Top 25 Clichés in YA novels.

Yay! My nano MIGHT have one of these, but maybe not even that.

My last novel, however, had two of them. The first was crucial to the plot though and I don't think the second was done in a way to make it overdone, but what do I know? Haha.

So excited for nano!

14 mentions of butterflies.
2 scenes at Joe's Diner.
1 scene at The Cakery.
11 chapters.

Makes me want to write a novel containing each and every thing on that list - just for spite!

Put everything you know into everything you do ~ Charlie Kaufman

Mine has a dead mother. Whoops. I can see though how that's a cliche.

That's one of the things my last novel had. Like I said though, it was pretty crucial to the entire premise and plot of the story. So TOO BAD if it's overused.

14 mentions of butterflies.
2 scenes at Joe's Diner.
1 scene at The Cakery.
11 chapters.

Personally, I don't think it would matter if you used one or two of these clichés in your novel as long as they were significant to the plot. :)

Written in school:
Dares:
Hours stayed up late:
Thoughts of giving up:

Thing is, I haven't come across any of those other than the evil stepmother and I often read 4-5 YA books per week (more if I'm on a reading kick and doing nothing else all day). Possibly we just read in very different styles of YA lit?

I'd say the dead mother thing on its own isn't overused - it's how it's used.

For example, note that many characters with dead mothers/fathers in YA novels either turn to perfectionism or anti-perfectionism (rebellion) to cope. That's why I have a main character with a dead mother who simply misses her mother, and is pretty average. Her two friends, with no "psychological cause" to rebel, are the ones who do all the bad things.

And I don't feel bad about using that, even if someone comes along saying it's a cliche. Because it happened to me, so I know it exists.

Does anyone think it's bad if I have a "token black friend" even if she really is based off my black friend who actually happens to be one black friend in a group, because we have a very small school? Because I'd feel weird turning a character based off my real, living friend white, or adding black people JUST to avoid cliches.

Some of my best friends growing up were black, so I wouldn't think twice about adding them to the story. (I like my black characters... their personalities, their looks, their quirkiness... just like my white characters. What's the big deal?)

As far as the dead mother... I have one in my story and I'm not sorry for it. It's crucial to the story.

But, as an example, just look at every Disney film ever made... I don't think any of the MCs have both parents, and in some they have neither. Someone is always dead or dies. It's to get you to be sympathetic to the character, and not always a bad thing.

Not all children in this world have both parents, either by death or divorce. (Some don't have either.) So I wouldn't look too much into that.

I think it's probably more likely that they don't ever get published, but rather pile up on agents desks?

Lol!
I try to stay away from cliches, but they do slip in every now and then. And they totally got me on the raising one eyebrow thing. Hehehe.

"Vegetarian teens with unsympathetic meat-eating parents" This kinda makes me want to write one about a meat-eating teen with unsympathetic vegetarian parents. Reverse cliche! :-)

You cannot achieve the impossible without attempting the absurd.
--Unknown

Except she doesn't say she's an agent, does she? The opening paragraphs state that she explicitly chose books published within the past two to three years.

Oh, let me do my story :3

"#25 – Vegetarian teens with unsympathetic meat-eating parents"

Various vegetarian characters; no unsympathetic meat-eating parents. Or unsympathetic meat eating parents, for that matter.

"#22 – A tiny scar through the eyebrow, sometimes accompanied by an embarrassing story"

Most of the characters have scares. They're all pretty large scares. The MC has a small scar, though it's not anywhere that should be particularly visible.

"#16 – Using coffee, cappuccino, and café latte to describe black people’s skin"

I have a black character who is literally made out of coffee.

Okay. Not really.

"# 12 – A dead mother"

MC's parents are probably dead. He doesn't really care because he neither remembers them particularly well, nor has he ever heard anything good about them. They were essentially deadbeat junkies and his life would've been far worse off if they were still alive and part of it.

"# 5 – Raising one eyebrow"

I think one of the characters with large, disfiguring scars only has one eyebrow, so...

I wasn't planning on using any of these. I don't know if that makes my story extra good or what it means.

Thanks for the info...I read throught it..thought of my story and might just use one which is of course the raising of an eyebrow. Cliche yes but eh...i'll see if I use it in my story or not lol

thanks again!

As one of my favorite shirts say "Careful, Or You'll End up In my Novel."

I appreciate her research and findings, but it may discourage writers too. Write what you feel is pivotal to your plot. There are many cliches in the adult mainstream fiction as well as genre-specific books. Thanks for sharing the link, though, it was an interesting read :)

Rachael____________________________________________
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I think some of things on that list are clichés, and bad ones at that. But some of the list just seems overly nitpicky for me.

For example:
- Fingernail biting and lip chewing are probably the most common nervous habits in the world, so of course you find them in YA novels; teens and preteens are a nervous bunch of people.

- Eyebrow quirking... alas, apparently I am a cliché.

- The Diary: I will admit that I'm not fond of diary stories, unless it's comedy, but the epistolary style is popular and a lot of young women (and some boys) do keep diaries or journals.

- Dead Mother: Not a cliché, but a tragic fact of life.

