I know this is probably a common topic. For me, I’m not sure if it’s a “trope” or just totally misinformed writing, but it’s how many authors approach alcoholism. Some examples are Girl on the Train and The House Across the Lake, among HUNDREDS. If anyone else here has struggled with alcoholism, you know it’s not just "i woke up after downing an entire bottle of whiskey but was able to shower, down a cup of coffee, and solve a murder. "
Every time I have to read “eyes one color with flecks of another” it sears off another layer of my brain
Keep in mind that all tropes can be done well, and often were done well by some classic book. But then they get overused or done badly and that’s when I find them irritating.
Love triangles that take forever to resolve. Make up your mind!
Multiple fake-out deaths. After a while I just want someone to really die!
On the other hand, I’m also tired of so many people dying that all the people I liked are gone, and the few remaining original characters now have impenetrable plot armor because someone has to survive from beginning to end.
Historical fiction or fantasies that romanticize the past to an absurd extent.
Orphans. So many orphans.
Reckless protagonists who never suffer the consequences of their recklessness. Sensible friends who are berated for being sensible. Or maybe they are persuaded to be reckless too and find out it’s great and there are no consequences.
Traumatic incidents that leave zero scars and are never referenced again.
Interesting. I’m not an alcoholic but I’ve definitely drank my share of alcohol and I thought The Girl On The Train did a great job capturing the feeling of half remembering something that happened in a black out and the feeling of anxiety and shame that comes with it.
True, I think it captured the hangxiety piece great, and it’s been years since I read it. I was mostly just referring to how quickly alcoholics in some stories “bounce back” but I could have used hundreds of other examples😂
i realllllly hate the trope of a simple miscommunication destroying everything when in reality they would have discussed it right then and there. i also really don’t like third act breakups even though they’re everywhere. i hate how little of the book is left after the resolve.
“She released a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding.” Why is this in every book EVER???
I dislike the chosen hero sterotype. I find it okay in some instances such as in video games but besides that it’s far overused and even the twists on the trope are far overused.
Not so much the writing of a book, but the little teasers/synopsis of them. They’re all: Berlin. 1933. Or meet x a(n) y who z.
Can we please do better? It immediately makes me not want to read the book.