In parts one and two of this series I described some of the tropes that most annoy me and I’m going to continue in that griping tradition for part three.  It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these so I’m ready to start ranting!  The usual caveat applies: tropes are not necessarily clichés.  They’re just devices used by authors to tell a story but that doesn’t mean they don’t occasionally stray into the world of cliché.  Some of them annoy me but you, as a reader, may very well love these ones.  It all depends on the person.

1.  Adults Are Useless

This is very prominent in YA and in Children’s Fiction because the protagonists in these books are not adults.  So of course they see adults as hindering their progress on whatever mission they’re on rather than what the adults are actually doing: worrying about them.  Sometimes adults deliberately obstruct children’s or teen’s activities and it’s usually in the name of safety.  Other times they’re just being jerks, as every child or teen has found out at some point.

In some ways the trope makes sense—children and teens are more impressionable and more likely to adapt to events going on around them.  For example, if a child is telling an adult that there’s magic and lots of horrible things are happening because of it, then the adult is probably going to be useless and deny the whole thing.  It’s annoying but it’s at least believable.  When this trope is annoying is when all adults are useless, not just some.  That’s just unrealistic and a total caricature.  That’s somewhat expected in children’s fiction but when you’re reading YA it’s just patronizing, even if you are a teenager. Continue reading →