Exactly. So much tragedy and heartbreak just seems so common now it makes me feel jaded toward it all. Like I read about someone's entire family dying in a book and it's like "well that's to be expected, sure." Like what?? Nah. That's not the only way to draw emotion and interest from readers.
It's lazy, I think. It's an easy way to get motivation with less supporting characters and thought. Sure, grief is something that can be interesting to write and explore, but do you really have to kill off the entire family for it? Plus, half the time the worst offending authors focus on only the anger side of losing someone. Yeah, sure, I get that you despise the antagonist for murdering your entire family, hero. But how does that make you feel? As a reader, I want to get to know characters, I want a story with actual people in them. Not rage machines turned badasses which seem to be the norm in the teenage girl YA stuff I read in high school. And it was stupid.