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Scotty Inyama
Dr. Keating
ECM 4910 Capstone
November 10th, 2016
Emerging tropes from the New Adult Fantasy Fiction Genre with a Concentration in
Authors of Color
Young adult author Joy N. Hensley once told me, at her book signing, that you
could not combine YA (the Young Adult genre) fantasy and NA (New Adult fantasy).
It shot my novel idea straight to hell. Mostly because I did not know that half of
what I was envisioning was New Adult, a genre I had not yet discovered. This
prompted me to start a different reading path. I loved YA, but had begun to notice
quite a few repeating character arcs throughout different novels. Taking my need for
a more diverse set of character tropes, I picked up the New Adult genre.
I hope to highlight the difference and growth from the YA genre to the New
Adult genre. The formation of characters and romance are key devices in both
genres. With specific concentration on the fantasy fiction subsets of these genres, I
will explore the evolution between the two and then where authors of color intersect
within the NA genre and the growth from there. Through this there may be explored
underlying social issues that need to be addressed to fully grasp the need for such
an evolution.
Narrowing the gaze to just authors of color is extremely important. Often
times, many authors of color are put into a subgenre that gets little to no exposure.
Many authors express extreme dislike toward the racialized book categories.
Brandon Massey, a Black Horror/Thriller writer, expressed to the Pittsburgh PostGazette in 2006 that being on the African American book shelves in stores did take
away from his sales. N.K. Jemisin, an author I used to research into this subject,
wrote an impassioned speech on her website about not putting her books on African
American shelves, thereby pigeonholing her as an author of a different genre. These

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authors express this concern because they have something to say, a message or a
story to get out, and they do not get great exposure on shelves at the back of the
store, where the African American shelves are located. Examining just what these
authors have to say in a genre that segregates them can prove insightful. They
have their fingers on the pulse of diversity, and are writing what has not been
written before. Positive and full representations of their races in fantasy settings.
I will present certain character tropes that several authors of color are
bringing into the genre. I wanted to focus on characters specifically because that is
where the reader finds their representation. In a world with fantastical things
running about, can the reader still find themselves in a positive or well-rounded
light, is the question. Before that can be called into question, the language and
history of the genre evolution has to take place first.
Tropes are a figure of speech. A metaphorical or figurative use of words to
convey non-literal meanings. This can extend to characters within a work, or work
as a literary device across a genre to hold meaning. Within the fantasy fiction genre,
tropes can hold a lot of weight and definition to the work. Tropes are to be used to
artistic effect, but within the genre, where artistic effect is leaping off the page,
tropes take on real world elements to ground such stories.
This literary device has created or continued such memorable tropes such as,
The Mary-Sue: A perfect character with no flaws, there when the main character
needs them with whatever the main character needs. The Kindly Old Caretaker: an
innocent who nurses the main character at their most urgent need, but also an
emotional sacrifice for the plot. The Bully, The Mean Girl, etc. All of these are tropes
within literature. These characterizations can all be different, yet carry fundamental
elements that put them into their respective trope category.
Young Adult bridges a gap. It is a stepping stone between childrens literature
and what is commonly called literature, books read by adults. These novels feature

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children and teens as the protagonist where adults typically play the villain. The
Young Adult Fantasy novels feature children with abilities or powers strong enough
to save the world. YA Fantasy became very popular because of the character tropes
employed by many writers of the genre.
An extremely popular character trope in the YA Fantasy genre is the Chosen
One. A child or teen with all the abilities and gifts needed to vanquish the villain.
The Chosen one is typically under or ill-trained to uphold their task. Another is the
Trustworthy Sidekick. Typically female, they help the Chosen One through their
ordeal while knowing more about the task at hand than the protagonist. These
tropes are prominent in highly popular YA Fantasy series such as the Harry Potter
series, The Mortal Instruments series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and
the Vampire Academy series.
YA characters are typically young, so when a reader grows and no longer can
relate to the youth of the characters anymore, they would typically transition into
Fiction or Adult Fiction. Many still enjoy the elements from the YA genre and sought
to bring that to a new genre of fiction, thus the New Adult genre was born. New
Adult treads where YA puts a cap on things. The target reader base are no longer
children, and more serious topics can be explored. This makes the NA genre just a
little more dangerous than YA.
NA characters tend to range from 18 to 30. These characters deal with
heavier subject matter such as death, sex, and race. Giving the reader what the YA
genre was not providing, or continued to sugarcoat. New Adult authors take on the
eccentricities and banalities of adult life, for a new generation transitioning to
adulthood. New Adult has a tendency to tackle the problems with Young Adult head
on by writing in the same style, but greatly enriching the characters that YA does
not provide.