I do however agree with the points on: Coffee coloured skin, tiny scar through the eyebrow, and the beautiful best friend who could have any guy she wanted but doesn't want any.

But, the important thing to remember is that clichés are clichés for a reason: They are popular and people like them. So you should also consider that before you start desperately trying to eradicate them from your novel. I'm a sucker for boys with long eyelashes and red-headed best friends.

That's an interesting list. I can't help but wonder if some of these occur a lot because they are true. I mean don't most teens feel like everyone else is more popular and more attractive to the opposite sex?

Nano 08: Urban Legends:
It's not hard to walk the right path. Just turn around.

Yeah, I think it's a bit picky as well, but I never said I completely agreed with the article- I just think that it would be useful to some writers or just a fun little comparison. :B

Written in school:
Dares:
Hours stayed up late:
Thoughts of giving up:

Thanks for posting it it was really helpful, thank you!

Laura
~X~

18 is one that specifically bothers me in writing. I always make sure to give my characters age appropriate names.

I only have one

#7 Fingernail biting

But No dead mother...dead father. And no scar above eyebrow...a large scar across the supporting character's chest.

It's certainly an interesting list, but I disagree on the whole dead mother being a cliché. In YA, a dead or absentee parent usually does have a specific purpose that drives the mc into a coming of age story (as does the stepmother). That being said, I am sure there are some instances where it is put in a story as a cliché or something the author includes but has no real driving purpose to the plot.

I somewhat commit #4 & #18 but not quite. My MC does not aspire to be a writer but does express herself through writing and has a creative writing teacher who submits some of her work to an anthology (which is turned down and this bothers her more than she thought it would). And her name is Beth but her parents could not have children until well into their 40's, so this seemed an appropriate name from their point of view. I also have a boy named Christian and a girl named Kaylee (which I know of teens with both of these names so hopefully they work?).

As someone who spends too much money becoming a red head each month, I found the uncommonness of red heads to be worth a chuckle. ;-)

So here's the thing - I'm black. However, I'm afraid that if I write a book - ANY BOOK - with a black girl as the main character, my book will summarily be tossed into the "African American" section, and suddenly, I'll be an "African American" author. There's nothing wrong with either of those categories, except for the whole being typecast thing.

So the thought of writing a white character with a black friend has occurred to me many times, but you're right, it's such a cliche. There's always an Af-Am female backing character, and she's always the color of creamy coffee (never super dark-skinned with truly kinky hair, unless she's first-generation African), and she's always sassy and street-wise and full of slang.

Well guess what? I'm dark-skinned, relatively sass-free, and the only time I use slang that isn't programmer's jargon is when I'm being ironic, and for that I break out the finger quotes. I'm the whitest black girl anyone around me knows (and they make sure to point it out.) I like some rap and R&B, but mostly I like folk or indie - think Brandi Carlisle and Bright Eyes - or grunge-style alternative like Bush/Nirvana. Where are the characters like me?

They're not being written, because if they are, they'll get tossed into a tiny "African American" genre box, where they'll be summarily dismissed by most blacks, because blacks like me are usually one step away from being called race traitors.

*sigh* Can you tell this is one of my peeves?

(The rest of the list is also spot on. Hurrah for red-haired friends.)

I'm only guilty of one: Dead mother (and father!). MC is raised in a foster home until the story starts. And his parents' deaths are part of the plot and he won't be the only orphan in the story while others will have one dead parent. He's part of a group that's being hunted, so it's somewhat common to have lost a family member.

I had a character named Hannah last year but never even realized her name was a palindrome. To me that was just her name. She needed a Biblical name and there were limited options. And she was adopted, but her parents were dead. She did have one colored from but I'm from a small town and so is she...there aren't that many people of color (I say colored because she was a mix of races).

This years novel I can't think of any, but I'm sure I'll hit a cliche somewhere along the way lol.

I'd like to point out that most people who have kids who are vegetarians are very supportive. My little sister decide at like 11 she wasn't gonna eat meat and my parents have bent over backwards to get her to eat and she still doesn't eat very healthy. They've never tried to trick her or force her to eat meat.

Bookmarked! I'm definitely going to avoid these once my novel gets started. Thus far I have used no cliches. Yesh!

Well, I think that the list is based on what elements are found the most in the YA novels that the author read, not on what the writer of the article believes is cliche. So it doesn't really mean that a dead mother shouldn't be included in your novel because it's cliche. All it's really saying is that a dead mother is used very commonly in YA novels.

26. Vampires.

>.>

Anyway. I managed to avoid most of those, though my MC's mom IS dead. However, she was raised in a happy, loving adoptive home and has never really felt the lack.

I'm not the droid I'm looking for.

NaNo 2007: Heart of a Hero. (Finished!)
NaNo 2008: No Place In The Story (Finished!)
NaNo 2009: Cold Hands (Tentative)

http://groups.google.com/group/ne-arkansas-nano

In my novels, none of the "25 most used cliches" have been used, I was pretty impressed with myself :) I perfer to be different than others ;) And I must agree, most YA novels now include vampires...not my favorite, but, mine involves the Mafia and exchange students, and whatnot :)