Who's the New Kid?

By: Meradeth Houston on 9:38 AM

Since becoming the proud owner of my lovely iPad (I can't help throwing this in there--I love the thing! It is awesomness in a small portable screen...), I have been downloading a whole bunch of samples of books off of the Apple and Kindle sites, to check out many books I've had my eye on for a while. I've found this to be the perfect way to find out if I'm going to shell out cash for a book (or take the effort to add it to my giant list of books to request from the library here in town, once the freaking place opens again). Anyhow, I've read the first chapters of, well, a LOT of books lately. And there's been a pattern emerging. Well, less than a pattern, more like an overwhelming, for lack of a better word: trope. Every opening I've picked up lately has had a new kid, or been told from the perspective of the new kid in school. Okay, this probably has a lot to do with the fact that I've been reading a lot of YA paranormal romance, but not completely (there's been quite a few other YA's thrown into the mix), but holy crap--about 90% of them have this theme running through the first few chapters.

Now, I can understand why this is. Changing schools, or getting new students, was a big deal in high school. Fresh blood and all that. It's something most everyone understands, or can relate to easily. Well, with the exception that the new kid regularly ends up being a vampire/werewolf/angel/other mysterious kind of being. Anyhoot, I've found myself using this before--with the novel I'm currently querying, there's a new guy at school within the first three chapters. Still. Yeesh. Does every book have to use this? Aren't there other ways to get new people into the lives of the characters of our books? New people moving into the neighborhood, living in a big enough city that you might have just not met the person before (because, honestly, I've read a LOT about small towns lately, too), and so on. Let's mix it up a little, folks! I know I'll be using a lot of caution to avoid the "new kid" scenario in the future :)