- Developing romance. Oh well, the famous "insta-love". We all read the "Our eyes just met and we both knew we were in love". It is seriously not realistic and certainly not a teen's reality. When you are a teenager, you know everyone around you from school since you go to the same school in your neighbourhood with the same people and you hang out with them since you were in kindergarten. How do you meet new people at 15? In my case, when I was 15, if I saw a cute boy walking down the street, 1) I would be too shy to talk to him, 2) Even if I did, Facebook wasn't invented and neither did text messages and 3) I would have been so scared to tell my mom I met a guy on the streets, one who apparently doesn't go to my school and doesn't know anyone I know and somehow, and that we're now in love. Really? I think love is a feeling that develops with time, when you get to know the other person and when you can trust him or her. If you think you are in love after two minutes, I'll tell you right now, it's not love, it's sexual attraction. I would like to read more about two person that meet and they get to know each other at a nice rhythm. No need to declare some love in the next five minutes. That goes for teens too.
- Good parenting. Am I the only one here who have good parents? I mean, I know that half of married couples end up divorced, but still. I didn't count, but I think EVERY young adults or teen books I read in my whole life, at least one parent out of two was either absent, an addict, dead, too controlling or not at all. Where are the good parents? I can't believe they are all bad! If so, every human being between the age of 15 and 20 are the good ones and every adults are bad. I guess that old generation got messed up along the way (I knew the hippies couldn't be trusted!). No, seriously. I believe that a story can be really interesting if there are family values and that they both care about their child.
- Teen being a teen. It happened a few times while I was reading a book that I would just close it and ask myself: "Wait, how old is she again? No, impossible, she cannot be sixteen." Yes, I know there are kids with big issues doing adult stuff at a pretty young age. (Maybe if their parents were around more... Ha!) I can't believe a sixteen year old girl would be so heartbroken because her boyfriend left her that she would end up at a frat house party drinking alcohol for the first time, doing drugs and lose her virginity to a douche and decides she won't ever love again. Christ, you're SIXTEEN! Stop! Worry about stuff your age! Have a cat fight with your best friend or be afraid you won't pass your Math exam because you didn't study enough. Do not go out and steal a car because you were in pain. It's not cool. If I want to read a book about the life of an adult, I will do that, but right now, I want to read the life of an ACTUAL teenager.
- You're pretty and you know it, so act like it. Again, so often I see a strong, independent young woman who is so confident and is not scared to show everyone that she is. And somehow, there's finally a boy who tells her she is beautiful and she seems surprised. How is that even possible? Don't tell me you don't look at yourself in the mirror from time to time? And please, if you are pretty, guys look at you and you know it. They are guys. Guys are not shy to look. If you are hot, then be the girl who knows it. I am tired of reading about this girl who thinks no boy will ever find her beautiful. Again, you're SIXTEEN! I think I would like to read about a strong female character that doesn't let anything get to her and that she thinks she is good looking enough for some guy. Or to read about a shy girl that has actual teen problems like excess weight or acne. (No, the hottest boy from the school won't fall in love with her!)
- An average and nice and happy boy. She somehow can only fall in love with the tall, sexy, brown eyes and brown hair, six pack body, rude, immature, controlling, and brooding bad boy. What is that anyway? I've been looking for one of these kinds for the past four years, but they somehow never showed. Maybe it's because they don't exist. THEY DON'T EXIST. And you know what? You don't want them to exist. You really want the kind of guy that would treat you like shit for a month and then tell you he just went through something terrible and that's why he acted this way that whole time? No, uh, uh. They also don't spend the whole day inside their room listening to depressing music while reading The Great Gatsby and they somehow happen the be the sexiest boy in the universe, but he doesn't know it or he doesn't care to be. No seventeen year old do that. At that age, all they think about is sex. And video games. Can we read about a decent looking boy that looks like an actual teenager (no abs, no facial hair, with acne, etc.) and that acts like an actual teenager (no teen/manwhore)?
But of course, if it wasn't for the good old clichés, these novels wouldn't probably have half as much success. I believe that what we want in books is not what we can have in reality. I bet if half of the issues that can happen within 300 pages were actually happening to me, I would be crazy by now. I agree with the fact that there would be no story if not for the clichés. Maybe the list above is a bit drastic, but I think there are other vivid readers like me that would be interested in reading a book that fit better their reality. What do you think?
M.
I really enjoyed reading these points. Especially "quick"/insta-love. I have read so many fantastic stories, (which don't even need romance!) where the main character "falls in love" immediately. So unfortunate. Great post!
ReplyDelete