Things I’d like to see more in books // a discussion

Hello friends! It’s been quite a while since my last discussion post. This idea has been fermenting at the back of my blogging notebook for over a year, and finally I’m putting it into words. Here’s a list of things I don’t see in books as nearly as often as I’d love to.

Friends drifting apart

Not every friendship ends with a dramatic shouting match. (As far as I can remember, I’ve never had a dramatic falling-out with any of my friends.) Sometimes people just…drift apart. They move on to other walks of life. They stop talking, eventually. There’s a special kind of loneliness that comes with this (am I speaking from experience?? Probably) I need more books to talk about this as well, because it happens, a LOT.

It’s very hard to think of examples but I think Radio Silence came pretty close to what I was talking about. It kinda accurately describes the gaping hole left when a friend moves out of your life anyway.

MC staying single

War flashback to my YA dystopian phase where every single one of those rebellious sixteen-year-old straight girls got themselves a love interest. I ate all those books up, you know. I’ll still defend some of them with my life (The Hunger Games and Divergent, get behind me.)

Even YA fantasy, historical and sci-fi books these days just have to throw in a love interest for the protagonist. Maybe two. See, I have no problem with it if the genre is romance. But does every book need a romantic subplot? A kiss (or sex) right before the final Big Battle? I’d love it if there were more books where the main character doesn’t have, at any point, a love interest.

Casual nerds

I want nerds who obsess over old films. Nerds who don’t remember everything but read encyclopedias anyway. Nerds with niche interests. Because frankly, the odds of the average high school tech whiz hacking into an intelligence agency is extremely low.

Lovers/friends/siblings to enemies

Unpopular opinion: enemies to lovers is TIRED. I mean, I do enjoy reading an enemies-to-lovers arc as much as the next person, but it just doesn’t give me the same feeling as its opposite trope. Think of the angst. The heartbreak. The I-will-save-you-one-last-time-because-we-used-to-be-close moments.

Think Powder and Vi from Arcane (I put this series on hold because it hurt so much) or Anakin and Obi-Wan from Star Wars (Obi-Wan yelling you were my brother Anakin still haunts me) or…I can’t think of any more examples, but you get my point.

This trope comes along with a truckload of pain and I love it.

Girl squad stories

Just give me more stories that’s 99% female characters. Like Enid Blyton’s boarding school stories. There are SO MANY famous books that have a cast of characters who are almost entirely male, and I want the reverse to happen as well. I’ll add a sapphic romance for the heck of it too lol.

Chaotic found families

Found family is the best trope. You could put it into every book and I’d read all of them.

Relationships you can’t put into boxes

That sub heading looks a bit weird, but listen. People categorize everything when they see two characters who are really close. Is it platonic? Is it romantic? Familial? Are they friends? Kindred spirits? Lovers? Soul mates? Do they love each other or are they in love with each other?

Hear me out: what if it’s all of the above at the same time? Sometimes, a writer really gets these kind of relationships and I end up obsessing over the characters. Like Ji An and Dong Hoon in My Mister. Or Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens. I’d love to read these stories in more books, too.

Longtime rivalries

Or, you know, just two people who HATE each other. They’d kill each other on sight. They get angry when the other’s name is mentioned. These rivalries drag out for YEARS. And eventually, they develop a begrudging respect for each other. They still hate each other, of course, but they also know everything about each other.

Am I talking about Shae and Ayt Mada? Possibly.

*Takes deep breath* ahhh I finally finished a post (I’ve been writing this over three weeks, actually, wow). I realize almost all of the examples I’ve given here are from movies and TV shows I loved, but it’s mostly because I’m in a mild reading slump.

Stay alert cause I might drop the mid-year-freak out tag next!

What tropes would you like to see more in books? Let me know in the comments!