Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday: Trends I Would Like to See More/Less

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

It's rewind week for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the Broke and the Bookish, their link posted above. That means we get to pick any past topic that we either missed or wanted to revisit. It was so hard for me to pick, but I finally decided on trends! So I may have extended my list to having a total of six trends I want to see more of (with a bonus) and six trends I would like to see less of.

More:


International travel

Not just travel and road trips, mind you, but overseas! Whether it be travel like in The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight where you don't get too much of the actual foreign country (not my preference) or in Christy Miller: College Years where they explored Europe. I could even go for more living than travelling. Various parts of Europe, China, Russia, Africa, Mexico...give it to me!

Retellings/reboots

I honestly hope every time I see a new retelling that not only is it good, that they don't mess it up entirely, but also that this trend won't suddenly become too overdone and stale for me. If authors keep finding new ways to spin tales and get tales that haven't been done a bazillion times, I think this trend could last a long time. Peter Pan, Tarzan, Emma, Aladdin, Mulan...just to name a few stories that would have awesome retellings. That also includes retellings with different POVs. You know, like the stepsister's story in Cinderella or it could be Harriet's POV in Emma.


Competitions

It might be the reality TV lover inside of me (shameful, I know) or it could be that I think it's fun reading about it, but I love when books are like competitions. The Hunger Games, anyone? Also, while I am not a fan of the book, I think one of the reasons why I want to keep reading The Selection series is because there's a competition! It really captures me in. 

Criminal/sleuth

I don't care if the main character is a criminal or a spy or anything similar, I want sleuthing and/or criminal activity. That sounds slightly bad. I want fictional sleuthing and/or criminal activity. Please. Somebody give me more. Ally Carter will be ending the Gallagher Girls this year and I still have not found a book that comes close to spy activity like this series.

Camp

Since I have never been able to experience the feelings of camp, I love reading about it. Sure, it's probably very fictionalized, but who doesn't love a good camp story? They are also great summer reads, which I'll need very soon. 

Geeks

I love my bad boys. LOVE. If you give me a dreaded love triangle and there is a bad boy in it, I will most likely pick him. Warner from Unravel Me, the Darkling from Shadow and Bone...I can go on. But  it would be a nice change of pace to have the geek be the love interest. Superman may be macho, but Clark Kent is as lovable. 

Bonus: Arranged marriages

This might sound really strange, but I think arrange marriages would be very fun to read about. Or at least a partnership where they don't know each other at first. One of my mom's favorite Christian books is The Princess by Lori Wick. It's not exactly an arranged marriage, but pretty close. 

Less:


Insta-love

Ugh. Insta-love. I think everybody can agree with me that it can be described in one word: stupid. Oh, I see him and I am suddenly in love. OUR LOVE WILL LAST FOREVER. Yeah...no. You are attracted, you are not in love. 

Annoying heroines

May I slap you, please? Their annoying factor can range from them whining to making stupid choices to being unrealistically naive. There are so many examples, I could go on forever. I just want a strong heroine who doesn't make my eyes roll every other page. 

Trilogies
Okay, I love trilogies, I do. However, can't you change it up and make different kinds of series? What about just two books? Or even better, just one? Sometimes you don't have to drag out a series. I know fans want more, but as an author, you (sometimes) know best. 

Stereotypical mean girls

Usually, the stereotypical mean girls are the cheerleaders or the popular girls, more exactly. I honestly don't think that they are the only people in high school who can be mean. If you're going to have a mean girl as a villain, mix it up and pick someone else besides a cheerleader. Be creative and don't pick the "popular" girl. I want variety!

The "Hero"
Now, listen. I like a sensitive, strong guy just like the rest of you. There comes up a point though where he becomes too much. Can't a girl be strong by herself. Does he really need to come swoop in and save? Can't he just be a supporting character if she needs him. One of the problems I had with The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston (review will come soon!) is that Ethan felt too pushy. He was supposed to be mysterious and sensitive and always there. He was just annoying. Enough already.

Parentless or broken families

When I read a book with happy families or at least families who are together and the parents are in tact, I feel like I got a breath of fresh air. The Fault in Our Stars is a great example of this. There's conflict with her illness, but still, her parents are alive and Hazel is actually close to them. That is what I call a win.

~*~

What are some trends you would like to see more or less of?

21 comments:

  1. I would like too see more geeks and competitions too! International would be cool too. I have a feeling retellings are going to get more and more popular now! I think having less trilogy's would be nice. It seems like every book is a trilogy. I like when there's two books because I feel like that's just enough :). Love the gifs as always <3

    Jasmine

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  2. Great list! I would totally love to see more retellings and geeks! Annoying heroines and mean girls are the worst!

