Is Trauma Just a Plot Device?

Why do so many authors include complex trauma in their novels, and why is so much of it wrapped up in abusive romantic relationships?

No, really, I’m asking. Because the trope of ‘she falls in love with her captor’ is kind of starting to get on my nerves in its prevalence, and it’s almost an automatic skip for me these days. If I hear ‘enemies to lovers’, I’m out. It feels like TROPES have replaced THEMES and deeper meaning in so many stories, or they sully it so much the deeper themes are drowned out.

I’ll throw out an example (and it’s not a new one, by any means): Trade Wind, by M.M. Kaye. Despite the obviously touchy themes of slave trading, plague, foreign justice/governments, and the patriarchy, there are some themes of trauma that surface in this book, marketed as a historical romance. [Spoiler warning and Trigger warning] It involves the rape of a woman of color (who is technically considered the ‘property’ of the main male character) and her subsequent suicide. Afterwards, the male character abducts the rapist’s fiancé (a white woman, the female main character) and rapes her in retribution.

Now, neither of these acts are shown on the page (it’s fade to black), but the ‘love story’ surrounding the FMC and the MMC develops from this point forward with the man realizing he unexpectedly enjoyed the act because he’s secretly in love with her. Long story short, she winds up pregnant, ends up miscarrying, and realizes that she doesn’t want to lose the child because she is (surprise, surprise) in love with the man who raped her. Twice. Yeah, you read that right—after he tells her he didn’t expect to enjoy taking her, he promises not to touch her… then he gets her drunk and does it again, blaming her for not keeping the key from him and basically being too tempting.

I don’t mind the main character falling in love with a rogue. I don’t mind a character arc where he/she ends up all the better for the love their partner shows to them. In fact, that’s a main theme in most of the romances I write. Love changes us for the better, and for someone who has never had unconditional love (or is learning to love themselves), that kind of support can make a tremendous difference in who they are as a person.

But not from rape. Never from rape.

If a character in my story has a trauma response, a flashback, suffers loss, or has a history of long-term abuse of any kind, you’d better believe that is going to be reflected in every fiber of their being, not just a one-chapter-long-arc-where-the-bad-guy-seems-good-for-five-minutes. I have personally suffered trauma. So have a loooooot of other people. Writing trauma into a story to make it seem ‘dark’ or glorify abuse is abhorrent to me, and at the very least cheapens the horrors that real human beings have suffered through, or are still suffering through.

I do not focus on toxic romantic relationships in my stories, and I never will. While I love a good redemption arc as much as the next person, I do not normalize abuse, and I never glorify it. Can an abusive partner change their ways? Sure, but most of the time (in reality) that isn’t the case, and making it seems like something a loving partner would do (because they really do love you, they’re just damaged, they don’t realize it themselves, blah blah blah…) is downplaying the real-world abuse that hundreds of thousands of partners deal with—and die from—every single day.

So… what will you find in my love stories? Perfection?

Hardly. Malcolm Orso (Native of Nowhere trilogy) has no experience with long-term abuse, captivity, exploitation, or manipulation, so when he attempts to get closer to Kitania, he’s confused as to why she won’t accept his kindness. He doesn’t understand that she sees kindness as transactional, and until he makes it clear that he will never require something from her that she’s unwilling to give, she won’t relax. When she does find safety with him, she is then deathly afraid of losing him (which is a very real possibility, considering how murderous her former ‘owner’ is).

Andru Logan (Anomalous Axiom trilogy—releasing book 1 Fall 2026) is mysterious, secretive, deceptive, and believes he has to be manipulative in order to get what he needs. But although he is immediately attracted to Aila Jani, he does not pursue her romantically. He’s the one with a traumatic past, and he’s buried his emotions in favor of taking care of his responsibilities to his people. When the two of them finally become a couple, his arc is just beginning—he learns how to trust, but his fear of loss is so overwhelming that it shapes the next two books. If you want ‘touch her and die’ energy from a male character who has a healthy amount of respect for the woman, Andru is your guy.

So what’s my point? Simply this: my characters are broken, flawed, scared, courageous, loyal, and determined all at once. Some of them begin with only one desire: to hide. Some of them are in desperate need, and will do whatever they need to in order to save the ones they love. Some fear loving others because they don’t trust them to stick around. And some of them doubt their worth at all, constantly trying to convince others they don’t matter (I’m looking at you, Carina).

Character growth doesn’t have to come from trauma, but it can develop despite trauma, and in fact many times this happens because they’ve learned how to deal with the lingering effects of trauma. That’s what’s so powerful about a story that leverages traumatic events or circumstances from the past in the present and into the future. Don’t get me wrong, the villains in my stories are very, VERY bad people. There are definitely things that happen in the stories themselves that could be considered traumatic. But that’s not the point of the story.

Malcolm makes Kit feel safe. She immediately rejects the safety, not because she doesn’t want it, but because she doesn’t trust it to stay. Dantor hates Malcolm, and wants Kitania back. He will kill him, out of pure spite if need be. Malcolm almost dies for her… twice (technically three times, if you count the tavern scene). And while Kitania spends three books longing for that safety and warmth he so freely offers her, it isn’t until the very end of the trilogy where she allows herself to finally accept it.

Now tell me from a marketing standpoint that just wants to make money… how the hell does one reduce that kind of a story to a mere ‘trope’???