ?

  • The supportive but dumb best friend. They're completely oblivious to everything happening in the MC's life but of course, they know him/her better than anyone else in the world. They're not the MC's best friend for nothing, after all.

Love Interests

  • The mysterious guy. He's always in the back of the class. He never studies but somehow has very good grades. Also, he's been through a lot. Or he's not human. 

  • The controlling boyfriend. I don't know what the appeal is. This is not romantic. This is not an undeniable proof of love. It's just wrong and authors should stop romanticizing it. 

  • The jerky male interest. I LOVE relationships that start with hate. It's one of those things I can't get enough of but I like it even more when there is a real reason behind it and not just because the male interest is insufferably cocky and generally acting like an ass. 

  • Out of the MC's league. They're popular but don't do anything to be. They're gorgeous, that should be enough, right ? They only date the most popular jocks/cheerleaders but after spending some time with the MC, they realize that having clever conversations is much more interesting. Sorry guys, you can't be a jock/cheerleader and be smart. Everyone knows that.

Vilains

  • The vilain with absolutely no reason to be vilainous. They want to take over the world, to bring chaos because... Chaos is fun. It's known.

  • The jealous vilain. I expect more from vilains than pettiness. I want vilains I can relate to. Those who can poison your mind with their messed up logic. Those who genuinely think they're heroes.

  • "Mwahaha I'm the vilain !". He's dangerous, I promise. I mean, the author said so. What ? What did he do to the heroes ? Hum... Wait, I'm sure there is something. Right ! He threatened them ! That means, he's a great vilain, right ?


That's it for today. I didn't think I was going to come up with so many types of characters. I guess, they were sleeping in a corner of my brain until now.

Do you agree with me ? What types of characters are you sick of ?

Hope you enjoyed, see you next time.

15 commentaires:

  1. Haha, this post is so accurate! "I have plain brown hair and plain brown eyes, and I'm so plain but literally everyone is in love with me, boo hoo." I've got to admit that I'm sort of a sucker for the mysterious guy trope because those are usually the type of guys I'm immediately attracted to, as long as they're nice and not manipulative!

    This is such a great post - I agree with everything here, ha. :)

    ~ Aimal @ Bookshelves & Paperbacks

    RépondreSupprimer
    Réponses
    1. Exactly ! Just thinking about it makes me tired haha

      I used to love the mysterious guy too but they're all the same. They have a bad reputation that turns out to be false, nobody talks to them etc. I want a different type of mysterious guy.

      Thank you ! ^^

      Supprimer
  2. Great list! Love the insecure MC and the mean girl ones. If the MC goes to an academy or exclusive school and there is no mean girl to torment her I think I'd fall over from shock lol.

    And I have no idea why anyone would write a controlling love interest as something to be desired.

    RépondreSupprimer
    Réponses
    1. Haha me too !

      I know, it's so wrong. I've read recently a book where the love interest told the MC "Who are you meeting ? Why ? You won't go alone, I'm coming with you'.
      She was meeting her brother (she didn't grow up with him but it's not like he was dangerous). I cringed so much while reading this and I was shocked when they didn't have a conversation about it. She brought him along and that's it.

      Supprimer
  3. Hahah I love this! I agree with so much on it. I also hate when the MC is insecure about her beauty. I mean, sometimes I'm okay with it, but when I read a book when the MC is like "damn right I'm beautiful", I'm like THANK YOU, GOD, WAS THAT SO HARD?! haha Also, the best friend one! I love it! There are so many books out there where the best friend to the MC is totally clueless, and I feel like if someone knew them that well they would see something was wrong. (also, a cliche is when the BFF has moved away so there's no way for them to know whats happening - that is sort of overdone as well). Great list!

    RépondreSupprimer
    Réponses
    1. Thank you ! ^^
      Yes, it's like authors don't think we can love and relate to a confident MC. Or at least one who doesn't underestimate herself everytime.

      Exactly ! Especially when the MC goes through domething drastic like becoming a werewolf or a vampire. How do you not notice something like that ?!
      Ugh, yes. I don't see the point of creating a best friend for the MC, if they're not going to be involved in the MC's life.

      Supprimer
  4. Oh yes to the insecure mc. Like, I can't with those anymore. :(

    RépondreSupprimer
  5. YEP this pretty much sums up every trope I can't stand when it comes to characters. A lot of these were really popular in books I used to read but when I got older I looked back and realized they weren't very good books at all. Great post!

    RépondreSupprimer
    Réponses
    1. I guess that's the downside of reading a lot, the more we read the more critical we become.
      Thanks ♥

      Supprimer
  6. Oh my goodness, I just shot my drink out of my nose at "smells like sandalwood" bwhahahah. I cannot with the insecure MC, especially when it's not developed. And those side characters are in WAY too many books- I dare say 9 out of 10 books has at LEAST one of those! Totally agree with the love interest ones too. Why do they always have to be mysterious, or even worse, awful!? What about just... nice normal guy that the MC has stuff in common with? What's wrong with that? I LOVE this post, it is just so accurate!

    RépondreSupprimer
  7. Haha I'm glad you liked it ! I completely agree with you, we need more nice guys. That's why I love Since You've Been Gone so much.

    RépondreSupprimer
  8. I'm definitely sick of seeing all of these too! Especially all four types of love interest! Why can't there be more love interests who are just regular nice guys instead of super mysterious, super good-looking jerks? I know that might sound boring to some people, because bad guys are 'exciting', but I think a lot of readers would like some nice guy love interests too. In fact, one of my favourite YA love interests was Levi from Fangirl, and he was super nice! :)

    RépondreSupprimer
  9. I completely agree, we all think that bad guys = exciting but nice guys can be exciting too.
    OMG I LOVED LEVI SO MUCH ! I'm not a huge fan of Fangirl, but Levi was my favorite.

    RépondreSupprimer
  10. I completely agree with these! I got soooo tired of the insecure MC because it's always the ones who don't even have a reason to be insecure. And you know what? It's ok to actually like yourself and have confidence! I want more characters like that! Luckily it's not something you see as often in adult books, and that's what I've mostly been reading lately. And ugh, I can't stand the abusive, alpha male type love interests. And right? I want more villains who actually make some sense (even if they're going about things the wrong way or whatever) and who have reasons that aren't just petty!

    RépondreSupprimer