Pet peeves, we all have them. One of mine is stories where the hero and heroine treat each other viciously through most of the book then kiss and make up too easily in the end. Another is the series with no character arc. I don’t do so well with many mysteries for that reason.
Are you tired of angsty vampires? Want to barf if you even think about reading another love slave story? Tired of heroes looking for the one woman who can save their soul? Oddly, I rarely get tired of any particular trope. If I liked it once I’m not likely to get tired of it. Mostly, it is about the writing for me.
What about you? What are your pet peeves? Any tropes you despise. What about tropes you can’t get enough of?
Smart Girls love SciFi 
I’m too sensitive to my fellow authors to decry any one trope, though there are a few that are tiresome.
You picked out a couple of good traits I’d like to see disappear. But heavy handed-angst would be my number 1 pick for banishment, regardless of genre.
Tropes I love: any warrior trope is good by me. I devour that stuff.
Great topic!
Warriors are wonderful! Vikings, Klingons, whatever–I’m there.
I just finished a vampire book, one of the few I’ve read because just hearing about the angsty bloodsuckers tends to annoy me. But I give it a whirl once in a while. There was angst, and the “delicate truce” between vampires and werewolves. What’s up with the tussle between vampires and werewolves anyway? That’s a trope I can do without.
I don’t mind a little angst, as long as it doesn’t go over the line and become emo. 😉 Must confess, I do have some favorite vamp & were books, but this one really is getting overdone.
I used to read a historical author. She was probably my first serious author crush. Until I realized that all of her heroines ended up as sex slaves. Yeesh.
Interestingly enough, these are romances, but in the first few books of the series, the heroine had several lovers. (Usually husbands who eventually died in some horrible or natural way.)
Funny how romance has changed through the years.
My pet peeve? Too Much Tension! No novel works without tension, but when all problems could be solved if people would just talk to each other, why don’t they talk? He loves her, she loves him, both know it, they even have sex, but then one of them turns away because of an idiotic reason. That isn’t tension, that’s stupidity.
Another sort of tension I hate is disaster, after disaster, more disaster, then magically triumph! I want my characters to fight battles, hopeless battles, and win. I want them to triumph, but not after a hundred failures that go on and on. After about the fifth failure in five pages, I skip to the end, find out if they win, then go on to a better story.
Tension is key to a good story; too much never ending tension turns me off.
Another thing that turns me off is when a hero or heroine can’t see the obvious when it slaps them in the face. If I can figure out something as a reader, why can’t the heroine who has the same information available do it? I do not like red herrings. Let the h and h discover, investigate, and solve the mystery. Red herrings are a waste of my reading time.
My favorite novel is one where there are trials and tribulations, but the hero and heroine face troubles, have some misunderstandings, but are smart enough to deal with it. They honestly assess their feeling for each other, eventually overcome their hang-ups. I may be black-listed for this, but the black moment does not appeal to me in a relationship. In the story, the h and h should face the possibility of failure and overcome it.
How did you get so smart, lady?
Interesting comments! I have to admit I am irked by the old – he loves me/he loves me not trope – the one that sends the heroine careening headlong into danger so the hero can ride to the rescue.
aka lazy writing
I’m over the angsty male, in any genre. He bugged with when he was called Heathcliffe and he bugged me when he was called Angel in Buffy (even though the actor was well enough to look at). Really, I just want to tell them to man up!
Another trope I’m over is the whole love-at-first-sight/smell thing. Lust and fascination I can understand. A deep and abiding love? Not so much.
One trope I’ll never tire over is the strong independant male falling for the strong independant woman, both of whom remain so even after they get together. In my reading experience, it doesn’t happen often enough unfortunately.
>>Another trope I’m over is the whole love-at-first-sight/smell thing. Lust and fascination I can understand. A deep and abiding love? Not so much.<<<
LOL! Thanks for this! Needed a laugh and so true.