YA tropes. Love them or hate them, for better or worse, they are the driving force behind young adult fiction. While some are harmless, others are certainly less so. There’s the “different than other girls” trope, the “women can kick ass but only when wearing super impractical outfits” trope and of course, we can’t forget the “mysterious and slightly stalker-ish but it’s okay because he’s hot/rich/immortal/swoony/understands you so we’ll ignore it hero” trope.

These and more are the topic of Carrie Ann DiRisio’s Twitter account “Brooding YA Hero”, which features the tweets of “Broody”, a main character.

When I first came across DiRisio’s twitter account this summer, I was in for hours of entertainment. I spent the better half of an afternoon scrolling through Broody’s tweets, often bursting into fits of giggles at how spot on DiRisio’s remarks were.

Of course, being a main character, Broody has a lot of opinions. Some of our recent favourites include:

In September, I decided to message DiRisio asking if I could interview her about her Twitter account. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one amused by Broody and his antics because around the same time, she had received interest in the book and was negotiating rights with Skypony Press. The title: “Brooding Young Adult Hero’s Guide to Achieving Main Character Status”. It goes without saying that we are pretty excited about this one.

Questions with Carrie Ann DiRisio:

Carrie Ann DiRisio

Tell us a little about yourself.

Hi! I’m Carrie Ann, an author, aspiring Disney Villaness, and creator of Brooding YA Hero.

The Brooding Hero twitter account uses humour to comment on common YA tropes. Can you tell us what inspired you to create this account?

Well, Broody might go sulk if I reveal toooo much of his mysterious backstory, but in general, the account was inspired by my (perhaps gently mocking) love of YA fiction. I’m a voracious reader, and as such, it’s impossible to avoid noticing when tropes reappear countless times in stories. Some of these tropes, such as “new girl in school” aren’t problematic, and often serve a useful purpose. However, I also think it’s important to point out when a trope is problematic, such as when an controlling, domineering male character is seen as romantic.

A certain brooding vampire springs to mind! Why do you think it is that these problematic tropes come back again and again?

bats eyelashes innocently I simply cannot recall any one brooding vampire! Joking aside, I do make sure to never call out or rip apart one book, and stick to tropes that are found in many. I think problematic tropes repeatedly occur for a number of reasons, including that people will still buy and love the books. One of the biggest things I try to poke fun at with Broody is that we are far more forgiving of male character flaws as readers than female characters. For example, we’ll commonly call a female character who is brash, rude, and bold “unlikeable” but that’s seen as “Swoony” in a guy.

Do you think these tropes are still prevalent in YA?

Oh, absolutely. You can’t write fiction without tropes, and not all tropes are bad. They’re tools. Some tools are useful, some are overdone, and some are problematic.

And now your twitter project is being turned into a book! What can you share about that right now?

I am so very excited about that! The book is a parody advice book, in which Broody himself gives you, the reader, all his thoughts and guidance on becoming a main character. It’s being published by Skypony Press this year, and you can check out its Goodreads page Here!

I for one cannot wait for Broody to share his infinite wisdom. Speaking of your book deal, what was that experience like behind the scenes?

It was a really exciting process. After I drafted what would become the #BroodyBook, my agent shopped it to editors. Then, we got an email from Alison Weiss at Skypony, offering on the book! Blah blah boring paperwork, until BAM! It was time to work with both Alison and his royal broodiness on getting the book perfect. :)

So, in short, the experience was everything I could have hoped it would be.

That’s really awesome to hear! Now we notice that Goodreads has a temporary cover in place for the book right now. Do you yet know when we can expect a cover reveal?

Alas, Broody has kept that secret from me the way he has kept all his other manly, handsome, luscious secrets. All I can say is to follow the tag #BroodyBook on Twitter for sneak peeks and updates. :)

Are there any other projects that you’re currently working on or want to work on in the future?

Oh yes! I’m always working on something new :) Right now I’m working on a young adult fantasy novel which flips the chosen one trope on its head, so I’m very excited about that.