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Teenage protagonists.

Very hard to write believably, especially in any fantasy setting. The second I pick up a book and read the summary, it gets put down the moment any teen lead is described as being incredibly powerful, because 9 times out of 10 the author has written a special snowflake that can do no wrong.

This is even more unforgivable if the book is set in a somewhat realistic fantasy universe where 13 year olds are not known for being great warriors/mages/what have you, but the protagonist is just mysteriously talented because reasons, and received no formal training or is still in training and needs more time to believably achieve their goals.

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marshmallowcreampie
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To me, I think love triangles are the most ridiculously written cliches. It starts off well enough but then they kinda fall flat somewhere and yeah...

I kinda think vampire/supernatural/werewolf stories with the main character being half vampire (or some other supernatural creature) isnt pulled off very well. A lot of times the author/writer doesn't bother exploring the actual vampire/supernatural side of the half-human character and they have the character try fitting in with humans rather than vampires. Like most half-human characters practically reject their supernatural half in favor of their human side. I'd like to see one where a half-supernatural human character fall for someone who was a full supernatural character and try being accepted by their supernatural kin.


My problem with these kinds of characters is that a lot of them have unwarranted angst. (this doesn't just apply to half-human half-supernatural characters, it's pretty common with characters who have powers and such) Like, I get the idea of such a character fantasizing about a normal life, but it's not usually pulled off well. For that kind of thing to work, the character should have specific, valid complaints rather than wishing for some vague notion of normality.


I'd like to see one that doesn't want to be normal and feels suffocated by fully human friends and family trying to push them in that direction.

Another one I'm not a fan of is magic schools. No offense to Hogwarts and the like. But I'd like to see more characters with magical talent becoming wild magicians who travel around honing their own unique skills.

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Vampires, if you ask me. The whole concept of an immortal being stripped of their humanity has so much untapped potential, which is mostly left untapped because people would rather use them for YA Romance twilight-fodder nonsense. I'm also not a fan of vampires as mindless monsters, though. I think if you're gonna write vampires, you ought to take a cue from Anne Rice - immortal characters in general have a lot of potential in terms of looking at the philosophical side human nature and you just don't see enough of that.

Also, I find high school settings to be pretty unfailingly gag-worthy. You just... can't work with that very much. Teenagers are one thing, but modern high-school-going teenagers are kind of a no. That and dystopian-society teenagers. Those are never believable.

Dangerous Ladykiller

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There are a few concepts that Im not a fan of because of how poorly they have been done. The typical summary of the "normal high school student until ____" will always result in me putting that book or comic back on the shelf. It could be that Im just not a teenager anymore and cant relate or simply because I just know better now.
Im also not a fan of detective stories because they tend to use the same character tropes like the, "I dont have to follow the rules, I got this" types. And they always go or end in the same direction.
Ive only ever read Anne Rice's vampire novels, which were very good in my opinion. Many people make comments they dont vampire stories because of Twilight (which Ive never read) but honestly, I still like vampires & other supernatural stuff. Even if they tend to be uncreative, its just a guilty pleasure.

Eternal Sex Symbol

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There are a few concepts that Im not a fan of because of how poorly they have been done. The typical summary of the "normal high school student until ____" will always result in me putting that book or comic back on the shelf. It could be that Im just not a teenager anymore and cant relate or simply because I just know better now.
Im also not a fan of detective stories because they tend to use the same character tropes like the, "I dont have to follow the rules, I got this" types. And they always go or end in the same direction.
Ive only ever read Anne Rice's vampire novels, which were very good in my opinion. Many people make comments they dont vampire stories because of Twilight (which Ive never read) but honestly, I still like vampires & other supernatural stuff. Even if they tend to be uncreative, its just a guilty pleasure.


Even when I was a teenager, I didn't usually relate to teenage protagonists in books. A lot of 'em are either boring or annoying or both, and cared about different things than I did/do. I guess a big part of it is that I didn't go to a stereotypical high school where jocks and cheerleaders ruled with an iron fist. I can't really relate to whiny dipshits who are obsessed with popularity and dating.

Did high school used to be like that? I know there's a tendency for kid/teen related media to be about 20 years out of date, since the adult creators base things off of their own experiences. Hence why I could never related to teen books and shows and the like. Maybe that'll change in 10 years, when the people from my generation will be the ones doing the writing.

Dangerous Ladykiller

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marshmallowcreampie
Little Dead Soldier
There are a few concepts that Im not a fan of because of how poorly they have been done. The typical summary of the "normal high school student until ____" will always result in me putting that book or comic back on the shelf. It could be that Im just not a teenager anymore and cant relate or simply because I just know better now.
Im also not a fan of detective stories because they tend to use the same character tropes like the, "I dont have to follow the rules, I got this" types. And they always go or end in the same direction.
Ive only ever read Anne Rice's vampire novels, which were very good in my opinion. Many people make comments they dont vampire stories because of Twilight (which Ive never read) but honestly, I still like vampires & other supernatural stuff. Even if they tend to be uncreative, its just a guilty pleasure.


Even when I was a teenager, I didn't usually relate to teenage protagonists in books. A lot of 'em are either boring or annoying or both, and cared about different things than I did/do. I guess a big part of it is that I didn't go to a stereotypical high school where jocks and cheerleaders ruled with an iron fist. I can't really relate to whiny dipshits who are obsessed with popularity and dating.

Did high school used to be like that? I know there's a tendency for kid/teen related media to be about 20 years out of date, since the adult creators base things off of their own experiences. Hence why I could never related to teen books and shows and the like. Maybe that'll change in 10 years, when the people from my generation will be the ones doing the writing.


Yeah, it seems that High School students in most media or books are based off kids from the 50s. When I was in High School, it was mainly emo/scene kids. We did have "jocks", but it was a very small crowd and it was mainly for basketball,volleyball, and tennis. Plus we also had the weebo/anime lover crowd & these kids would wear fox/wolf tails and dog collars. So yeah...I dont think any school setting from most stories would be relatable to how it was for me.

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I generally avoid romance altogether, since it's basically the same story being told over and over again with only minor variations. I sort of want to read a story where the main character ends up being single, but fulfilled.
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