I'm writing a book, but I want to try avoid the stereotypical tropes - unless I somehow believe I can pull it off in a somewhat original manner [very very unlikely, but it's technically still an option xD]. I already have a list of my least favourite ones, but I want to reach out to the HEE community and see what ones you guys hate reading. Feel free to just post your least favourite tropes OR only answer a couple of these questions, I'm aware that it could be time-consuming to answer all of them :)

- What are your least favourite tropes in general?

- What characteristics or portrayals do you hate in a protagonist?

- Are there any common mistakes or tropes in the equestrian genre that you personally hate?

And also:

- Are there any tropes / cliches which you enjoy when written correctly?

FirstLightFarms said:

The last question is a bit of a trick question, because there really isn't anything I don't enjoy when written properly. Tropes and cliches are popular for a reason- when written well, they can be really, really useful. However, people think that they're just useful enough to stand on their own, when that's not the case at all. They need to have a proper foundation and a reason to be in a story.

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That being said, I do think the "mean girl" trope in the equestrian stories is overdone. In all my years working at barns and competing and riding, I've come across maybe two girls that thought they were better than everybody else because their parents had money, and they didn't end up mattering. People like that don't stoop to sabotage like they do in stories, and riding is still a hard sport. No matter the price of the horse, if they beat you in the ring, it's because they can ride. So I don't really enjoy seeing that in books, because it's overdone and just screams to me that the writer couldn't think up an original plot on their own.

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The "misunderstood girl tames feral horse" trope is also a little overdone, but in the wrong way. I think if we see the training process and watch the girl (or boy, hey) and horse develop a relationship and become better for it, then the trope itself isn't terrible. It's when the misunderstood person meets a wild horse and says "easy there, Misty" and suddenly the horse is tame and the person feels Understood that I start to roll my eyes.

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So again, no such thing as a bad trope. Just a trope done badly.

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(Editing to add spacing because wow those blocks were hard to read)

Olive Tree Equine said:

like Puck said, one of my least favourite cliches (or even just singular people) are the whole "shy girl jumps on wild stallion." ones. its just so unrealistic.

second one has to be the "popular people." like ive read so many books when theres this crowd of often mean people who are constantly applying lipgloss (?) and have expensive warmbloods or shit. never come across that kinda thing at the yard.

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and this isnt really a clique, but-

i read so many equine books (especially as a kid) where you get on your perfect pony and just gallop off into the sunset. then i got horses. i was brouht up on that whole "your pony will never get dirty, wont cost any money and will be the perfect jumper."

NO. when i got horses i realised how unrealistic it all is. horses are hours of blood sweat and tears. they cost money, get sick and are fucking hard to train. so keep it realistic as possible.

Olive Tree Equine said:

like Puck said, one of my least favourite cliches (or even just singular people) are the whole "shy girl jumps on wild stallion." ones. its just so unrealistic.

second one has to be the "popular people." like ive read so many books when theres this crowd of often mean people who are constantly applying lipgloss (?) and have expensive warmbloods or shit. never come across that kinda thing at the yard.

-

and this isnt really a clique, but-

i read so many equine books (especially as a kid) where you get on your perfect pony and just gallop off into the sunset. then i got horses. i was brouht up on that whole "your pony will never get dirty, wont cost any money and will be the perfect jumper."

NO. when i got horses i realised how unrealistic it all is. horses are hours of blood sweat and tears. they cost money, get sick and are fucking hard to train. so keep it realistic as possible.