forum What are some things you'd like to see more of in fiction?

Started November 14, 2018 by @[email protected]

tune

I'm thinking of writing a story and am wondering if they're any types of characters or tropes you see lacking in stories

I'm thinking of writing a story and am wondering if they're any types of characters or tropes you see lacking in stories

Diverse characters that aren't just pandering…

No reckless characters who act on a whim.
A good love story with no "falling in love at first sight and gets together in a month or two" plotline. Along with understanding partners who do not assume and over react to things they see happening to their partner/lover.
For example. "OMG he looked at that girl so long he totally must like her. I must run and catch a flight to Timbuktu, creating a dramatic scene so that he must chase me here, proclaim his undying love for me, and then we kiss".

• Nice guys who aren't depicted as being dumb, pushovers, or boring, or as the butt of every joke (because nice guys are awesome irl and deserve more credit!!!)
• Women who don't show a lot of emotion but aren't strong women (tm).
• Characters who are neurotic/anxious messes and stick to the description (in other words, don't make them act uncharacteristically brave and put-together in every single fight). Also they need to be written in a way so that the reader doesn't think they're crazy or unreasonable- perhaps make the reader even feel for them
• Women who have dated a lot of people. I don't mean a heartbreaker kind of trope. She's just dated a lot, with no real luck, and she isn't written in a negative light for it.
• Older characters. I mean basically anyone over the age of 35. How often do most of us write about adults in our stories unless they're someone's parents? (I'm guilty too… My oldest was in her 60s, but she dies part of the way in, so now the oldest is 29, almost 30)

Yeah all of those.

Shit, thanks a lot! These are all great suggestions! Please keep 'em coming.

• Asexuals and aromantics
• Also poly and nonbinary people
• Healthy romances
• Love triangles that are an actual triangle, not "Oh no Mary Sue has both DarkBroodyMan and SoftSunshineBoy pining over her, who will she choose?" I just want a love triangle where I can't tell the outcome from a mile away.

• Asexuals and aromantics
• Also poly and nonbinary people
• Healthy romances
• Love triangles that are an actual triangle, not "Oh no Mary Sue has both DarkBroodyMan and SoftSunshineBoy pining over her, who will she choose?" I just want a love triangle where I can't tell the outcome from a mile away.

YES, WE NEED MORE ARO, ASEXUAL, POLY, AND NBS!
Oh, and genderfluid and bigender

• Asexuals and aromantics
• Also poly and nonbinary people
• Healthy romances
• Love triangles that are an actual triangle, not "Oh no Mary Sue has both DarkBroodyMan and SoftSunshineBoy pining over her, who will she choose?" I just want a love triangle where I can't tell the outcome from a mile away.

YES, WE NEED MORE ARO, ASEXUAL, POLY, AND NBS!
Oh, and genderfluid and bigender

Yes!

• Characters from countries that don't have a ton of characters from. I can't remember reading a book where the MC is from Venezuela, Peru, Ukraine, etc.
  Books set in Wisconsin please?
• Guys who are in theatre but not portrayed as super feminine.
• Mermaids, sirens, fairies, dragons….I love me some magical creatures!
• Characters whose gender or sexuality isn't their main feature. Personally, I'm more interested in a story with an ace character than a story about being ace. I live the latter every day.
• Non-traditional families other than 'single mom struggling to raise her kid' (not that there's anything wrong with that, I've just seen it a lot in books.)
• Characters who are assassins/killers/hunters that we actually see assassinate/kill/hunt.

Yes!

• Guys who are in theatre but not portrayed as super feminine.

One of the most masculine guys I know is in theatre… Granted I do see a lot of feminine guys in theatre, but that is totally a stereotype… In fiction every guy in theatre is portrayed as a feminine, beanie-wearing man-child… Amd that's wrong…

FUCKIN LESBIANS

• diversity
• less “I am the chosen one” tropes
• less noble “it’s is the right thing I must do it” heroes. (Think, Percy Jackson or Peter Quil)
• FRIENDSHIPS THAT DONT HAVE TO BE ROMANTIC
• dinosaurs

On the topic of Chosen Ones, I'd honestly rather see the soldier who's trained their whole life to defeat the villain win instead of having Random Farmer Sunshine Child show up as the Chosen One and upstage them.

Also, in the Plot Factory area, there's some asks that are "As blank, what do you want to see more of in stories?" and there's one for LGBTQIA+, men, women, POC, children, and I think teens and adults??

Characters from countries that don't have a ton of characters from. I can't remember reading a book where the MC is from Venezuela, Peru, Ukraine, etc.

Yes this! I just finished reading a book that took place in Peru, and I read one a while back that took place in Botswana (I don't know if the characters were necessarily from there, but they had been living there for a while) . They were both kinda meh in terms of the story, but it was refreshing to be reading about someplace really cool and different rather than reading about a character who lives in New York for like the 800th time.

