Real talk: The fantasy genre has a problem with trauma. Far too often, the way trauma is handled in fantasy books, movies, and shows is unrealistic, and sometimes even sexist.

Here’s what I mean.

The erasure of trauma

The first problem I want to address is when trauma isn’t even in a story.

It strikes me as lazy to put characters through dark shit (as often happens in fantasy) without following through on the obvious consequences of said dark shit. As a reader, few things take me out of a story faster than a character who doesn’t act like a human. Who sees, experiences, or does disturbing things, and it has no effect on them.

Of course, everyone is different. Three people can experience the same event and react in three totally unique ways. The degree to which someone will develop trauma is influenced by the specifics of their traumatic experience, but also by their unique mental makeup and prior history.

So when I say “act like a human,” I don’t mean that there is a single, unified way humans act when it comes to disturbing experiences. All I’m saying is that the character should act in the way that makes sense for them. Many fantasy authors won’t do this.

Frankly, I think it’s disrespectful to actual trauma victims to show characters going through events which should traumatize them, while glossing over that trauma. Because trauma is such a common thing for people to experience, it matters that we represent it authentically.

Trauma deserves decent representation, like anything else. People should be able to read or watch stories and realize that what they’re going through is normal and natural. And stories have the opportunity to show people a path of healing, too.

Rape as character growth

This brings us to a more, ah, upsetting trope in fantasy: When a character (usually female) goes through trauma (often sexual) in order to make her “stronger.”

News flash: That’s not how the human brain works!

Hardship makes you stronger. Trauma makes you traumatized.

It’s an icky trope both because it completely glosses over how trauma actually functions, and because of its subtle, inherent sexism. There’s this underlying idea that putting a character (again, often female) through really horrific violence is going to improve her somehow. That’s a pretty disturbing sentiment, when you think about it!

Trauma affects people in lots of different ways, but it is often messy, and ugly, and rage-filled, and irrational. It is often debilitating, not strengthening.

Trauma, especially in its severe forms, can make it harder to function, not easier. It’s not a superpower. It’s a survival mechanism that can cause people to overreact, lash out, freeze up, and break down.

Too many stories, including fantasy stories, show a cleaned-up version of trauma while brushing over its unpleasant bits.

“But it’s realistic!”

It makes me really uncomfortable the ease with which some stories (like Game of Thrones) dole out sexual abuse on their female characters.

“It’s realistic!” people protest. But… is it really? 

If you’re putting your characters through traumatizing events, and you’re treating it like character growth, then no, that is not realistic.

To be clear, if you want your character to go through something difficult that makes them stronger, that’s fine! There are lots of ways to do that. 

Here are some ideas: How about the death of a loved one? Or a challenging journey that pushes the character out of her comfort zone? Or a terrifying adventure that makes her face her fears? Or a situation where she suddenly has to lead people, and must rise to the occasion when no one else will? 

All these are the kinds of difficult situations and hardships that will allow someone to grow stronger. Male characters get these narratives all the time.

But with female characters, you’re just going to… show them get raped.

Really.

Is that really how you think this works?

If you’re going to have your character go through something traumatizing, like sexual abuse, that’s fine. But don’t make it an opportunity for “character growth.” (YUCK!) Make it, instead, an opportunity to authentically represent trauma.

Rape… and character growth?

Adding to this complexity is the fact that sometimes both will happen: Sometimes a situation yields hardship (making the character stronger) and trauma… and that’s fine!

The problem isn’t that the situation happens at all, or that the character grows from it. The problem is when trauma isn’t even in the picture; or when character growth is used as a substitute for trauma, because that ultimately undermines the horror of things like sexual violence.

Trauma needs to be shown in all its pain and ugliness. If you’re not prepared to do that, then here’s a little tip for you: Maybe, just maybe, don’t put your characters through traumatizing events!

Trauma in City of Reckoning

As you can tell, I’m pretty passionate about the subject of trauma in fantasy. This issue was very present on my mind while writing my fantasy debut, City of Reckoning.

It was really important to me to represent trauma as authentically as I could in this book. And it’s… messy. It’s dark. It’s intense, sometimes. But I didn’t want to flinch away from that. I see too many stories that won’t deal with this subject honestly, and I’m tired of it.

This blog post is obviously a genuine, heart-felt complaint about a problem I see in the fantasy genre, but it is also a bit of an ad. 😉 I won’t be shy about that.

If you want a dark fantasy book about winged people, wolf companions, and epic journeys that doesn’t flinch away from showing trauma, City of Reckoning comes out in September of this year.

Add it on Goodreads, and keep an eye on this space for the cover reveal and pre-orders coming soon.