What are some things you are tired of seeing that are trends in publishing? Maybe something that pops up on a lot of covers these days, or the popularity of certain tropes in a particular genre? Let it out!
1. Internalised Misogyny
Reading the Alphabet series by Sue Grafton has got me audibly groaning at "I'm not like other girls!" and other such lines... unlike other girls, am I right? I mean, I'm into Dungeons and Dragons and gaming, unlike other girls who are too interested in causing drama.
Enough.
Women get enough criticism as it is; we should be supporting each other, not dragging each other down. Kinsey almost prides herself on cutting her own hair with nail scissors every six weeks, and seems to half enjoy hating the haircut she gave herself. Because it is first person narration, with Kinsey as the narrator, no one calls her out on it. Even the Goodreads reviews encourage this, rather than call it out. I'm tired of this, both in fiction and reality.
2. Death to that one minority character
Whether someone is disabled, female, POC, LGBTQ+, or a combination of those, they are the only character who ticks the "Representation?" box. And then they die.
Why? I'm so tired of watching a movie, or reading a book, coming across a character who is not cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied white guy, who only exists to die and move the plot along. Their death causes such pain that the other characters must fight to get revenge, or find out what happened, or just generally suffer. It is exhausting. It needs to stop.
I'm also going to use this moment to complain about minority characters being in a position of service - black maids, Hispanic cleaners, gay wedding planners - rather than being an actual character. They are just their job, and just their minority. That needs to stop.
3. Love triangles
Oh no, I am a woman and I must decide whether I want to spend the rest of my life with Forgettable Guy #1 or Forgettable Guy #2! However will I decide!
Firstly, this tends to be an unnecessary romance which is just annoying in itself. Not everyone needs to be in a romantic relationship. Platonic relationships are wonderful. Secondly, a lot of these triangles tend to be toxic, with an ultimatum of deciding between the two. There's the idea of going with the "wrong choice" and whoever isn't picked must be a failure of a person. Thirdly, why not instead have a healthy poly-amorous relationship? More often than not, these books also fail the Bechtel test; any conversation between two named female characters must be about a man, or what else might they talk about? Makeup? Clothes? The rise of fascism in current politics? The rising popularity of Nazism, and how it is called "alt right"? Nail polish?
This does lead me into...
4. Child as punishment/reward
Often a romance novel ends with marriage and children. This is deemed to be the ultimate prize, the reward for the most romantic romance to ever romantically romance. However, if the woman is of "loose morals" the child is the punishment for that, and she must struggle to look after herself and the child.
I'm so tired of this.
5. Book cover: Woman in dress
So many books, across so many genres have the same cover... a woman wearing a dress. More often than not, and probably the biggest reason I'm tired of seeing it, the dress is utterly beautiful and either it isn't available to buy or would cost me a fortune to get. I'm surrounded by these beautiful images, and I can't wear the dress. Can we have some dresses that are less gorgeous?
What are your least favourite tropes?
If you want to read more of my T5W posts feel free, and remember that I am tracking the books I read this year so you can take a look at that too.
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