Underrepresented Tropes and Characters in Books

“Today is the last day I will see my brother.”

First line in Taken by Erin Bowman

Hi, guys and welcome to my first post for the weekly meme Let’s Talk Bookish, which is hosted by Rukky over at Eternity Books. Each week we get a different bookish topic to discuss, which is always great and educational. I’ve been reading her posts for this meme for a while and so I finally decided to take part. This week’s topic is tropes/characters that I think are poorly or underrepresented in books. I think these things are very genre-specific so I’ll stick to my favorite genre, fantasy. It will also mostly be relating to tropes and characters I miss in YA although it can apply to adult fantasy, too. I will also say that I haven’t read every single fantasy book ever (unfortunately), so these might appear in books I just haven’t read. However, since I haven’t come across them, I will still say they are underrepresented.

The introverted, socially anxious girl who isn’t good in a fight

It isn’t completely odd to see this type of character in books but most often they appear as side characters. This type of girl is never the main character in fantasy. She pops up more often in contemporaries, and I love reading those. I would really like to see her more in fantasy basically because I would love to identify with female fantasy characters more. Don’t get me wrong, those kick-ass, well-spoken women are great, and they definitely also need to be there. They serve a very empowering purpose for other women which is what we’ve been craving for a long time.

Now, they’re just everywhere and I think there’s a need to show some more flawed women in fantasy or at least women with some other qualities and assets. Specifically, the introvert who’s not physically strong but has other attributes. She could be highly intelligent and/or empathetic. There are many options, so dear authors, please include this character type some more. I know it can be difficult to incorporate this character into an action-packed fantasy story but I believe it can be done.

Sports in fantasy worlds

We all know about Quidditch, but when I was thinking about making this list, I couldn’t recall any other sport from a fantasy world. So many parts of fantasy worlds are copied from our own world so why are sports not more common? The only thing that really comes close is those deadly competitions where people gather to watch someone die. Those appear quite often in fantasy. I was thinking of a slightly less violent version of that which of course would incorporate whatever magic the world has. Like Quidditch.  

Only one point of view

I’m not sure if this is considered a trope but I wanted to include it anyway. In fantasy, it’s become more and more popular to have several POV characters in books. Please stop that. There will always be a character I like more than the others, so I’m bored or annoyed when I have to read chapters from the other POVs. It doesn’t mean I hate the book, but it would be nice to just once in a while read a fantasy book with only one point of view. Especially in YA. A YA book doesn’t need so many main characters because they don’t need to be that complex in terms of characters. Remember Harry Potter? The Hunger Games? Only one POV character and those books are still considered some of the best YA books ever. It can be done.

I’ve also noticed that many authors use dual perspective – a girl and a boy. I think it’s very clever to include different genders to get different perspectives. If it wasn’t because they ALWAYS fall in love, I would love it. Another advantage of a single POV there. At least it would be a little bit more of a surprise who the love interest is (because you know he/she is going to exist).

Do you miss these tropes and characters as well or are there others you wish authors would include more? Let me know in the comments.