There are several tropes and cliches in books that are overused and just done poorly each time. But there are some tropes as well that are always pleasant to read and work almost every time. Here are some of my favorite and easily most hated tropes and cliches in books and novels:
1.) The unreliable narrator trope is one of my favorites to read almost every time. It’s such a satisfying way to build deep psychological engagement from the reader to look past the surface and play almost like a detective to see the real story being written. The trope creates complex characters to follow, natural tension, and re-reading value since you can go back and find new clues each time you read, as Gone Girl or many other books turned into a film.
2.)Enemies to Lovers trope is very, very, very overused, which is normally a bad thing, meaning there are a lot more examples of the bad slop romance rather than the great ones, but man, when this cliche is done right it just feels so right. I may be a sucker for romance, to be honest, but still. When two characters who start off hating, opposing, or competing against each other gradually develop mutual respect and romantic love, with the constant will-they, won’t-they dynamic and sharp banter create intense emotional and sometimes comedic pacing while making the characters naturally grow to confront themselves like seen in light novels like “Toradora!”.
3.) Atonement or Trauma Recovery is a book trope and genre that, if done correctly, can feel like such a relaxing, meditative, and reflective read, like seen in Vinland Saga or in several Wattpad and fanfiction written stories. These stories generally dive deep into characters seeking forgiveness for past actions while healing from severe psychological wounds.
Now it’s time to slander some of the worst and most ridiculous tropes and cliches mankind has ever conjured:
1.) The Token Best Friend trope is one of the worst cliches ever. Placing just a character of color, or of the LGBTQ, who serves no purpose outside of filling a story quota of diversity is one of the worst things to be written. It places these people in lesser roles and makes them inherently lesser than.
2.) Women Led Depending on Man. When you set up a woman-led, especially one that is supposed to be strong inherently, then have to turn to and/or constantly lean on and depend on the male counterpart to solve problems or get them out of a situation, it defeats the entire point of the character-led and possible growth.
3.)Love Triangles in romance stories are almost always extremely sloppy and horribly written. They force you to almost pick a side on who to root for, all for the author to write better chemistry with one of the people in the love triangle just for the other person to win out of the triangle. The authors almost always turn one of the members of the love triangle into a nothing-burger character sometimes and remove value from them as well.