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New Adult was most likely coined by St. Martins Press publisher at large, Dan
Weiss. In 2009 he called for novel submissions that would appeal to New Adult
readers. Weiss, during an interview with Beth Kephart, admitted that he had been
keeping his eye on Generation Y. The age group a step above millennials. His
purpose for this, digital media was Gen Ys preferred medium and more
importantly, that digital didnt necessarily cannibalize print but can be a
complement in certain categories. He made sure to understand the change that
was happening with media, and how the new generation of readers were reading,
and what they were reading. Directly catering to that need is what now has New
Adult, or NA, gaining more ground in the literary community.
Popular NA started to gain ground. Most famously Dead Until Dark by
Chalaine Harris, which in time was turned into the Trueblood tv series on HBO. Dead
Until Dark, the first in a series called the Sookie Stackhouse series, was a sopping
wet romance story within a fantasy setting. With that success growing
exponentially, more NA novels in fantasy settings were published, but with the
same overt elements of romance. A lack of diversity also became noticeable in the
rising genre. Many books in the genre have covers with white characters on them,
many believing that covers with white characters would sell more.
Millenia Black, an NA author, sued her publisher for putting her book in the
African American literature section of book retailers. The premise of her lawsuit
being that books on the African American shelves do not tend to sell very well, and
do not enter the mainstream. With little light hitting the very authors who are
reacting the most to the mainstream of the genre, I have decided to enter this
endeavor.
The Literature Research:
The New Adult Fantasy genre is not large by any means, but it has a few titles
and key authors that are setting precedent. With a few exceptions, writers tend to

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only be famous to other writers and readers, so none of the authors I selected are
world renown, though well reviewed. Within the genre, the works I have chosen are
from the range of very promising authors, though gracing sub-list of the New York
Times bestsellers list, to relative new-comers. This optimizes the scope of the genre.
My research consists of fifteen titles and seven authors. The works vary,
some being sagas, or trilogies, the trilogy being a staple in any fantasy genre, or
full length one-and-done novels. This was also done to get a variety on what the
genre holds. Though I have not read everything that could be considered New Adult
Fantasy, my work across this small pool of authors has given me a firm grip on just
how the genre breaks away from its predecessor.
Also, my work is extremely contemporary. The earliest book was mass market
published in 2008. So the range on the fifteen titles I am working with stretch
between 2008-2016. The latest title I read was just released on October of 2016.
The genre is growing and evolving and I wanted to get the freshest perspective
possible. There have been authors of color who have written things that fall into the
New Adult category many years before the earliest work Ive reviewed. But, the mid2000s was a take-off point for the genre in the specific direction that it is now
headed.
I have tested and measured these works against more than YA. The genre
takes its first steps out of YA, but with the specific intersection for my reading being
authors of color, I weighed these books against guidelines set by older authors of
color. For instance: Octavia Butler and Toni Morrison. Both of these authors have
written works of fiction, but they vastly differ from what we are reading today. These
two authors, black women, have gothic elements within their work, specifically
Southern Gothic. Though highly aesthetic, a trait shared with the books in the NA
genre today, that element has not followed the NA writers. They more favor the

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aftermath of Reconstruction rather than the slave era southern aesthetic. Even the
high fantasy of the NA favors urban areas, over rural settings.
Ive found that even beyond character tropes are strings that connect themes
from novel to novel. These Non-Character tropes are quite important because it is
where the authors show that they have more than just a fantasy story to tell. To
really find the message one has to apply the Reader Response critical theory.
Though I am using authors of color, and have applied Racial theory to these
readings as well, to spot the message across genre and discern what it is, Reader
Response is most relevant at times.
Reader Response, intersected with Race and Gender theory, is the exact
reason this sub-genre exists. A reader, engrossed in the Young Adult fantasy genre
before the mid-2000 influx of writers of color, would typically find themselves in
predominately white stories. The diversity was lacking and if it was there, the
character read offensively and awkward. Readers turned writers because they
wanted to insert themselves in these stories that they loved, but did not read
themselves as protagonists or beautiful. The genre shifts focus to the ostracized,
the picked last, the friend of color the reader never gets to know. This is why NA is
an evolution from YA. The characters are not just older, or the stakes more
dangerous. The very characters themselves are a direct reflection on readers who
do not exist inside of fantasy realms. For all of its magic, futuristic spacescapes,
angels, demons, and elves alike, people of color have seemed the oddity inside of
fantasy novels of the past. But, once those stories are in the hands of people of
color, a great deal of new heights can be reached.
Other literary critiques can be applied. Each author on my reading list
discusses race in some form or another, leaving the reader with an innate sense to
read it racially. N.K. Jemisin, one of the more high-fantasy authors on the list, uses
made up names that code for real world races, as well as Kai Ashante Wilson. While

