1. "Strong" Female Characters.- Okay, so just because I can, I'm going to use a few of my characters as examples. But before I do, let me say that females are not the only strong specimen of our species. Face it ladies. I'm sure you don't like having to take out the trash, and just because somebody is physically strong, doesn't mean they can't be emotionally or mentally strong. I feel like the term "strong" is majorly misunderstood, and I don't feel like I fully understand it myself, but I'm learning. One of my characters, is a girl who despises weakness. One would suppose immediately from that that she's strong, but she's not. She tries to be her depiction of strong. Along the way, she learns that strong isn't what her early days idea of it is. I'm more of a fan of making strong males and weak females rather than vice versa. Unnecessarily weak males in books to make the females seem stronger is frankly, sickening. Since you guys should know by now that I'm Christian, I'll say that God created man first. He created man to take care of women. Now, woman can take care of herself, but nobody likes to be the guard all the time. Okay? Okay. (That was not a reference to tFiOS, but if you'd like to think that, go ahead). P.S. Girls aren't always jerks either, and neither are guys. Vice versa, they're not always paragons. Guys. A little bit will do of each, thank you. Everyone has flaws, and breaking points, and pluses in their character.
2. You guessed it. The love triangle.- Really, I shouldn't have to explain this one, but I will. Every romance is so much sweeter and more beautiful, if there isn't competition, but there are trials along the way. Actually, I think I've shipped people who weren't in love triangles much more than those in such. Such as Hiccstrid, and a few others. But it's better than a character who gives hope to one suitor, the changes their mind. Stop being fickle, YA characters! Pick a side and stay there. I also notice that most times, girls are the ones who are trying to make up their minds. Okay, so I would say that most times, girls throw themselves at guys, not the other way around. However, that could just be the part of the World I've seen, and I could be wrong. But still, I didn't even choose a "team" in tHG until someone asked me. I honestly didn't care. Now, would you rather up the tension via Love Triangle, and get people mildly shipping them, or pair your MC with the character of your choosing, have the readers (Or, me, at least) shipping a lot more, and up the tension via actual problems, (MAJOR SPOILERS TO HTTYD: like being attacked by a crazy maniac who can control dragons and kills your MC's dad? Bang! Proves how much Astrid cares about Hiccup by her reaction.)
3. 1st person present tense.- okay, I don't know if this is actually a cliche, but in tHG, I really didn't like how the tense was written. It messed with my head.
4. Trilogy- Okay, this has gotten irritating. So much so that I'm actually expanding something I planned to be a trilogy into five books (Which is REALLY HARD work for me because I condense really well). I understand that trilogies are nice amount of book and all, but add in all the other cliches and you have something people call "the Hunger Games all over again." And I know how much you Maze Runner fans hate being compared to them (Which the latter was actually written first). Imagine if it were your own book being compared?
5. Dumbed Down Language- Okay, OKAY. This needs to stop. We're teenagers. We have brains. We have dictionaries. I'm not saying that you have to use words like "exponentially", "Supercalafragilisticexpialadocious"(Which should really be a word in my computer's dictionary by now), or "Raxicoricofalibatorious" (Not blaming my computer for that.) "Stupendous" "ludicrous" every single page, but try to talk like you're speaking intelligently, or to an adult, because that's what teenagers want to be treated like. Not kids, adults.
6. The main character succeeds at everything.- Major case of this in Alexander Dumas' "The Three Musketeers", and it's funny. D'artangan literally never fails in a duel. Sometimes he's a bit late, but he is a 17th century France paragon, basically. Don't let your character be a their century paragon. Don't justify their sins. For all the Bible people, King Saul justified his sins. King David repented for his, and that's the main difference between the two. You want your character to be more like David, I'm sure.
7. Pills/medicine to revoke emotions.-Okay, I've also contemplated this one, but it does seem cliche. But, I'm going to agree with people, and what they've said. Cliches are practically impossible to avoid. However, put a new spin on them. Instead of them revoking emotions, what if they added emotions? I'm not going to go on, because you should brainstorm for yourself, but really.
8. No actual damage to Earth.-Okay, Dystopian? Future world that has been in war? THERE SHOULD BE SOME ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE. Don't you think? I do.
Okay, so these are my opinions. What are yours? Do you think YA is extremely cliched? What do you think some of those cliches are? Comment down below!
-Viola June HFA-DGN
