10 Literary Trends that Need to Stop Right NOW
1. Cheating, womanizing slutty, tattooed manwhore boy falls in love with and corrupts virgin girl.
I'm really not comfortable with the idea that it's perfectly acceptable, even desirable, for boys and men to have ridiculously high numbers of partners, because one day they will settle down and fall in love with a nice virgin girl. I also don't like the message that those other girls deserve this treatment for being "loose." Especially since they are frequently relentlessly and viciously slut-shamed by our so-called 'nice girl' protagonist.
2. BDSM-lite erotica knock-offs of FSoG.
This. Seriously. Needs. To. Stop. So do all the parodies, the homages, the satires, the copiers, and the hangers-on who put in their summaries "fans of FSoG will LOVE..."
Slap yo'self.
3. Spoiled teenage bitches having first world problems.
"Mommy bought me a Dolce and Gabanna prom dress when I ASKED her for Louis Vuitton. I'm going to go clubbing and cheat on my boyfriend with the bad-boy who wears leather pants made by Armani, because he is SUCH a bad-ass counterculture rebel with those Swarvoski gauges."
4. Ordinary girl finds out she is the last of her kind and all these men want to sleep with her/marry her/steal her powers/fall in love with her.
In all fairness, some of these can be quite good. But many of them come off as Twiclones. OR, they end up pushing annoying gender roles, slut-shaming, double-standards, instalove, love triangles, and ridiculous storylines.
If your story in particular is about angels, shape-shifters, vampires, or fae, you should probably just stop right there.
5. OMG YOU GUYS I'M DATING A BOY WHO'S IN A BAND.
Because being famous gives a man permission to be a licentious, drug-using, excessive drinking, foul-mouthed, abusive, womanizing, callous, unfeeling, fiscally irresponsible asshole. Okay, then.
6. Dystopian societies that forbid love for whatever reason.
Romeo and Juliet wasn't all that great the FIRST time around you guys--and that was five hundred years ago.
7. 'Trendy' devotionals.
I'm secular, but I get really irritated when I'm going through the giveaways and see things like 'Fifty Shades of Grace' and instructional manuals for girls on how to protect their V-cards and not be whores. Especially when these things are not labeled as Christian fiction/nonfiction; I've been suckered in to everything from 'Christian' housekeeping to 'Christian' medicine.
8. Shape-shifter/vampire forcibly takes/abducts/rapes his (soul)mate.
Most of these tend to be excuses for blatant misogyny and really disturbing border-line non-con. Of course, the woman falls in love with them immediately and once he gets his way, the man gives her his balls to keep in the expensive purse he buys her. These books are ALL the same, and most of them tend to be horrible.
9. Let's abandon all our problems by taking a road trip!
Not only does this say, "Hey! Running away from our problems is the best solution!" (A very selfish and irresponsible mindset, if you ask me), it also is very rarely about the trip itself and more about having frequent and often irresponsible sex with a boy.
The girl almost never tells anyone where she's going, or who she's going with. The boy is usually involved in something bad, and since this girl also wants to do something bad on the trip he seems like an ideal partner in crime.
Now if these 'road trip' books were actually about the places they see and explore, instead of being totally lame, I would be all over this genre like white on rice. The way it is now, though? No.
10. Trashy Tudor England novels.
That wasn't the only point in European history guys. Neither was the Regency period or the French Revolution. Seriously, what about the Italian Renaissance? The Gothic period in Germany? William the Conqueror? Charlemagne? The Jacobite rebellion? Celtic druids? The Enlightenment? Is Tudor England seriously all you remember from World History?
Coming up next: Ten Literary Trends that Need to Respawn
I'm really not comfortable with the idea that it's perfectly acceptable, even desirable, for boys and men to have ridiculously high numbers of partners, because one day they will settle down and fall in love with a nice virgin girl. I also don't like the message that those other girls deserve this treatment for being "loose." Especially since they are frequently relentlessly and viciously slut-shamed by our so-called 'nice girl' protagonist.
