Tropes I Don't Like

The Boring, Average Girl

I'm *insert name here*. I think I'm super ugly, but all the boys love me. I have only average abilities, yet I'm better than everyone else. There's nothing special about me, so why am I the chosen one?

There are so many stories in multiple forms of entertainment where the main female protagonist is said to be average in every way possible. However, descriptions the creator(s) gives contradicts that statement.

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For starters, often times we see our female lead believe that she is ugly. In some cases this gives the reader the idea that our lead has self-confidence issues, and that can make her feel relatable. Other characters might help the lead feel more confident in her outward appearance, like what friends and family would do in the real world.

Despite this attempt at creating a part of the female lead that feels realistic, authors will fail if they contradict it using certain descriptions. If our main character feels ugly, she shouldn't be describing herself in detail about things that are actually attractive by most people's standards. Newsflash, having brown hair doesn't make you basic, and green eyes are quite a rarity. Guess what, wearing a hoodie doesn't immediately make you unattractive by all the boys' standards, who knew? Besides, a love triangle (or any other shape for that matter) is going to happen anyway, so I would highly suggest for these leads to shut up.

Another thing authors use to try to emphasize a in an "average" female lead is by giving her "average" abilities. Yet, time and time again, this female lead is showing abilities in fields far beyond her age, surpassing people who have been practicing in said fields for years.

Don't get me wrong, there are children and teenagers who are extremely gifted in certain fields. Whether it be in the fine arts, science, or linguistics. However, these young people are usually well aware of their gifts, even if they doubt themselves once in a while.

I'd also like to state that even a person who seems average might have a knack for a particular field. Everyone has something about them that makes them unique, even if they aren't recognized for it.

So how does this link to our female lead?

As we know, no human being is perfect, and no one can master very single skill and field that exists. Yet authors will create main leads who are like that. This is unrealistic, and having a lead who doesn't recognize that their abilities aren't average gets annoying. It doesn't matter who our lead is, they should have something about them that feels real.

Now, for the chosen one.

Commonly found in dystopian or fantasy stories, our "average" female lead is actually the chosen one by their worlds standards. Examples of these characters would be Clary from The Mortal Instruments series or Tris from Allegiant (at least, by the movie's stand point)

For some odd reason, the "prophecy" states that this "average" girl is the chosen one to beat this great evil that is terrorizing everyone. Yet, there is nothing about her that proves she is worthy of such a title. After all, she is seen as "average" at first. By all of a sudden, she is mastering abilities in only a few days to beat this evil.

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I always get annoyed whenever a female lead calls herself average or boring. Because nine times out of ten, she is going to turn out to be far beyond everyone else. It is simply annoying to see, and we get practically the same plot and conflicts from it.

I'm not so bothered by chosen one stories, as they can be done well. However, there should be reasons as to why the character is the chosen one. No, the reason should not be, "She is plain and average, but she is the chosen one anyway for the sake of trying to make her relatable."