1. "Love Triangles"
Ugh. Please. As a YA reader, this whole idea of a love triangle is really tiring to see in books. As much as it was incredibly intriguing in one of the very first "love triangle" books I've ever read, ("The Vampire Diaries" series, btw), it is getting played out. Since there have been so many books revolved around this, there are no longer "stakes" for the reader, thus making the entire story quite predictable.
This is how it goes:
Girl A is in love with Boy B, but also realized that she has undeniable chemistry with Boy C.
Boy B is a good boy, the usual boy next door. He tutors all of the 5th graders on the block and is your usual good citizen who helps old ladies cross the street. Boy B is head over heels for Girl A, they work as a powerful couple, but Girl A loves excitement, nothing that she does not necessarily find with Boy B.
Boy C is the "bad boy", usually up to no good and never lets anyone in. He's tall, dark and broody. Girl A likes him because he's a bad boy and loves adventure. Boy C likes her because she's "different".
What are the stakes here? The fact that these characters are cop outs from thousands of other books with different faces? Let's try not to do this anymore.
2. Stop creating "close" one-dimensional characters!
If your main character has a best friend, sibling, co-worker, etc. she may be slightly relevant to the plot. There was some reason that the author has mentioned this character, so it is important to give this "close" character at least some dimension. Obviously, if the book is set from one perspective, you have to be careful, but avoid making this character flat!
Nobody enjoys reading about Stella's best friend, Becky who has blonde hair and blue eyes and likes all the boys in the school.
How many other people are out there that are like this? Give her some dimension. Give her some stakes. Even if it is not about her, it's not cool to give your main character a bunch of these "close" people in their lives and not give these people a bit of, well… character.
3. High School Stereotypes
I love a good high school story, but now that I'm in college, I am starting to realize that my high school experience was not so relatable. Yes, there were jocks and cheerleaders in school, but we were definitely not as divided and not every teacher was an asshole. I suppose I'd like to read a high school novel that portrayed high school as a powerful but also really realistic setting. It's a cop out to portray high school as stereotyped as usual, because you fall into this never ending pit of repeating characters.
4. Happy Endings.
Now let me explain. I love a good happy ending, but I mean, a really good happy ending. I feel as though this is a common problem in the YA community. Lots of these stories have a solid plot line, great structured characters, etc. But here's what they do.
They always try to jump to a happy ending, especially when portraying real life things.
It's quite annoying as a reader because although we love when things workout in real life, we want to read realistic stories. Sometimes, the people who are meant for each other do not end up together. Sometimes, terrible things happen and guess what? It's terrible. But it's good. It leaves us room to think and question everything. Happy endings do not give you that effect.
Not suggesting that all YA stories shouldn't end happily. I am just suggesting to consider if a happy ending for your story would be a good idea or not.
5. The Chosen One / Unexpected Powers / Unknown Hierarchy
I am just going to combine all of these in one because I feel as though they all follow under this basic idea. I am really tired of reading stories that revolve around characters discovering some unknown ability / truth about them. The idea itself is not bad, but so many authors have went down that route so now it is hard to achieve those things with being "unique" or different in YA literature. We will always have only one Harry Potter and in this sense, I think that's enough.