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Daniel Jose Older and Nnedi Okorafor use real world races and cultures. Both styles
of writers, whether high-fantasy or Urban Fantasy, race is still a factor in each.
Queer and Gender theory run rampant throughout this small cross-section of
the fantasy genre. Almost every book on my list features at least one queer
character. As we will explore, the authors make sure to take care of their queer
characters. They are given life and meaning. They are integral to the plot and
without them large pieces of the story would be missing. It is a far cry from what YA
was doing to queer characters.
My first reading of N.K. Jemisin, I did use a deconstruction of many binaries as
my bases for her uses her books to showcase evolution between the genres. The
Deconstruction theory can be applied heavily genre wide as well. Jemisin takes
gender rolls apart by flipping them with the same policies in place that we have in
our real world. Her fictional land of matriarchal women, who treat men as their
treasures, bars men from government unless hes born into it, keeps them home
to raise children, and every other a patriarchal society would disempower women,
this society does to men. This allows previously indoctrinated readers to read this
land and see just how unfair our real world polices are. We will explore, there is the
breaking of the binary of respectability. Characters who do not assimilate into the
mainstream for acceptance. This explores who they are without the mainstreams
acceptance and opens up the readership to those who would have previously never
related to the genre before.
To understand how that changes from YA to NA, and how these other theories
translate to NA, we carry them with us as we use the Reader Response theory. That
considers reader reaction to these tropes in YA and how they respond to the new
character tropes in NA. NA characters are well received and generally more wellrounded. Where YA made the molds, NA came in and filled them with life.
Young Adult Tropes:

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YA is the springboard for using characters as a basis for analysis in my research. So
I have decided to prelude the New Adult tropes with Young Adult tropes, to show the
growth between the two.
The Chosen One
This character trope describes a character who has entered their fantasy
world and discovers themselves to be quite powerful in the particular setting. They
is typically a teenager, and rebellious. She (if female) exists outside of feminine
binary, heavily criticizing other teenage girls. This character is usually subject to
two love interest. Harry Potter is a very famous Chosen One character. Max from
James Pattersons Maximum Ride series is another.
Dark and Brooding Boyfriend
Rarely is the brooding boyfriend the main character. The genre centers
around female protagonist, yet they each encounter a male of this type. He is
mysterious, and alluring the main character. His characterization heavily eludes to
romanticism. The object of the main characters desires. This characters anger
issues and dark past are constant plot devices. Edward Cullen from Twilight is the
ultimate character fitting this trope, as well as Jace, from the Mortal Instruments
series.
Mean Girl
This character is usually a critique on mainstream teenage femininity. She is
constantly at odds with the main character. Dressed in the that worlds version of
scantily clad. The mean girl is smart, and good at what she does in universe. Rosalie
from the Twilight novels is a great example of a Mean Girl. The Vampire Academy,
House of Night, and several other very popular YA novels have this trope.
New Adult Tropes:
These tropes show progression from the lack of diversity of mainstream YA
and NA. These fantasy books in the New Adult genre are providing representation to
communities of readers who have yet to see themselves in their favorite genre. A