2. BDSM-lite erotica knock-offs of FSoG.
This. Seriously. Needs. To. Stop. So do all the parodies, the homages, the satires, the copiers, and the hangers-on who put in their summaries "fans of FSoG will LOVE..."
Slap yo'self.
3. Spoiled teenage bitches having first world problems.
"Mommy bought me a Dolce and Gabanna prom dress when I ASKED her for Louis Vuitton. I'm going to go clubbing and cheat on my boyfriend with the bad-boy who wears leather pants made by Armani, because he is SUCH a bad-ass counterculture rebel with those Swarvoski gauges."
4. Ordinary girl finds out she is the last of her kind and all these men want to sleep with her/marry her/steal her powers/fall in love with her.
In all fairness, some of these can be quite good. But many of them come off as Twiclones. OR, they end up pushing annoying gender roles, slut-shaming, double-standards, instalove, love triangles, and ridiculous storylines.
If your story in particular is about angels, shape-shifters, vampires, or fae, you should probably just stop right there.
5. OMG YOU GUYS I'M DATING A BOY WHO'S IN A BAND.
Because being famous gives a man permission to be a licentious, drug-using, excessive drinking, foul-mouthed, abusive, womanizing, callous, unfeeling, fiscally irresponsible asshole. Okay, then.
6. Dystopian societies that forbid love for whatever reason.
Romeo and Juliet wasn't all that great the FIRST time around you guys--and that was five hundred years ago.
7. 'Trendy' devotionals.
I'm secular, but I get really irritated when I'm going through the giveaways and see things like 'Fifty Shades of Grace' and instructional manuals for girls on how to protect their V-cards and not be whores. Especially when these things are not labeled as Christian fiction/nonfiction; I've been suckered in to everything from 'Christian' housekeeping to 'Christian' medicine.
8. Shape-shifter/vampire forcibly takes/abducts/rapes his (soul)mate.
Most of these tend to be excuses for blatant misogyny and really disturbing border-line non-con. Of course, the woman falls in love with them immediately and once he gets his way, the man gives her his balls to keep in the expensive purse he buys her. These books are ALL the same, and most of them tend to be horrible.
9. Let's abandon all our problems by taking a road trip!
Not only does this say, "Hey! Running away from our problems is the best solution!" (A very selfish and irresponsible mindset, if you ask me), it also is very rarely about the trip itself and more about having frequent and often irresponsible sex with a boy.
The girl almost never tells anyone where she's going, or who she's going with. The boy is usually involved in something bad, and since this girl also wants to do something bad on the trip he seems like an ideal partner in crime.
Now if these 'road trip' books were actually about the places they see and explore, instead of being totally lame, I would be all over this genre like white on rice. The way it is now, though? No.
10. Trashy Tudor England novels.
That wasn't the only point in European history guys. Neither was the Regency period or the French Revolution. Seriously, what about the Italian Renaissance? The Gothic period in Germany? William the Conqueror? Charlemagne? The Jacobite rebellion? Celtic druids? The Enlightenment? Is Tudor England seriously all you remember from World History?
Coming up next: Ten Literary Trends that Need to Respawn
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Depends on who's writing the Trashy Tudor England novels. If it's Philippa Gregory then I have to take a major U-turn because her hate-on for Anne Boleyn is exhausting. Seriously woman, let it go (then again, I have watched the BBC adaptation of it more than once but that's because their Henry VIII is hot. What?) I am really surprised and creeped out by how many authors who write paranormal romance completely overlook the obvious rape metaphors involved with vampires & werewolves. George Romero made a vampire movie called Martin that focused on that metaphor and showed just how horrifying it is. It's not sexy to take away a woman's right to consent. No means yes is not a thing we should be sexualising, especially since it's a defence used by freaking lawyers and journalists in real life rape causes. Steubenville, anyone?
