Has this ever happened to you? You start reading a book, and you're going through the motions, deciding if you like it or not when you uncover that a recurring idea keeps popping up. Maybe they won't go down this route, you think, until yes, unfortunately they do. Suddenly you're rolling your eyes and you're finding it quite difficult to continue reading said book. I'll give you an example: This is my situation with Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, and while I like the overall story that's being told, it's very hard to get engaged because of the 'girl hate' and the 'one woman fits all' tropes. The book is 404 pages long and what should have been done in less than week has taken me at least one and a half, and I'm just about half way through. The book is fine, but cliched.

So here is my plea to all the authors out there, to let you all know what tropes I personally am sick of reading about:

1. Girl Hate

I mentioned this earlier but I'd like to reiterate how much I dislike this trope. Why would you hate someone for existing - it seems like a lot of the times I read this trope, it's typically a 'I'm not like most girls'-thinking girl shaming another girl for being feminine, or being good at whatever the other girl isn't, or some other ridiculous notion that describes the girl's competitive nature. You don't have to put someone of your own gender down to uplift yourself; is she that much of a threat to you?

2. One woman fits all

Also mentioned earlier, I want to expand upon what I mean by this: This is a character who gets every possible character trait, instead of a defining one, simply because she is the only main lady character. She is typically surrounded by a group of guys who are fleshed out with motives and different skills, but alas since the main lady character is the only woman, she gets all these traits attached to her, such as: Being sporty, but beautiful. Being crass, but knows how to be a lady. Strong and sharp-tongued, but vulnerable. Being skilled in at everything, but also clumsy and falling everywhere. Being smart, but being cutely ignorant (where a guy has to show her how to do something). And more! In 'Throne of Glass,' Celaena is the woman in the competition but surely if she's good enough to be in it, there's bound to be one or two more worthy women thieves or assassins out there, right? I'm not trying to say that a woman can't be all of those things, but come on - you couldn't have written even just one other woman for the ride? I have a problem with the fact that she has to be everything because she's the only representation for an entire gender.

3. Love triangles

How many times are we gonna see two people fall in love with someone and then it becomes a big deal that that someone has to choose? Next!

4. The unknown chosen one

Why is always an obscure, random person that's destined to save the world - why can't it be someone who is groomed for the job and spent their time mentally preparing for the task?

5. Your first love is your soulmate

I want to read a story about how the first love interest doesn't work out for whatever reason. Maybe they grew apart, fell out of love, something went wrong. Maybe they fell in love with someone else. Your first love isn't necessarily the only person you're going to be with for the rest of your life, and it's time to start reading that in literature.

6. Straight, white, neurotypical protagonists

I want to see more diversity... People of color, LGBTQ+, and neurodivergent (and a mixture of those three as well) deserve to have their stories told, too; imagine what we are missing out on because we aren't hearing about other perspectives.

7. Your love interest is perfect

Let's face some facts, people: Humans are humans, and that means they have flaws. You aren't going to be in love with them everyday, and there are going to be struggles; let's not pretend everything is fine and dandy all of the time! Show how you all can grow together and how you deal with your issues.

8. Overpowered protagonist

I'm thinking of Naruto as I write this, and I hope I can explain it well enough: This was a series that was about growing up and dealing with the growing pains of...growing up, which presumably contributed to its popularity. I was about the age of the protagonists when I first started reading the manga, so a lot of the issues they were dealing with, I dealt with, too (though my life wasn't in danger by a notorious evil organization) but by the time the series came to an end, Naruto became overpowered and godlike just to win. The series no longer felt like what it used to, and it wasn't because of how long it lasted - these characters weren't even human anymore. This can also be found in Bleach with Ichigo's character.

These are just a couple of the tropes that drive me crazy. If you're going to write any of these, at least put your own personal twist on it; make it different and make it yours.