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Reader Response critical theory would be most beneficial when taking these novels
apart, to find the new tropes coming from the writers of this genre.
The Free Living Woman
This trope is a twist to the Chosen One. This character does not have all the
answers or powers like the Chosen One, but struggles to accomplish their goal only
with strength of will. The free living woman is one who is unencumbered by men,
but not alone or lonely. She is unconcerned with beauty. She exists outside of what a
woman is supposed to do, and takes the story into her own hands. The free living
woman is typically older, may have children. This character usually traverses the
rocky or end parts of the romantic relationship. This character does not act within
any structured binary. She behaves, loves, and governs herself how she chooses.
Ex: Lagoon
He clenched his hands into fist. But Adaora wasnt afraid of him. She could
feel it inside her. All she had to do was let herself loose and fight like the last one,
would be over before it began. She stared him down. about Adaora.
This quote is from Nnedi Okorafors Lagoon. The main character Adaora is an
African woman at the end of her marriage. Aliens have invaded Lagos and she is at
the center of it. Her husband is trying to suppress her, and this free living woman
has decided that she will follow her own voice instead of being what he expects of
her. Adaora is a Chose One type character, but her complex life and a feminist
reading take the character way beyond the typical Chosen One. She is a woman
working toward living free.
The Fifth Season
Youre still trying to decide who to be. The self youve been lately doesnt
makes sense anymore; that woman died with Uche. Shes not useful, unobtrusive as
she is, quiet as she is, ordinary as she is. Not when such extraordinary things have
happened. about Essun (second person pov)
Essun is a woman of color who is used to starting over. The life she was living
was the freest she ever was, and is now forced to start over again with the death of

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her child. She uses her power to begin her search for revenge. This takes her
through a journey that requires her to lean on nothing else but her own strength.
There are no men who step in to save Essun, she is not a romantic character. She is
purely hero in a space where women characters so rarely get to be more than love
interest.
Half Resurrection Blues
Sasha is in rare form. At first all I see are ghost bodies falling over
themselves to get ourt of the waythere she is: beautiful as ever and with a little
paunch in her belly. Shes got a blade in each hand, and theres no doubt she knows
exactly what the fuck shes doing with them. about Sasha
The character Sasha is extremely interesting. Half Resurrection Blues
features a man of color as the lead, but has a woman of color as the main love
interest. Yet, Sasha, the love interest, makes it clear that the man is not needed.
Even when he thinks he is saving her, or trying to assert himself to keep her out of
danger, Sasha takes the lead, letting him know that she is a woman capable of
taking care of herself. This book features a woman of color who is adored and
respected at the same time. She has her own agency, and can still be beautiful. An
important topic in a feminist reading.
The Magical Child
The magical child is a jester character of sorts. They are lighthearted and
innocent They come from nowhere, usually suddenly appearing. They are startling
at first, spooking the main character with something that is not quite child-like. This
character typically has a magical gift that the main character finds useful and joins
the main character in their journey.
Ex: The Other Lands
She looked out at them with remarkably large eyes. Though she said not a
word, Kelis could not help but think her quite intelligent this is my daughter, she
named herself about Shen

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This magical child character aids the plot by doing just what her trope
suggests, being magical. Her presence is unnerving because of her magical ability,
giving the main character a comical reason to pause. Though she is serious, she
lightens the mood with her childish wonder. Also, as The Magical Child tends to do,
she gets the main character to have parental feelings for her.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Sieh laughed at my face and put the ball on the floor. Then he sat on it,
crossed legged. The ball held perfectly still beneath him until he was comfortable,
and then it rose into the air. It stopped when he was a few feet above the ground
and hovered. Then the boy who was not a boy reached out to me. - about Sieh
The Magical Child is supposed to make the adult around them nervous. That
is an essential trait. Sieh is a child that has been alive a few millennia. He is a god
type character, but gains strength from childhood. His childlike appearance clashes
with fact that he is very old, and makes the main character quite nervous to be
around him. His childish cruelty is a factor in his characterization as well. He is
unpredictable, as a child, yet methodical. He fits The Magical Child trope perfectly.
The Awakened Kingdom
Imagine that you have just been born There is a lot of pain and messiness
and then suddenly everything is new and different and cold and bright. Then
something says BE and there you are. Shill
Shill is a magical child that disrupts the reader. She details many times things
that no one other than infants who cannot talk can remember. She describes her
birth, and her getting to learn how to do basic things. She makes everyone around
her constantly nervous. Typically, women end up mothering the Magical Child, but in
this universe men are the caretakers and a teen takes charge of Shill as her
surrogate parent. Proving that a trait of the Magical Child is to find a
surrogate/adoptive parent.
The Unapologetically Dark Character