Bekka (Pretty Deadly Reviews) wrote: "Oh, but I notsosecretly love my trashy Tudor romances. And actual historically accurate fic dedicated to the time period. I've got a lot of 'In my defense' arguments, but lets not go there.
Als..."
I'll give you an example of what I thought of when I read this Poison Princess the whole first hundred pages reads like a commercial for various high end products. Shudders.
Ya know what's really sad? All these things used to bug the hell out of me but its getting to the point where I just want an author to be able to... 1- Spell (or at least spellcheck FFS!)
2- Construct a sentence that is somewhat legible. And be freakin' consistent about it.
3- Proper grammar please.
4- And then maybe round all that out with a semi interesting storyline.
I know! I'm picky. What can I say? I got my edumacation on and now I just cant shut it off. :-)
No seriously, I like this one. I swear if I read another sorta kinda dom story I'm going to lose it.
"2. BDSM-lite erotica knock-offs of FSoG.
This. Seriously. Needs. To. Stop. So do all the parodies, the homages, the satires, the copiers, and the hangers-on who put in their summaries "fans of FSoG will LOVE..."
Slap yo'self."
Slap yo'self, fool! You's awesome.
I swear self-publishing's meteoric rise in popularity and credibility have lowered so many readers's expectations when it comes to basic issues like grammar and spelling.
I see self pub as a blessing and a curse. There are lots of brilliant Indy's out there who I think edit better than some mainstream authors, but for every gem you get you get a dozen that can't spell.
YAL Book Briefs wrote: "I see self pub as a blessing and a curse. There are lots of brilliant Indy's out there who I think edit better than some mainstream authors, but for every gem you get you get a dozen that can't sp..."Exactly. I've read books I loved that I most likely never would have. I can't stand the praising and encouraging of the extremely poorly written ones just because there's a hot guy in it. All it does is ensure that these "writers" will put less and less effort into what they're putting out there.
@Ceilidh: I hate the Paranormals where they pull the fated mate crap but push it to the point of the woman having no choice in the decision. I don't mind the fated mate thing, it just can't override all the relationship building. It makes me think of Lora Leigh's Breed series where they were drugged by a mating hormone. Even if they didn't want to sleep with the H's they would have to or suffer extreme pain. They basically got hormonally rufied. So not hot.
Bekka (Pretty Deadly Reviews) wrote: "Oh, but I notsosecretly love my trashy Tudor romances. And actual historically accurate fic dedicated to the time period. I've got a lot of 'In my defense' arguments, but lets not go there.
Als..."
Oh my, yes. Don't read:
The A-List series
The Clique series
The Bluebloods series
The Alphas series
The Gossip Girl series
The It-Girl series
TinaNicole wrote: "Ya know what's really sad? All these things used to bug the hell out of me but its getting to the point where I just want an author to be able to... 1- Spell (or at least spellcheck FFS!)
2- Con..."
I can think of one or two BDSM fics I actually liked and they weren't 'lite,' and the sex was not the focus of the entire plot, and both had interesting dialogue/characters.
Aww, you're awesome, too! (Homie?)
YAL Book Briefs wrote: "I see self pub as a blessing and a curse. There are lots of brilliant Indy's out there who I think edit better than some mainstream authors, but for every gem you get you get a dozen that can't sp..."I actually made a shelf devoted to that today!
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...
TinaNicole wrote: " YAL Book Briefs wrote: "I see self pub as a blessing and a curse. There are lots of brilliant Indy's out there who I think edit better than some mainstream authors, but for every gem you get you ..."hormonally roofied. I like that. Not the concept, but the name. Brill.
I'll take homie. ;-)I meant the "lite" as well. One of my favorite BDSM books that I'd recommend to anyone regardless of their preferences is The Reluctant Dom by Tymber Dalton.
