How Formulaic Books Ruin the Fun of Reading

Haley Brubaker, Staff Reporter

To some, reading is a peaceful pastime in order to relieve stress, to remove themselves from technology, or to enjoy recreationally a different activity from their normal affairs. Others view reading as difficult or boring, and a person could see both sides to the spectrum, as people cannot enjoy the beauty of reading when the majority, if not all of the books they read, are predictable.

Melissa Villanueva, junior, has experienced these predictable plots.

“The guy gets the girl, or by the end of the book, the survivor lives a better life,” she said.

These are examples of literary clichés, a recurring theme or plot that has been used multiple times. It’s when two people end up in love in the romance novels.  It’s when the hero always ends up safe with newfound courage or intelligence in adventure novels.

But the most noticeable cliché in popular young adult novels right now seems to be a single girl being loved by two guys and having to choose in the end.  Readers have seen this in Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games”, Stephenie Meyers’ Twilight and L.J. Smith’s “The Vampire Diaries”.

These plots all seem to appeal to a certain age and gender group.  According to Forbes, 78 percent of Americans read at least one book in the previous 12 months with 83 percent of the readers aged between 16 and 29. The highest percentage of readers by age was 88 percent among the 18-24 age group, followed by 86 percent in the 16-17 range.

These statistics prove that those people who read, whether it’s for class requirement or for fun, are teenagers.  But this could also explain the overused plots and the predictable endings of books that get called “great.”

Some students just don’t read with the cliché in mind.  Junior Jessica Maya said she does not notice repeated ideas and storylines in novels.

Maybe it’s best to have it this way. The clichés are popular for a reason. It could be a way to get teenagers to read and enjoy rather than to read by force.

And a popular Sci-fi cliché right now exists in a future where all of humanity is neatly grouped into just one major faction. Cultures and nations that absolutely hate each other do not seem to mind. A scientist unlocks new science /technology/knowledge, which is not supposed to be in human hands because it goes against “nature” and allows him to “play God”. Eventually, everything goes wrong, and the scientist is punished for his hubris. Humans realize that some things should be left alone, and/or that ignorance is better than this kind of knowledge.

This genre has been able to be successfully written with the hero of either gender in recent years. Some examples that follow this plot are “The Hunger Games” where the main heroine Katniss is somehow smarter than the people who even made the game themselves and leaves her situation with a better understanding of the world around her.

Another example is a book series similar to “The Hunger Games”, Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” series. In “Divergent,” the main character Tris somehow outsmarts the creators of the experimental city in which she lives. Then there is James Dashner’s series “The Maze Runner”. In this novel, the main character Thomas experiences amnesia along with a group of guys. Within the series Thomas and his friends continuously escape from the organization that seems to have control over him and his other friends.

In the end, the clichés may not be original nor are they outstanding, but they are to be respected.  People seem to like the idea of a similar storyline as long as it doesn’t go exactly as another book goes.