Illustration 85265129 © Evgenii Naumov | Dreamstime.com
Just to let you know, when your characters start commenting on the writing and tropes WITHIN THE MANSCRIPT, you need to fix thing.
From a book I was editing, an internal thought of the POV character: “Goodness knows but he was the worst kind of one-dimensional character wasn’t he?”
I nearly facepalmed … if your characters are telling you this about another character, you as the writer need to listen.
And just in case you think this is a rare thing. From a book review I did: Also when the characters start commenting that things seem a little over the top, and the story is not a parody, then you might need to cut back. (in this case the number of mafias in play: London, Italian, maybe Russian, a failed London gang, and out-of-nowhere a deceased Irish branch)