#1: Minorities in starring roles whose story centers around racism
I'm not saying these books should be done away with. But why do authors need to employ the race card every time their story is about someone who isn't white? To truly have diverse books, minority characters shouldn't just exist for political messages. Authors should consider writing stories about Muslim girls or black boys that don't have anything to do with race. They're just there, living their lives. Writing stories that just happen to feature underutilized groups might even send a stronger message. Kids' shows do this a lot. They didn't often discuss race, but they did something better: simply showing that we are all human by being inclusive.
#2: A love story
Not all stories call for the main character to fall in love with someone. I've seen many a potential good book get ruined by a time-consuming love story that didn't need to happen and took away from the story as a whole. This is especially true for YA novels where every story seems to be a carbon copy of the other lately. Ditch the love triangles and have something else happen.
Think of the last time you read a fictional book where the main character was single throughout the course of the novel. Can you remember any? Maybe not. That's probably a sign they're occurring too much.
#3: Stale scenarios
Chick lit novels often take place in New York City. Or London. Or LA. Usually the character is working in a bookstore, magazine, or opening their own shop. Mostly it's because they're bored with their office job. Their love interest is usually someone who is taken or they can't stand. Would it kill anyone to deviate from this scenario? How about a chick lit novel about a farmer? Or a tomboy? Or from the perspective of someone famous? Hmm, that would be interesting.
#4: Vague Endings
For some reason this has become somewhat of a trend. In these books, the author usually likes to leave some unanswered questions or even why the character chose to do what they did. Sometimes they'll even end the story at a random point in some badly written books, like the YA novel Tiny Pretty Things, without ever going into explanation as to the "who" or even the "why." Writers should always make sure that the motivations are explored enough so that the story ends in a satisfying way, and that the culprit is revealed. Otherwise I just wasted my time reading their book.
#5: Abuse of the nice character that never does anything wrong
This is more applicable to TV shows, but they're stories in themselves, so I'm including it here.
I'm thinking of Meg from Family Guy. Sue from The Middle. And probably some others. Basically, these characters have an idea in common: they either succeed in very little, deal with a constant stream of rude remarks on a regular basis, or are disliked for no reason at all. This is despite the fact they have done nothing to earn this kind of behavior.
Now obviously you want your main character to encounter obstacles, especially if it's someone who's being bullied. But you don't want to overdo it with your side characters, or if it's an ensemble cast. The nice character shouldn't always play a double role as the punching bag, if at all. Maybe it's because we relate to characters we like and want them to do well, but this is really, really annoying.
**Bonus** #6: Missing parents
I get that divorce is an issue, and it's common. But estranged fathers are almost as common as romances now. You know the type...the father hasn't been in the protagonist's life for a long time, if at all, and suddenly they're wanting to learn more about their missing parent and trying to find them. Like the unnecessary romances, this subplot can often take over the book's original purpose. It's starting to become trite and I wish authors would do something different with estranged parents should they want to include them.
Did I miss anything else? What do you want to see less of?
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