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This character is The Token character but given the full rights to characterhood. They are fully realized people who are not ashamed of what their respective
societies think about them or their color. These characters do not subscribe to
respectability politics, and are not afraid to culturally be themselves. Applying the
Reader Response critical theory to this trope is very beneficial because this
character immediately resonates with the target audience. This character is
breaking away from assimilation, a trait many characters of color take on in the YA
and NA genres. This character trope is one of the more reactionary tropes authors of
color are applying to their works, because it replaces the Dark Brooding Boyfriend
with a fully fleshed out character who stands for something other than romance.
Ex: Sorcerer to the Crown
There are advantages to being an outcast, said Zacharias. One is set at
liberty from many anxieties. There is no call to worry about what others will think,
when it is clear that they already think the worst. Zacharias
Zacharias is black in England in the 1800s. He is also head of his
organization of British magicians. He faces outrage because of his skin color daily.
Yet, he has learned to take those slights in stride and uses his words or magic to
show hateful racist up. He is not trying to apologize for his race, or make anyone
accept it. He is simply being himself, and when those around him hate that, he
continues to do it unapologetically. This character trope is about exposing the
ugliness of racism through the eyes of the oppressed.
Sin Eaters
Calvin pulled off his skull cap, and narrowed his eyes, scanning the darkness
before himhe ran an idle hand over his low-cut fade, which had swirling African
spiritual protection symbols artfully and carefully cut on one side of his hair in a
part. about Calvin
This character uses traditionally African American aesthetics to his
advantage. He has had his hair cut with protection spells shaved into his hair. He is

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using the magic of his universe in conjunction with African American hairstyles to
protect himself. This is a very pointed decision by the author to use that form of
blackness to enhance a character. This character is devoid of respectability politics
and is not trying at all to assimilate into white society. He is using traditional African
American imagery and is unashamed.
Midnight Taxi Tango
But Im black. Aint no kinda ambiguous either. Unambiguously black. Kia
Kia is a girl who is 100% unapologetically black. Living in the urban setting of
New York, she understands just where being black will get a person with authority
figures, and still announces that she is black at all times. She breaks respectability
politics, while being mindful of them. She struggles with rising above the chatter but
also will not let anyone insult her because of her blackness, woman-ness, or youth.
Sage Gays
The Sage Gay is extremely important. This character is reactionary to
attempts at inclusion in Young Adult. Those LGBT characters have a history of being
mentioned and then forgotten or killed for dramatic effect. The Sage Gay makes
themselves integral to the plot. They hold knowledge or have a skill that requires
them to be around, therefore making their deaths unnecessary. Reader Response
critical theory traversing across YA into NA would see a vast difference in the
treatment of LGBT characters by the hands of NA. YA treats LGBT characters as a
second-hand thought at inclusion. But, NA takes those characters and breathes life
into them, keeping them in the story until the end and beyond.
Ex: The Fifth Season
Im not interested in your rusting history- . But its relevant! History is
always relevant. Tonkee, Binof, or whoever she is, steps away from the wall, a
pleading look on her face. I really am a geomest, I really did go to Seventh,
althoughit didnt go well. But I really have spent my life studying that thing
which we found in the Fulcrum.- Tonkee

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Tonkee is a transgendered character in a fantasy setting. Typically, LGBT
characters in most genres, unless it is specially an LGBT story, are passed over and
forgotten. Tonkee makes herself important to the plot by being a scientist and
studying the main character. Her knowledge is indispensable, even when the main
character wants to destroy her momentarily. Tonkees death would result in a huge
plot hole. This trope is all about saving characters that were once disposable.
Bone Street Rumba
Even when we dont need spiritual advice, Baba Eddies is where we come
just to hang. Its nice to be around folks who get it, and Baba will keep his head on
through any kind of fuckery and come out smiling.
Baba Eddie is literally a sage. He provides spiritual advice, and a place to go,
that the main character cant do without. Without his spiritual work the main
character would have died, or lost his mind long ago. Baba Eddie fulfills this trope
strongly. He is in a loving relationship. A fully fleshed out character that also has a
reason to be in the story.
The Other Lands
She was enough to set the world at war again, and he, being witness to her,
had a role in whatever was to come.
Kelis is charged with delivering a long lost royal to her destiny, and only Kelis
can do it because only he has made the journey before. His knowledge of the land
and what to expect makes him invaluable to the story, even if he is in love with her
father.
The Weary Lover
This character trope features a varied array of characters in multiple
situations, with one common theme. They are apprehensive to love again or for the
first time. This trope is evolution of the juvenile romance themes that run very
strongly through YA. This character is a romantic type character, but the road to
love is much more complex than in YA. It is an exploration of romance beyond the

