Narrative dealbreakers

[dolorosa_12]

A discussion I was having in the comments of a previous post with merit made me realise something I'd never really thought before: just as I have tropes, relationship dynamics, and themes that are like narrative catnip to me, I also have the opposite — tropes whose presence will ruin an otherwise deeply enjoyable story for me. I'm not talking about tropes which are pretty much universally regarded (at least in the circles I hang out in) as dreadful (things like Bury Your Gays, women fridged for manpain, black characters dying first), but rather other common tropes which I dislike not because they reinforce societal inequalities, but simply because they're not to my taste.

These are the big ones for me:

A character being pressured by the other characters to forgive an abusive or neglectful family member, and welcome them back into their lives for the sake of 'closure,' 'healing,' or similar. I hate this especially if it's a child having to forgive their father (which is the most common iteration of the trope). The end result is often that the characters — and the narrative — minimises the harm which the forgiven character has done.

Heroines with supernatural powers giving up their powers at the end of the story in order to settle down and 'have a normal life'.

Immortal characters giving up immortality for love (or even wanting to). I much prefer the rarer alternative where the mortal and immortal stay together, knowing one character will die and the other will not, and accepting that consequence.

Love triangles being resolved by suddenly making one love interest a terrible person where they weren't before. This goes doubly so if it's a way to resolve a love triangle that causes a married character to be unfaithful to their spouse — I don't mind if the spouse was always terrible, but if they're suddenly written as horrible, it feels like a cop out.

Supernatural/superpowered characters keeping their identity secret from their family and loved ones out of concern for their safety.

Sisters who hate each other, especially if this is in a mundane/real-world setting. Oddly, I don't mind it if a story is about antagonistic brothers, or an antagonistic brother-sister set of siblings. (I've not seen this trope in which one or both siblings were nonbinary, so I can't speak as to my like or dislike of it with nonbinary siblings.)

Characters whose whole arc has been about finding a family and a sense of home and purpose among other people choosing at the end to give that all up and live alone (or alone with their love interest). (*shakes fist at the Obernewtyn Chronicles*) A related version of this trope has dispossessed/migrant/misfit characters choosing to return home to the land of their birth, after spending the entire narrative finding a family and sense of home in a new land or city. (*shakes fist at the Six of Crows duology)

Those are the main ones I can think of at the moment. What about you? Do you all have similar narrative dealbreakers? Is this something you've also thought about before?

Comments

[author_by_night]

A character being pressured by the other characters to forgive an abusive or neglectful family member, and welcome them back into their lives for the sake of 'closure,' 'healing,' or similar. I

This trope never bothered me until I saw it happen to people online and IRL, where the forgiveness of behavior that never stopped (and probably never will) did more harm than good. It actually can hold people back, because in the eyes of a toxic parent, forgiveness doesn't mean a mutual understanding, it means you'll continue to do what they say at all times. I'm a very family oriented person, but... my family has always been caring and supportive. The same can't be said for everyone, and I think stories should reflect that.

What does ring true to me is that often there's a distance between children and parents who weren't abusive or neglectful per se, but just not wholly "there". They talk, and there's love, but it's not a close relationship. I think that level of forgiveness makes more sense in terms of narrative than full-on hugging and crying, you know?

love triangles being resolved by suddenly making one love interest a terrible person where they weren't before. This goes doubly so if it's a way to resolve a love triangle that causes a married character to be unfaithful to their spouse — I don't mind if the spouse was always terrible, but if they're suddenly written as horrible, it feels like a cop out.


Ugh, I HATE that. I also hate when the "sympathetic" party of the love triangle is just as bad, if not worse, unless it's being done deliberately.

As for my dealbreakers... I HATE disease as a plot twist. It's not really the writer's fault, I just can't and it will cause me to stop reading. I also hate when too much drama is thrown in, which does often go along with the disease plot twist.

Also, this isn't necessarily a dealbreaker, but I don't really love historical fiction that ends up focusing on romance.

[dolorosa_12]

Yes, I've seen this play out in real life as well, and it's not a genuine forgiveness. How can it be genuine when there's an element of coercion? That kind of 'forgiveness' is more about preserving the harmony of a group/family, or placating the hurt feelings of an abusive person, than offering healing to the person who has been abused.

also hate when the "sympathetic" party of the love triangle is just as bad, if not worse, unless it's being done deliberately.


Yes, I've seen that happen on more than one occasion. You wonder if the author is even aware of what they're doing, or if they're so in love with their creation that they can't even see how badly the 'sympathetic' love interest is behaving.

Disease as a plot point tends to get thrown into stories once the writers have run out of other ideas for amplifying the sense of drama, and while it's not a dealbreaker for me, I can definitely understand why you'd dislike it.

A huge amount of historical fiction focuses on romance, and it's not always obvious from the book's cover description if this is going to be the case, so I can see why you'd be annoyed by that if it's not to your taste.