Is it roofie? I always thought it was rufie. That's gonna bug me now. :-)
I found Beyond Eden by Kele Moon surprisingly good. I think it's got some of the best dialogue I've seen in an erotica novel, BDSM or no.Platinum by Jeffe Kennedy was also pretty good. There were some badly written passages, but the concept was pretty original. The female is an albino who owns her own impressionistic art shop, and the male is an erotic metalworker bad-ass. :D
TinaNicole wrote: "Is it roofie? I always thought it was rufie. That's gonna bug me now. :-)"I think either works. Alternate spelling ftw.
Nenia wrote: "I found Beyond Eden by Kele Moon surprisingly good. I think it's got some of the best dialogue I've seen in an erotica novel, BDSM or no.Platinum by Jeffe Kennedy was also pretty good. There were..."
I wasn't crazy about Beyond Eden but only because of the part where he scolds her for asking about a safeword. I was pissy through the rest of the book. I'm going to check out the other though. It's sounds good. Thanks. :-)
TinaNicole wrote: "Nenia wrote: "I found Beyond Eden by Kele Moon surprisingly good. I think it's got some of the best dialogue I've seen in an erotica novel, BDSM or no.Platinum by Jeffe Kennedy was also pretty go..."
Yeah, that part was kind of disturbing. Also the part when he drew all that blood from Paul with that stupid whip. I was kind of convinced Danny was a psycho after that.
Yeah, I forgot about that. There were a few shudder worthy moments in that book. I will say though, as uncomfortable as I was with parts I was still interested in reading the next one. I'm assuming it hasn't come out since I haven't seen anything. The story was good enough to make me want to know what happens but that's not one I'd recommend to many people.
Book wrote: "Ceilidh wrote: "I swear self-publishing's meteoric rise in popularity and credibility have lowered so many readers's expectations when it comes to basic issues like grammar and spelling."THIS. T..."
It was TOTALLY less repressive than Victorian times. At least Georgian ladies were allowed to read and have fun and show emotion. *shudder* Don't get me wrong, I love Regency and Tudor England fiction, and have shelves dedicated to both, but it'd just be nice to see more engaging historical romances from different time periods.
I just got into Kele via *netgalley and I was so awed that I immediately applied for her boxing romance after reading Eden. And I don't even LIKE boxing romances. But yeah, I get your point. I feel the same way about vampire novels written before Twilight. I call them "untainted".
TinaNicole wrote: "Yeah, I forgot about that. There were a few shudder worthy moments in that book. I will say though, as uncomfortable as I was with parts I was still interested in reading the next one. I'm assuming..."Oh, I'm pretty sure it's out already! It's called Finding Eden and focuses on Danny's and Paul's relationship. I think it's the third one that hasn't been published. (NEED IT NOW.)
But yeah, definitely not for everybody.
I'm so tired of horrible dystopian society is cured by special Mary Sue. The Office of Mercy was such a shitty book. All kinds of people gave it five stars. Did we read the same book? Oh, Poison Princess. That book sucked donkeys.
Nenia wrote: "TinaNicole wrote: "Yeah, I forgot about that. There were a few shudder worthy moments in that book. I will say though, as uncomfortable as I was with parts I was still interested in reading the nex..."No, not that one. That was the prequel. I read that as well. I meant the third. I looked on her website just now. Its called Claiming Eden but the release says "coming some day" WTH is that? Some day? Arggghh! LOL
I HATED her MMA series. I only read Defying the Odds and I wanted to throw my kindle at the wall through the entire book. I'm pretty sure that ones on my heroines-I-want-to-stab-in-the-eye shelf. Yeah, I was not impressed.
I just downloaded Platinum, Nenia. I'll let you know how it goes.
Oh dear. Well, I'll try to hold my reservations until I read MMA for myself. Hopefully I won't chuck my computer out the window. :D :D :DHope you enjoy it!
Alisha-Dear Constant Reader wrote: "I'm so tired of horrible dystopian society is cured by special Mary Sue. The Office of Mercy was such a shitty book. All kinds of people gave it five stars. Did we read the same book? Oh, Poi..."
