Okay. I'm going to go off on a very long rant. Sorry.

Disclaimer: I know there are several exceptions to all of these. I am in no way saying that these are true in every piece of fiction. If you disagree, I would love to debate the subject if you would like.

First things first, I'll do what the title says. Common Tropes in Writing (that I've noticed):

1. Twins with opposite personalities.

This is one of my favorites, because I absolutely love the dynamic it creates. Tam and Linh from Keeper of the Lost Cities (an amazing series if you haven't already read it), Ray and Reyna from the Blackwell Pages (another great series) and so on. It's a really fun trope to play around with, but it's also good to have identical twins (Fred and George), or even similar ones like Brenton and Adara (my own personal OCs).

2. LGBT ships--together forever.

This is one I only realized a couple weeks ago. Often times in writing, if there's a gay or lesbian ship, they're often "together forever". They're completely in love and absolutely devoted to each other (Magnus and Alec is the best example, because their series is over, but Magnus and Alex is also a good one). And I understand that it's that way with a lot of other ships in fiction as well, but I have yet to see an LGBT ship break up because they were having problems and stay that way for the rest of the series.

3. Female personalities.

This one is a personal struggle. I'd like to think that I've read a lot of books, and what I've found in a lot of teen/YA fiction is the female leads are always the same. They're either feisty, snarky and dramatic who always fall for the hot boys or anxious, tend to overthink things and rely on others but still very brave and smart, or a combination of these. This seems to be the case most when they are the center of the series (Clary from Mortal Instruments, Sophie from Keeper of the Lost Cities, Moon from Wings of Fire) . It's honestly become kind of boring. Amazing exceptions to this rule are Tessa from Infernal Devices, Lucy Carlyle from Lockwood and Co. (a person fav) and there's one other that I can't think of right now. If I figure it out I'll add it in.

This is also the reason I think there are 99% pf the time more male main characters than there are female. There are more stereotypical male roles for authors to build off of than female.

Speaking of stereotypes, can we talk about the feisty and dramatic versions? I feel like these are more common because of the apparent need to make women seem stronger and more capable of handling themselves. And I agree, that women are just as capable as men are and should be represented as such. But what this does is takes women from one stereotype and puts them in another. Suddenly, we're pressured to be athletic, to be sarcastic and look good doing it. Or, we're supposed to be tomboys, as if girls can't be amazing, smart and brave in a dress and heels (Isabelle from Mortal Instruments and Biana from Keeper of the Lost Cities are both amazing exception to this rule). Women should be shown as brave and smart and sassy, but be just as diverse as we are in real life. If you want to see if I'm right, take a female lead that you've read about or seen on TV, then take another female lead and put them in that story. Would they do the same thing? The answer is probably, and if not, please let me know.  

The Lunar Chronicles has done a pretty good job breaking these stereotypes, and I'm only in book two. I love Scarlet, and am a decent fan of Cinder.

4. Male personalities.

This one is a bit less.....common? That's not the right word but whatever. Male leads can be very...rude. Let's just say that. Again, not the right word, but let me explain. Arrogant is better. They are usually the ones with the super power (cuz they're the main characters most of the time, but I'll get to that later), and they tend to use it to beat or humiliate people they don't like. I can think of two examples off the top of my head where this is true--Cole from Five Kingdoms and Will from the Paladin Prophecy series. Again, its not as common as the female one, but it does get on my nerves. I can understand it more though. They're teenage boys, of course their going to use their abilities to mess around, and that's fine. I just don't think it should be the pov you get the entire book from.

5. Who gets the magic?

This is another one I noticed very recently, and it kinda ties in with number 3. What I mean by the trope title is this: when a boy and a girl have special abilities, the girl gets the magic and the boy gets the fighting. Clary and Jace are prime examples of this. Both have been enhanced by angel blood. And while Jace gets enhanced fighting skills, Clary gets magic powers. Why? Well, I can't answer that. Do people think girls need some sort of magical assistance in battle? Do they think it fits with the characters better to have the girl with the magic and the boy be able to use his aggressive tendencies and charge into battle without it?

Unfortunately, as I'm writing this, I realized I'm kinda guilty of this as well. In my story The Elementals, Brenton doesn't use his ability (for reasons you find out) and Adara does. It's not as bad of an infringement, because they both have abilities, and in this circumstance it does in fact work better with their characters to keep it that way, and there's a very distinct reason for it. But Adara is said to be a better fighter than her twin bro, so I hope that sort of makes up for it.

6. Boy sees Girl = True Love

This one.....is interesting.

This is true in almost every single book I can think of. Girl sees super hot guy (and vise versa), he's snarky and arrogant and totally NOT love worthy (he totally is), and they end up staying together forever. It's just so unrealistic, especially when they're teenagers, like Aang and Katara. Like, I get them getting together.....sorta. But they're just kids—they're going to meet other people, and maybe fall in love. And I know it's possible for this to happen, but it's extremely rare. It's no longer a shock when the girl and boy hate each other and then fall in love.  I've come to expect it. And again, this isn't a BAD cliche—it's just a bit obvious. That's why Magnus and Sam from Magnus Chase are so amazing: Sam's the first girl he meets, she's the one that takes him to  Valhalla, she tries to kill him, and it would be totally fitting to have them fall in love. But she's already in an arranged marriage, and besides that, they have absolutely no attraction to each other. In fact, Magnus doesn't get into a relationship until the END of the LAST BOOK in his series. And, on a side note, I don't know if I've ever read a book that wasn't specifically about LGBTQ people that has two gay or bi men who aren't in a relationship, or two lesbian or bi women. It seems like if you can pout them together, you do. 

Also, a quick note, i am writing this at night, and this is usually when I get a bit dramatic myself. I might not agree with this in the morning, So please keep that in mind if you decide to comment something. And again, I know there are exceptions. I mentioned a few myself. And I know I'm acting like a professional author and criticizing all these authors, but guys, I know I'm not professional. Trust me. I'm nowhere close. These are my personal opinions and nothing else.  And by all means, use these if you want! Using these does not make your story boring or unoriginal in any way. No story is completely cliche free! So don't let me stop you from doing any of these if you want to—i'll Still enjoy your story. 

Let me know if there's any others that you know about. I might be making a part 2 if I come up with any more.