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restrictive themes of Young Adults need to keep their plots suitable for young
readers.
Ex: A Taste of Honey
Ever caught alone, Aqib might well have given up exactly what was desired
of him. But he himself wanted life, not horrible death, and so never could the
handsome Seducer find him where a tryst might be fixed for later, much less
consummated on the spot. - about Aqib
Aqib is a gay man, who was forcibly married to a woman, and to avoid death,
he is devoted to his wife. He avoids men, living his life in relative sadness. Loving
his family, but feeling something is missing. The reader watches Aqib go through his
life longing for a fuller love, and resigning to the love that he has.
Midnight Taxi Tango
If I were capable of having feelings since Angie disappeared, I might have
some for Shelley. Not because shes finer than all the rest of them but because at
the beginning of the night when she crawls into the back of my Crown Vic she
always catches my eyes in the rearview and asks me how Im doing.- Reza
Reza is a masculine presenting lesbian. She lost a love and is unwilling to
open herself back up to the opportunity. Her hesitation to even think about romance
is the epitome of the trope. An LGBT woman who has had love, and considers it but
passes. This characters romantic options are laid out before her and she is allowed
to choose. The Weary Lover trope is to keep LGBT members in the story constantly
around to love to their own hearts content, but not before they are ready. This trope
is setting a precedent for the love lives of LGBT characters
The Broken Kingdoms
As happy as anyone can be after forty years of marriage. But I had been
very happy. Cingo had been just what Id needed, steady, and reliable. Id just
wished he lived longer. I sighed again, inadvertently relaxing in the warmth, which
made me feel boneless and sleepy. Perhaps that was why I said what I meant,
instead of what was tactful. I knew better than to wait for you.- Oree

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Oree is an old woman at the time of the quote, talking to a man she loved
when she was very much younger. She has lived a life, loved others, and has
resigned to dying in peace until he reappears in her life. She made the decision to
move on from him and enjoy her life. Shes had love and isnt extremely interested
in searching it out anymore. This opens up room for Oree ( a woman of color) to be
wooed and cared for, something readers of NA are truly searching for.
The Ruler
This character, typically a woman of color, has her own agency and power to
fight her enemies. Yet, there are many who align themselves to her cause due to
her righteousness, name, or beliefs. This character has her own motives pursues
them without deterrence. The character trope is rails directly against the trope of
the sidekick of color in YA fantasy. This character is the center of attention with their
needs and wants front and center of the plot.
EX: Acacia
Sire Dagon, I can tell you on my brothers behalf that he has no desire to
hurt your interests. Just the opposite, he-and I- believe that a partnership between
the league and the Akarans can be even more profitable than ever before.- Corinn
Akaran
Corinn Akaran was lying when she made that quote. She is a character that
learns that she has to make her own way in life. She is brokering a deal that hinges
on the outcome of a war, and either way the chips fall, she will end up on top. She
uses her own agency to rise to the height of power, making her an extremely
powerful character.
The Fifth Season
She looks away for a moment, then presses her lips together and glowers at
Damaya in apparent determination. Will you help me find this room, or not? If you
wont help, at least dont say anything. Binof
Binof is the dead name of a trans character. She moves on to choose her own
name and become the person she wants to be, but she has always had the trait of a

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leader. She creates her own space, recruiting a young girl to help her in the process.
This girl follows out of pure curiosity about Binof. The Ruler type character is about
creating spaces where they once was no space. Binof is the perfect example of that.
A trans character making her own space.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
But the greater the obscenity was the fact that the chains, when I followed
them to their source, were part of me. So were three other leashes, one of which
led to the neck of the creature who had called me MotherRevolted, I tore the
chains away from my chest and willed them to shatter.- Yeine
Yeine is a mortal that traverses uncharted territory of moving between mortal
and goddess. She becomes a goddess and instantly takes her power into her own
hands and destroys what was once binding her and others. When the chains are
broken, others, happy for their freedom, fight for her and worship her as the
goddess she is.
Non-Character Tropes
There are certain themes that do not pertain to characters that I have also
found to string these works together and give them commonality. These are tropes
of settings and language, things that are not centered around characters or
character development. These tropes are exacted because of the authors of color
influence. It is here that we see the difference and similarities between the
contemporary authors and the older authors of the genre. They stray away from the
Southern Gothic aesthetic and veer toward Reconstruction era metropolitan areas.
But, they continue to use natural language with their characters, as did the older
authors.
AAVE (African-American Vernacular English)/ Natural Language
AAVE is considered bad or poor use of Standard American English (SAE).
These authors are breaking the mold with continuing to use AAVE in fantasy
settings, even with its connotations for poor language use. Its a bold move to use