I felt that way about Warm Bodies. I was like, WHY DID THIS BECOME SO POPULAR? WTF?
Oh no. Poison Princess looked so awesome. CAJUN LOVE INTEREST. How did Showalter fuck that up? D:
@Nenia. Poison Princess...I can't even begin to describe the misery I had with that one. The first hundred pages are like an ad for every designer product known to mankind, the hero is on par with Travis Maddox, and the heroine is the specialist little tart ever. I still have nightmares about that book and it's been three months since I read is. Also, thank you for that Indy list. I really want to read more indy books but I'm too lazy to shift through all the reviews to find what is and what isn't a good pick. This really helps.
Recently I read two books where the heroine has lost a lot of weight and is a size 10, which is told. Now I love these types of stories where the heroine reinvents herself because she does it for herself and no one else. My big issue is that the heroine goes on and on how fat she is, including from her family and the hero's nemesis and size 2 evil wenches. I'm getting sick of the fat shaming for a heroine who a size 10!One was formerly self published and picked up by Loveswept digital and the other published by a big epublisher. The ones from the big epublisher had me raging because the size 10 heroine is called Miss Piggy and Oink and every page is about how fat and undesirable she is.
That is a trend that needs to die a fast death.
Poison Princess was hilariously screwed up. The Cajun drank constantly and was pretty abusive. Everytime he'd get pissed at Evie, he'd drink. It felt like nothing happened for about 75 pages except stupid hints based on Tarrot that were super obvious. It was a mess.
I love spoiled first world princess problems if it's a Mean Girls book and the girl gets her comeuppance at the end.
YAL Book Briefs wrote: "@Nenia. Poison Princess...I can't even begin to describe the misery I had with that one. The first hundred pages are like an ad for every designer product known to mankind, the hero is on par wit..."Yeah! No problem. A lot of the so-called good indie books are seriously overhyped so I thought I'd make one of my own for the underhyped/actually-live-up-to-the-hype books. :)
(Keep checking back!)
Katie(babs) wrote: "Recently I read two books where the heroine has lost a lot of weight and is a size 10, which is told. Now I love these types of stories where the heroine reinvents herself because she does it for h..."That annoys me too. I'm 5'8 and a size 11 and I've never been called fat. All of my closest friends and my sister are my height but between a size 2-5 and its still never come up. It does happen. Girls are mean. People are mean. The way it's being done though is almost like the "slut-shaming"
eta: sorry typo
Katie(babs) wrote: "Recently I read two books where the heroine has lost a lot of weight and is a size 10, which is told. Now I love these types of stories where the heroine reinvents herself because she does it for h..."THAT PISSES ME OFF. I'm a very, very curvy size 14, and the skinniest I've EVER been was size 9, and that was back in high school. Some girls are slender and have large sizes just because they're tall (as I am), or have big hips.
That's actually one of the things that I took into consideration when I wrote one of my books. The main character starts out as size 16, becomes a size 12 when she is STARVED by her kidnappers/becomes sick, and goes back up to size 14 or so once she recovers.
I actually had a reviewer (back when the story was originally posted on Fictionpress c. 2009), say, "EW. WHY DID YOU MAKE HER SO FAT?" That made me really angry. Another thing that makes me angry is when "anorexically skinny" is used as a positive description.
Vulpix wrote: "I love spoiled first world princess problems if it's a Mean Girls book and the girl gets her comeuppance at the end."Have you read Speechless? It's kind of like that. :)
Ashleigh Paige wrote: "Weeeeeell, I don't know about number four, but I'm totally biased because one idea I'd like to turn into a book has elements of it. Le "ordinary girl" is a Summer faerie when the Summer fae suppose..."Was it John Mayer? >_>
Nenia wrote: "Vulpix wrote: "I love spoiled first world princess problems if it's a Mean Girls book and the girl gets her comeuppance at the end."Have you read Speechless? It's kind of like that. :)"
Not yet but I do have it :)
Nenia wrote: "Oh my, yes. Don't read:The A-List series
The Clique series
The Bluebloods series
The Alphas series
The Gossip Girl series
The It-Girl series "
Too late. :D >:DD
Skyla wrote: "Can we please find a book with a player girl "corrupts" good boy/girl just so we could have variety? "Your description made me think of Geek Girl, but that was actually a rather cute read from what I remember. Also she's not a player.
