What's Wrong With Urban Fiction? The Top Five Trends in Urban Fiction That Needs to Stop

Plenty.

I can enjoy a great UF book every once in a while but it has gotten to the point where if you've read one, you've read them all.There seem to be recurring themes in quite a few of them. The UF book that doesn't deal with these sterotypical characters will bring a new day in UF and if crafted right, could make a killing with Hollywood beating down their doors. Not to mention agents fighting to sign them to multiple book deals.

Here are a few of the stereotypes that I would like to die a quiet but certain death:

1. The Bad Bitch

There is a bad bitch in every novel. Her skin color runs the gamut from pecan to honey. Her hair is long, past her shoulders due to her Indian heritage. She is no taller than 5'4" and the baddest bitch on the block. Every girl wants to be her while every dude wants to have sex with her. There simply isn't another girl badder than she is in the game.

2. A Drug Dealer Named Nino

Does this need any explanation?

3. Label Dropping Fools

Everyone wears Prada, Gucci, Fendi, etc. It sounds like a really bad rap lyric. Everyone is fresh to death wearing the latest in fashions from these designers. The label dropping in Urban Fiction is just atrocious and over used.  Boring and no imagination.

4.The N Word

A few of these dropped in an UF book is to be expected but only in dialogue. I was reading a book the other day where the author was using the N word in her exposition!!! Not to sound like a broken record, but if we want people to stop using the word, then we need to stop using this so much in our literature, especially when it's not in the dialogue. The omniscient voice of the narrator should never refer to the characters as N*****s. It's demeaning.

5. No Editing Whatsoever.

Too many Urban Fiction books are written so poorly, they are unreadable. I was recently accused of attacking UF writers and making them look stupid.  I had to think about that for a moment. Was that my ultimate goal? Making UF writers look stupid? Of course not and the thought makes me sad. What really makes me sad is that some of these self published books with poor grammar are a reflection on the educational system in this country.

There is nothing wrong with a gaffe here and there (I know my books have a few) but some books are so unreadable it makes you wonder how the author got through life without the ability to construct a sentence. It's embarrassing. Some authors choose to argue over these reviews instead of taking the constructive criticism and working on their novels to make them better.