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street-level language in fantasy, as the author runs the risk of the language use
seeming out of place or context. But, these authors are legitimizing the use of the
language by including it. It allows readers who grew up on the dialect(s) to combine
their love or reading and their cultures.
Ex: Bone Street Rumba series
This book is full of characters that use AAVE or casually add Spanish into their
everyday language. The entire series is filled with the natural way that urban people
of color talk because the setting is urban and has to reflect the culture.
Sorcerer of the Wildeeps
This novella is filled the n- word. Which is off putting because the rest of the
words are quite beautiful and rich. This is done deliberately to remind the reading
audience that there is commonality between the men in the novella, and they are
comfortable enough with each other and their race to use the word. It is a breaking
of respectability politics. It says that the use of the word does not limit one or their
intellect. Also, there is healthy conversation about the word in the novella that
parallels the real world conversations about the word.
Lagoon
Lagoon is based in Nigeria. The language used there is vastly different and
varied. But, it is beautifully done. There are characters that use Pigdin English,
speak Yoruba, or Igbo. The use of it is as natural as speaking, characters lapse into
it just as bi or trilingual speakers would break and incorporate their other languages
into their English.
Urban/City Settings
Placing characters in urban settings seems to be a genre wide application.
Some of the characters come from rural areas to big cities and that is when the
magic happens. It is reminiscent to Reconstruction when many people of color left
the agricultural life behind and traveled to bigger cities to work and find exciting
lives. The moving from country areas seems to be done very deliberately at times.

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These characters are striving for freedom, and they are taking an age old flight from
the country to the city.
Ex: The Inheritance Trilogy
The setting of the novel does not change. The setting takes on different
names as the story progresses, but it is the same, a city setting. The city is where
the excitement happens. The second novel in the trilogy features a woman coming
from a rural area to the city setting and loving her life there. Each novel the city
changes, a gigantic tree grows through it and separates sections of the city, or the
tree falls and becomes the city. But the city is what is important, as it is the catalyst
for change in each novel.
Sorcerer to the Crown
A character takes her flight from a country school to the city of London so
that she can have a big change in her life. She wants to get married and find
fortune in the city. When a NA character comes from the country to the city, their
lives dramatically change. When the character Prunella decides to leave her country
school for London, a lot of magic crosses her path, more than she has experienced
before. This trope paints the city setting, no matter what city, as magical.
Bone Street Rumba series
New York is the quintessential city setting. The Bone Street Rumba series is
set in NYC and that is magical enough. The magical element is almost built into the
city setting. Giving the buildings life and ghostly haunts all their own. The buildings
and houses themselves come alive, giving the city a spooky feeling that even the
reader can feel.
Real World Social Justice Parallel
The NA authors of color are serving up more that fantasy. Some are taking
their works and including a nod to social justice by mentioning real world parallels.
These parallels are built into the lives of their characters or the fabric of their
societies. These authors are giving marginalized groups the acknowledgment they
so crave when incorporating actual struggles into fantasy works.

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Ex: N, K Jeminsin
Jemisin builds worlds in which race is constantly a factor. Often she blurs
those lines that would directly mirror the social justice between our reality and her
fantasy worlds, but the messages still shine very bright. In her Broken Earth series,
the earth is much farther in the future and the land is unstable. The races have
created a entirely new gene pool, yet racial lines still exist. Jemisin uses the lore of
her stories as parallels to our worlds struggle for racial equality. In The Hundred
Thousand Kingdoms, the main character, who is from a country of brown people, is
referred to as a darkling, though in universe the term is centered around her
people not originally worshipping the god of light. The distinction is clear that
darkling is a slur for a brown person. She carries racial themes across her own
series. In the Broken Earth series, The Fifth Season, she uses the lore behind her
plot, conveniently tucked away as foot notes from a long dead Emperor, to show the
future societys racial bias. Tell them they can be great someday, like us. Tell them
they belong among us, no matter how we treat them. Tell them they must earn the
respect which everyone else receives by default. Tell them there is a standard for
acceptance; that standard is simply perfection. Kill those who scoff at these
contradictions, and tell the rest that the dead deserved annihilation for their
weakness and doubt. Then theyll break themselves trying for what theyll never
achieve.- The Fifth Season pg. 122. This quote almost directly addresses white
privilege, and the extra work it takes for people of color to climb the same ladders.
Her direct tone throughout the book with made up races too much mirror our own
struggles.
Bone Street Rumba series- Daniel Jose Older
A theme across the Bone Street Rumba series the gentrification of Black and
Brown neighborhoods in New York City. Its constantly casually mentioned, as an old
soul from New York, who is familiar with the neighborhood, constantly points out.