Merary wrote: "Nenia wrote: "Oh my, yes. Don't read:The A-List series
The Clique series
The Bluebloods series
The Alphas series
The Gossip Girl series
The It-Girl series "
Too late. :D >:DD"
You would! I don't understand why you insist on torturing yourself. ;)
Skyla wrote: "Rose wrote: "Skyla wrote: "Can we please find a book with a player girl "corrupts" good boy/girl just so we could have variety? "Your description made me think of Geek Girl, but that was actually..."
OH. EM. GEE. I'm so jealous. I want to read that book so badly.
Vulpix wrote: "Nenia wrote: "Vulpix wrote: "I love spoiled first world princess problems if it's a Mean Girls book and the girl gets her comeuppance at the end."Have you read Speechless? It's kind of like that...."
You must! Soon! It's one of the best chicklitty YA I've read this year.
Skyla wrote: "This list is full of win."Thank you Skyla!
I like most of Philippa Gregory's stuff, though she's written some stinkers. I don't much care for her cousins' war series, especially The Red Queen. The main character in that book seriously pissed me off. Alison Weir is similar, if you haven't read her.
YES. Thank you. I've noticed that not-so-sekrit-religious-agenda plague netgalley. I've been approved for several books by them only to realize too late that they were *gasp* CHRISTIAN FICTION/NONFICTION. There is a Christian tag, and I get really pissed when the publisher person doesn't use it. Perhaps it's accidental, but it happens SO OFTEN that I suspect it's a conspiracy. Maybe they want more readers--but if so, they aren't doing themselves any favors. I can't stand the gender roles/sexual stereotypes they propagate, and if religion is preached at me in a blatantly condescending manner, I mark it as DNF and give it a 1. That's not entertainment. That's knocking on my door during dinnertime and asking me if I've heard the good news.
Kyle wrote: "So, yeah, I have a question. Am I the only one who thinks the term 'christian housekeeping' is hilarious. Like, what are you gonna do, read exodus to a bottle of Mr. Clean?"I haven't read the book in question yet, but if I had to guess, I'd say that they probably include passages from the bible about the importance of having a clean and welcoming home and being a gracious host, and pair those side-by-side with decorating ideas/crafts.
Fari wrote: "I have to admit, one or two things on this list I really like reading. Guilty pleasures, you see. :PBut this list is awesome. And you are too! <3"
Awww, you're awesome too! <3
And yes, I definitely have guilty pleasure books too. And
IOW:Dear Authors, Many of Whom Are Female and Seem To Have Weirdly Internalized Self-Hate and Misogyny,
Please stop.
Sincerely,
Readers
Leah wrote: "IOW:Dear Authors, Many of Whom Are Female and Seem To Have Weirdly Internalized Self-Hate and Misogyny,
Please stop.
Sincerely,
Readers"
Exactly!
Frankly, I'm just tired of authors resorting to stereotypes and formulaic storylines. Real people and real problems are a pleasure even in the most ridiculous of settings.
I hate these all but No. 10 is a HUGE peeve of mine! I love historical fiction, but from, like, other cultures and time frames than just the Tudors. Seriously, Henry VIII is NOT that interesting. I guess these authors like writing about him for the same reason they write about other shitty abusive bad boys...
I've got a lot of 'In my defense' arguments, but lets not go there.
Also: I didn't realize the first world problems girl whining about material things was a thing? What books does this happen in so I can avoid them?