Yes, most of us have been through that crazy ‘Twilight’ face, wherein we were obsessed with the fates of Bella and Edward and the series was as sacred to us as the Bible is to a religious Christian (I never went through that phase though, FYI!!). While all of this was certainly interesting in the beginning, now there’s an increasing sense of déjà vu every time I pick up a new young adult fiction series to read. The genre needs to reinvent itself….like right now, and here are three plot lines that are way past their expiration date; they need to be done away with quickly-
1) The love triangles- Why, oh why does there always have to be a love triangle inserted somewhere in the story? Why can’t there be a steady, genuine platonic friendship between the protagonist and the supporting opposite-sex lead and a romance uncomplicated with oh-God-I-have-got-two-hot-sexy-stalkers-fighting-out-for-me issues?? What I can clearly remember thinking back to all of the young adult fiction books I have recently read is a girl-in-trouble who spends, literally spends, the entirety of the series making up her mind about which of the two suitors she is meant to be with. I am TIRED now. Decide already man. We are getting bored here lady (Giving a pronounced yawn). And restless.
2) The perfect supernatural beings – What is it with the recent interest among authors in dishing out stories about perfectly carved characters? Is it so they won’t have to indulge their brains in etching out deft, intricate characters? Because it might have been fascinating in the beginning, this whole perfect supernatural-being (read vampires, werewolves, angels, aliens, dragon riders) thing, but now it just seems like a really lousy way for authors to avoid putting in efforts to create fresh, relatable story lines about well, human teens!
3) The fairytale endings and eternal longevity – I might receive flak for this, but seriously, enough with the boy and girl live happily ever after for hundreds of years, till the end of time and all. First, because there are no fairytale endings in real life and we aren’t naive little five-year olds anymore to be fed such lies. Second, people can have happy lives even within the considerable life span of an average human life, then why the obsession to conquer the dimensions of time and space? Wouldn’t these people get bored and tired and utterly weary of the constancy in their lives, having an eternity to live and nothing to do? And most of all, the concept is redundant, jaded, overused- whatever you call it. It is time to get out of the idealistic mode and switch on to a more realistic mode.
Harry Potter was a wizard, but he still was absolutely relatable with all of his human flaws. Katniss Everdeen anyone, the girl on fire, who was broken, yet made for a compelling story? Take a cue dear authors, please!