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Older has been quite vocal for a long time about the problematic nature of
gentrification. In 2014, Older wrote for Salon.com on gentrification, calling it an
insidious violence. This series address what exactly is wrong with gentrifying
traditionally Black and Brown neighborhoods.
A Taste of Honey- Kia Ashante Wilson
Wilson is turning out fantastic queer fiction with people of color as the main
characters. His novellas are both quite aesthetic in form. Very mellifluous language
ring throughout his work, something that does bode well in any fantasy genre. Yet,
with such beautiful language that suits the fantasy so well, he does not do what
Jemisin does and break down sexual binaries with his queer characters. Wilson
keeps the real world negative views of homosexuality in his fantasy works. His
newly adult fantasy queer main characters navigate homophobic societies in a very
real way, bringing honesty to the queer journey. No! Aqib answered, shocked,
whispering himself. Men cannot kiss! Yet is seemed there was a conspiracy within
his own body. For it took all of his strength not to consummate their nearness in to
actual touch, while he was utterly strengthless to shift even an inch away. A Taste
of Honey pg 19. Aqib has a journey to get over his own ingrained homophobia so
that he can truly explore his clear attraction to men.
The future of the New Adult fantasy fiction genre is promising. With authors of
color in the mix, the genre has real potential to become everything that diverse
groups of readers have been hoping for. These books take the height of imagination
and incorporate real messages via its characters. This is why readers are flocking to
the genre. It is doing what YA simply cannot due. It dares to be bolder, more honest,
and that is what the readers, transitioning from YA to NA are looking for. They want
a book that is not afraid to go there. One that tells a truth so strongly that it jumps
off the page. This is what the genre has brought, and continues to bring.

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The tropes presented show common bonds between the individual works the
authors of the genre are presenting. These common bonds show more adult
versions of previous YA tropes. These tropes display accurate versions of
marginalized groups. The very mission of the authors and these tropes are inclusion.
These novels feature and star women of color, members of the LGBT community,
and appreciation for other cultures.
New Adult is grabbing its new fan base from the pool of people who just want
more from a book. The genre is tailoring itself to serve those who have yet to be
sated by a book. Its adding much needed diversity to the world of literature that is
crying for new blood. These contemporary stories are like essays by Hurston, HongKingston, and Anzaldua dipped in magic and given legs to walk. This is why authors
of color are necessary to any genre. To add perspective where there was none, and
tell their stories with flare and finesse.
Works Cited
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.
Cho, Zen. Sorcerer to the Crown. Ace Books. September 2015. Book.
Durham, David Anthony. Acacia. Anchor Books. August 2008. Book.
---. The Other Lands. Anchor Books. August 2010. Book.
---. Sacred Band. Anchor Books. January 2012. Book.
Jemisin, N.K. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Orbit. February 2010. Book.
---. The Broken Kingdoms. Orbit. November 2010. Book.
---. Kingdom of Gods. Orbit. October 2011. Book.
---. The Awakened Kingdom. Orbit. December 2014. eBook
---. The Fifth Season. Orbit. August 2015. eBook.
---. Dont Put My Book in the African American Section. N.K. Jemisin. 2016.
http://nkjemisin.com/2010/05/dont-put-my-book-in-the-african-american-section/.
Web
Kephart, Beth. On Publishing for Gen Y and New Adult Literature. Publishing
Perspective. November 2012. http://publishingperspectives.com/2012/11/onpublishing-for-gen-y-and-new-adult-literature/#.WEsltfkrKUk. Web
Leakes, Kai. Sin Eaters. Urban Renaissance. August 2012. Book.
Okorakor, Nnedi. Lagoon. Saga Press. July 2015. Book.
Older, Daniel Jose. Half Resurrection Blues. ROC. January 2015. Book.

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---. Midnight Taxi Tango. ROC. January 2016. Book.
Wilson, Kai Ashante. Sorcerer of the Wildeeps. Tor.com. September 2015. ebook
---. A Taste of Honey. Tor.com. October 2016. ebook.