Trauma in Fantasy: Where Writers Go Wrong

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...