In addition to a bunch of other stuff that's already been mentioned:

• I'd like to see less romance. Maybe it's just because I'm single and bitter, but can we stop with the idea that everyone is going to meet their soulmate before they graduate high school like????
• Kind of building off the point about characters from different places, but I'd like to see more dystopias/futuristic sci-fis that don't take place in the US. The only dystopia that I can think of (that I've read) that didn't take place in the US is 1984 which took place in England. There's a lot of really cool and unique places out there, so why stick to the US?
• Teenagers that actually talk like teenagers. Have you ever read a book where a character said something and you just kinda think "this is definitely written by someone who is at least 40 years old and has probably never interacted with a real teenager because no 16 year old would realistically say that." Less of that, please.
• Instalove, because it's almost always really, really ridiculous and unrealistic. Like yeah sometimes I see people who are hot, but I'm not going to wander around the city hoping that I'll run into this sexy stranger who's name I don't even know so that I can ask for his number. Like that's so ridiculous. That is SO FREAKING RIDICULOUS.
• Character deaths, please I am begging you. I understand that sometimes it's necessary to kill off a character or two to move the plot forward, but sometimes it just seems like the author just went "Hmm… who should I kill off now" and then just pulled names out of a hat, and the only real purpose is to give the MC something to angst over for like 2 chapters.

As someone in a relationship, I can confirm we could use less romance in stories. It’s cool if there are a couple of little subplots, but when an action story becomes a romance novel, it has crossed the line…

but when an action story becomes a romance novel, it has crossed the line…

Yeah, this is kinda my pet peeve. Romance novels aren't really my thing, and it's easy to avoid them when they're marketed as romance novels. But when I'm promised an epic fantasy adventure and get a sappy romance novel that's full of cliche's its…. disappointing to say the least. I don't mean to say that nobody should ever write romance ever, and I can tolerate it as like a side plot but I honestly can't count the amount of fantasy novels that were ruined by a romance that no one cared about taking over the main plot.

But I guess my main point with the point of what I meant by less romance is more that it's completely normal to not have dated anyone during high school but you'd never know that based on most YA novels. I didn't date anyone during high school (and I still haven't dated anyone) and neither did most people in my friend group. So I guess I just want more stories where the MC has no hot guys/girls pining after them, and it's not because they're ugly, or a terrible person, or what have you. They're just very average looking, and maybe too shy to really put themselves out there, or just not ready to date yet.

"Love triangles that are an actual triangle, not "Oh no Mary Sue has both DarkBroodyMan and SoftSunshineBoy pining over her, who will she choose?" I just want a love triangle where I can't tell the outcome from a mile away."

Try, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare. It has a great love triangle.

I hate Mary Sues.
And, I want to see less strong female characters, or at least well-written ones. I hate how in (especially middle/high school novels) girls are super strong and tough and dont make mistakes but if they do make a mistake people forgive them and they get friends back.

"Love triangles that are an actual triangle, not "Oh no Mary Sue has both DarkBroodyMan and SoftSunshineBoy pining over her, who will she choose?" I just want a love triangle where I can't tell the outcome from a mile away."

Try, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare. It has a great love triangle.

I was in Midsummer Night's Dream and I can confirm this lol!!!
I was Oberon uwu!!

"Love triangles that are an actual triangle, not "Oh no Mary Sue has both DarkBroodyMan and SoftSunshineBoy pining over her, who will she choose?" I just want a love triangle where I can't tell the outcome from a mile away."

Try, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare. It has a great love triangle.

I was in Midsummer Night's Dream and I can confirm this lol!!!
I was Oberon uwu!!

i was Lysander

and im a chick

frick

Shakespeare peeps! If I misspelled that it's only proper. First off, because I don't deserve to be in the Shakespeare community. Second, well… if you know anything about Shakespeare you know.
Though to put this out here I can do Antony's speech like a boss.

"Love triangles that are an actual triangle, not "Oh no Mary Sue has both DarkBroodyMan and SoftSunshineBoy pining over her, who will she choose?" I just want a love triangle where I can't tell the outcome from a mile away."

Try, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare. It has a great love triangle.

I was in Midsummer Night's Dream and I can confirm this lol!!!
I was Oberon uwu!!

i was Lysander

and im a chick

frick

I'm a chick too. I was Oberon and auditioned for Bottom and Lysander bc we had like 2 guys in drama club.

Also I was Laertes in Sock Puppet Hamlet and I'm currently Mercutio in R&J.

Angels that aren't just hot humans with wings and superpowers… You're telling me you've been around since before humans and still only act like the 16-20 year old you appear to be? You're telling me that your emotions and motivations are pretty much those of a human? Despite the fact that you're an ancient, powerful being of light? Angels should be beings that have NOTHING in common with humans, no Edward fucking Cullen with wings…

This is why I love Supernatural… The angels are great!

Angels shouldn't even have a legit human form, like sure Gabriel appeared as a human, but that was so he could talk to Mary. It doesn't mean he walks around disguised as Sexy Hot Guy 24/7 on Earth. And an angel wouldn't want to attract attention.

Exactly!!! Plus they were cold-blooded murderers! Not hot dudes with feathers! Even in non-Abrahamic religion this is true!

A story where a girl/boy breaks up with their girl/boyfriend and then don’t go back to them

characters with disabilities!!!
Any sort of representation is lovely, even if it is just a sentence or two. Even just someone in a wheelchair or something being mentioned either figuring out how to work the system or about them struggling in the system.
ex: "Harry saw some Hufflepuff third years levitating their friend in a wheelchair up the stairs towards the astronomy tower."
If you use a character with a disability, PLEASE don't make them the villain!
also please be careful to make sure that the character is someone who HAS a disability not that they ARE their disability, characters shouldn't be that flat anyway.
Please note, it is great to have characters with disabilities in your story, but if you don't personally have that disability, don't try to tell the story of someone who does, let those of us who have the disabilities tell our stories.
thanks bye!!