These stories are great and I have no issue reading them however I had personally grown tired of picking up new books that are all the same in the long run. The tropes are important for writers and the books are great reads but after you have read the same "beauty and the beast" story or "Cinderella" tale you want something exciting and different.

This concept can be hard for new writers to understand given that there are so few examples of truly original stories, so I'm in no way saying that future writers should not write their hearts out but simply think outside of the box. Personally, I find most of my inspiration from writing prompts on Instagram and Pinterest but there are other ways to get different ideas.

One of the topics I often find in stories is the "beauty and the beast" storyline where one of the characters has an extreme personality that makes them seemingly undesirable to other characters but one character sees through all of that to the true person inside and they begin a relationship, usually a romantic one. This story is always one of great joy and happy ending but I find it played out and overdone. Especially since its often portrayed as the girl being the one to have to look past a boy's hard personality and bluster. Girls can be just as bad as guys, and even more shallow in some regards so I would rather see a guy have to break down her walls and show her her inner beauty than having to endure another girl suffering the effects of toxic masculinity.

Another storyline that is overplayed is the "Cinderella" tale, where two characters from completely different worlds come together and fall in love despite some kind of family or status resistance. This story often falls in line with the "star-crossed lovers" tragedy, where two people who come from opposing sides of an event get together and realize they have more in common than differences which makes people on their respective sides angry and causes further conflicts. Both of these stories are overdone love dramas that seem to be full of declarations of love and dangerous situations that could be avoided in regular life situations. the stories are great but far too dramatic for the average person and even if we might want someone like the main character in our fantasies but it stays unobtainable.

My favorite but still annoying motif is the "mysterious stranger" storyline, in which a character comes to a new town and supposedly knows nothing about the place but one particular character takes a special interest in them and begins opening up secrets about the strangers past and wind up in the heart of an adventure and misery. This idea is great when bringing in new characters to a story but the idea that someone would willingly open up about their past to someone they barely know is slightly ridiculous. This is also a stretch because even if someone were to be hunted for one reason or another, they would have the training and the forethought to not blab their identity to the first nice person in their town of refuge. I just personally find the entire idea of being on the run but trusting someone for no clear reason is far fetched. A more likely scenario of this would be a person growing to trust the nice townsmen and then accidentally letting slip the secrete after months of settling and happy memories.

The next one might get me some hate but has become a fan-favorite in recent years, the "I'm too different from you" story line. This one might be a bit confusing so stay with me a moment as I explain, one character is either of a different species or something that is both physically and psychologically different from the other character, but they are in love or think they could be if they are given the chance. This storyline is great and I'm all for embracing the differences of others however I find it tedious and unrealistic to be in a relationship with a vampire, werewolf, fairy, or something else when the other is a human. Not even taking into account the time factor and the fact that they are literally two different species, the idea that two individuals would meet and then push past the different species to fall in love and then be so in love that the hardships they face as a couple and as individuals won't matter is something that is difficult to wrap your head around as a reader. Now reading the fantastic love story and being captivated by their loyalty is enough to make anyone have faith but when looking at the facts it would never work that way with the people of the modern world.

The last trope that I just can't read anymore is the "ugly duckling" story. Yes, this idea is easy to relate to however the part I'm sick of is that most of the time its women being told they're not pretty enough and have to wear makeup and less conservative clothing that makes the person uncomfortable at first. This gets under my skin because guys can be just as unattractive as women and could undergo the makeover process and start going to the gym and getting different a hairstyle and new clothes but instead the women are encouraged to change. Now personally I hardly ever wear makeup, not because I don't know how to do my make up or because I don't like the stuff I do have, but because I have been told that I genuinely don't need it and that I even look better without it. So many girls are so scared of being rejected that they wear layers of makeup and do hours of skincare regiments that are expensive and even if they are appreciated more when they do it they still have lots of insecurities whenever anyone sees them without the makeup. I just don't believe that girls should be encouraged to change their outward appearance just to please others and "get the guy" when there is no such need on guys.

Of course, I understand that guys do have their own pressures to live up to and as mentioned earlier girls can be very shallow however I would like to see the ugly duckling stories be about more than needing to change your outward appearance just to realize in the end that its the inside that counts.

Overall these stories are iconic and lead to great books and movies and thousands of loving characters I just happen to be sick of reading these stories.