    Here's Mine @ Pinkindle Reads & Reviews

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  3. Great list!! I agree with everything you said.
    I LOVE reading about campy romance! I've been to summer camps in the past, and nothing in these books isn't real, but it's still fun to read about kids falling in love when they are far away from there home and parents.
    I also love retellings! It's good because this year there are quite a lot of them (:
    Stereotypical mean girls are always annoying!! It can ruin a whole book for me. I just can't stand those blond-cheerleader-popular mean girls type!!
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts!! I'm an old follower (:

    Sapir @ Diary of a Wimpy Teen Girl

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    1. Thank you so much!
      I figured they would be different! Different how so, though?
      Thanks, Sapir :)

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  4. I'd love more international travel, sleuthing, and retellings! :) Insta-love (I'd rather see them fall in love), annoying heroines (they can make or break a book for me), and the "hero" (I didn't like Ethan, either) really annoy me. Great topic! :)
    I chose Top Ten Favorite Quotes from Books: http://aliceinreaderland.com/2013/04/15/quotes/

    Alice @ Alice in Readerland

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    1. Love takes time so I don't see why it's "at first sight." I'm glad I'm not alone in the Ethan department!

      Thanks :)

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  5. YES. YES. Yes to all. And can I add, "mysterious boys with sensitive insides that only the MC girl can bring out. They also have dark hair and amazing eyes." Enough with the eyes already!

    I kind of feel like the re-telling of fairy tales is getting a bit stale for me. But when I read your list of Peter Pan, Mulan etc I immediately wanted to read those kinds of spin offs, too. So maybe I'm not over fairy re-tellings yet.

    I never thought about trilogies..it's true though, every time I'm on Amazon trolling for books I see the book title accompanied by "trilogy series title #1 or 2 or 3) and it kind of bugs me. Maybe it's because a lot of trilogies seem like long continuers of book one. Harry Potter continued on but each book is so different and the characters behave differently. I think that's why JKR could get away with 7.

    I would love to see stronger heroines.

    Thanks for this list, you've prompted me to start making a list of my own!

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    1. HAHA! So agreed, I love the add-on!

      I had the same process. I thought about it and realized there are just so many, but then I thought about the ones people haven't done and that got me really interested.

      I just want a single book. Or two books. I like to read a lot about characters I enjoy, but I don't like waiting for the books to continue coming out and sometimes it feels dragged out.

      Great!

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    2. There is a retelling of Peter Pan called Tiger Lily it's told from TInker Bell's point of view.

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  6. I TOTALLY agree with you about the stereotypical mean girls. I mean please- I'm a high school student. If I wasn't in an all girls boarding school I probably would be a cheerleader (I'm a dancer and love being at sporting events but suck at playing in them)I've met mean people from all walks of life (or school) and it drives me crazy when totally normal girls don't have an ounce of compassion in them cuz they're 'popular'. Ok. *done rant* Sorry! Needless to say, I thought it was a great list:)
    Esty
    My TTT

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    1. Absolutely love the rant, you can rant anytime ;) Thank you!

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  7. Love the list, and totally agree!

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  8. OMG Great Post, I completley agree with you for all of them. So right! I am obsessed with TFIOS, if I don't stop now I will be fan girling all day.

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  9. Awesome post. I agree with all your trends you would like to keep going. Especially fairy tale retellings. I have just started on them and they are awesome. I just want to read fairy tale retellings all day long.

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  10. Guess what I would put on the less category? LOVE TRIANGLES ding ding ding!!! HA. But seriously, I agree with all of your picks. They ARE annoying. More international travel, criminal/sleuths and Retellings for sure. I really want to read Beauty BTW. GREAT topic!!

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    1. I knew it! I thought I had, but I guess I forgot. I thought about you when I was making this list ;)

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  11. I completely agree on dysfunctional families. I am SO over that trope. Give me a fabulously supportive family any day. I'd also love to see a complete nerd be the mean girl. Wouldn't that be the most fantastic thing?! :P

    Love your list this week!

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    1. That would! Even if the whole book sucked, I would say that it got bonus points for that!

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  12. Yes to everything, especially the stereotypical mean girl point. I hate cliché characters in all forms, but this alarming trend is the worst offender.

    There are so not enough retellings narrated by a villain or supporting character. Thinking about this gives me ideas…

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    1. Ooh yes. That would be great to be told in the villain POV. I've thought about supporting character too :)

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  13. I love all the things you mentioned. One of my favorite things ever to read about in books are retellings. I especially love fairytale retellings. I completely agree with you about not liking insta-love so much, too. Great picks! :)

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