Entry tags:
Another spontaneous list: Things I will never include in my original stories.
1. The secret father of my main character being the villain. Impossible to top Star Wars, and these days it's so overdone anyway.
2. Human/Vampire romance. McKinley's Sunshine is the ultimate--and she didn't even write romance, they were just friends! Any attempt on my part would feel like an insult to her.
3. Having a character find faith again in life or humanity or dreams or hope or whatever...due to a baby's birth. Vastly overused, and besides...given my opinion on children in general, me writing this would be so FAKE.
4. Love at first sight. Lust, yes. Love? No. (I am a romantic, but not in regards to this.)
5. Two characters admitting their love and coming together--only to kill one off. Usually with a terminal disease. Don't even get me started on A Walk to Remember.
6. One bout of sex resulting in pregnancy, especially if one of the parents dies at the earliest possible moment.
7. Someone named "Valentine". I can think of four different characters named this without even trying. And WTH why are they always evil?
8. A character being the last of their family/race/people/species/whatever. :P
9. Superheroes, with two exceptions: Batman (he's interesting) and magical girls.
10. Villains who are evil for evil's sake, and heroes who are good for good's sake. *zzz zzzz zzzz*
12. The clumsy, endearing, ever-energetic heroine who you can't help but love because she just tries so hard. The cool, suave, distant hero with an inner fragility who you can't help but love because he's just so captivating. Why yes, I HAVE read a great deal of manga. HowEVER did you guess??
13. Ugly man/pretty woman. GRRRR! I am going to write the reverse of this, just watch me!
14. Endings where everyone pairs off and gets married. Children are (barely) optional. *cough HP epilogue cough* At least Luna and Neville broke the pattern.
15. Romantic love between adult authority figure and a child, such as teacher/student. This is my one squick. I never thought I had one, but I do. *is disappointed that she can no longer claim to be unsquickable*
ETA: 16. Amnesia as a plot device, particularly when caused by a bump to the head. I can't believe one of my favorite goodfic authors just did this. O.o
ETA2: 17. A happy ending featuring a party or celebration. I've just seen it too many times. It feels fake. :|
ETA3: 18. Exposition about my setting's history and politics and the wars that shaped it, all delivered within sight of the first page. I mean, the readers barely know my main characters, they don't care yet about the setting's ancient history. Throwing a bunch of namesof past empires, their rulers, the generals who made it happen, and the outcomes of those great battles just makes readers' eyes glaze over. I will always wait a few chapters or say, 10,000 words, before I start the history lessons. And I'll try to deliver them in small doses, to give the readers time to assimilate them and understand why this ancient history is important to the current plot.
There you go. I might add a couple things, but this covers the most obvious tropes I will avoid. Any thoughts??