I Don't Wike It: The Cliches and Sterotypes of Wattpad

All Hail Mr. Bad Boy Sex God Hot Stuff

Please take a moment to appreciate the title even though you probably have no idea what it means. 😇

Anyway, let's dive right in to this crap.

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I've noticed that in pretty much all the books here on Wattpad, the male love interest is as follows:

Arrogant. Annoying. Asshole. 

Sex god. Bad boy. 

In a fight club or something.

Has black hair, or brown if we're lucky. 

Has an eight back. Is seven feet tall. 

His voice is "husky". His face is stuck in an ever-present smirk. 

His blue "orbs" stare deeply into the main character's soul. 

Controlling. Egotistical. Teases MC relentlessly. 

Has a little sister and/or family problems.

Is poor, or super rich, rarely in between. 

Drives a motorcycle. Wears a leather jacket. 

Has tattoos. Drinks. Parties. Smokes.

Is the king of one night stands.

Is basically Gaston with a troupe of silly girls chasing after him.

Super popular, or kind of an outcast. 

"No" isn't in his vocabulary. To him, when a girl says "no", it means "maybe". Or "yes please".

The unexpected ability to cook like a professional chef.

Has some crazy name like "Xander" or "Jax" or "Xerxes". Too many eXes! (See what I did there?)

Gets detention, or doesn't show up at school at all unless it is convenient for the MC to run into a "human wall" who turns out to be Mr. Bad Boy Sex God Hot Stuff. 

May or may not be an arrogant, immature, teenaged alpha werewolf for some odd reason, but that's a whole other topic.

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Not all male love interests are like this. But, and I hate to say it, 90% of them are. And it totally sucks.

I see a book, read its description, seems interesting, begin reading...encounter the hulking beast known as Mr. Bad Boy Sex God Hot Stuff, and have to run away. Because he ruins the story.

To be fair, I have a "bad boy" in my story, Terms and Agreements. But the whole point of that book for me was to take overused characters and cliches, and give them depth and a cool twist. 

I probably failed, but I tried. I have tons of bad cliches in there...but there's always the rewrite, I guess.

But moving on...

I understand that the tall, dark, handsome, and mysterious male love interest is intriguing, but if you want to include him, you should try writing out a character profile and steering clear of the cliches. 

Make him drive his mom's mini van or something. 

Maybe he has blond or ginger hair? 

Maybe he's quiet instead of cocky? 

Or not a hulking, muscle-bound giant? 

And if he's tall, dark, and handsome, why not give him dark skin? Because the darker the berry, the sweeter the juice, right? (Hairspray reference!)

Give him brown or green eyes instead of blue. And do not refer to eyes as orbs. I repeat, NO ORBS!

Give him a little brother instead of a little sister. Or a twin.

Also, I have to come clean here, my "bad boy" character has a niece, but I gave him a niece before realizing that the child the male love interest has to care for is almost always female. But I put a twist on the cliche at least - niece, not sister. So there's that, I guess.

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My "bad boy" character has:

Brown eyes.

No tattoos.    (This one was hard for me because...sigh)

No leather jacket.

No motorcycle.  

Brown hair.      (Oopsy)

Anger issues.           (Had to have a flaw)

No fight club membership.

No drinking problem.

An actual sense of humor.

No cockiness.

A dislike for conformity to society's expectations and isn't huge on parties.

No one night stands.

Limited piano skills and a terrible singing voice.

A habit of referencing Tangled.

Maturity.

Not sure if he actually is a bad boy, but anyway....

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Try to make your male love interest different. Give him a different personality than everyone else's male love interest. Of course, some things may be the same, because you can't avoid all similarities, but you can try your best.

Maybe one of his favorite movies is Groundhog Day  or Lord of the Rings?

Maybe he hates sports?    (Except for Quidditch, of course)

Maybe he loves math or history or science or something? 

Maybe he likes Italian operas or Mozart or weird Indie music?

Maybe he's a virgin? 

Maybe he doesn't have the unexpected ability to cook like a professional chef?

Just make him different. No, he doesn't have to be weird. No, he doesn't have to be completely different from all the other male love interests, but he needs to be different enough to be his own character, and not just a clone of all the other Mr. Bad Boy Sex God Hot Stuffs.

I understand that it can be a daunting task to mold an entire person out of nothing but a shapeless lump of clay, but once you do it, they will never leave you, and you'll know them like the back of your hand. 

And there's nothing more fun than that. (Says me, Miss "I live in a fantasy world where fictional characters are real and nargles roam the earth")

I hope this helps in some way. If it doesn't, hopefully it was entertaining at least. 

Later 🖖