Comments on: 3 Questions to Ask Yourself When Writing About Past Trauma

By: Piper Bayard

Piper Bayard — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 22:37:10 +0000

Thank you, Colleen. I always admire writers who can write about trauma they have experienced. Maybe one day, I will, too, but for now, the answer is a hard no to all of those questions.

By: colleen

colleen — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 05:55:41 +0000

In reply to Kalen. It's so cool when patterns emerge in our writing. So many discoveries to be made!

By: Kalen

Kalen — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 00:39:27 +0000

With my first release Tapestry, I intentionally wrote about emotions and journeys people have in their lives—finding new jobs, moving, dating, dealing with anger. I pulled from my experiences. When I read it again, I noticed there was an undercurrent of anxiety in a lot of the stories. That was a happy coincidence, but it made sense since a lot of those experiences can cause anxiety.

By: colleen

colleen — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 18:49:32 +0000

In reply to dholcomb1. One of the many awesome things about writing, right? The process nearly always yields positive results in some way.

By: dholcomb1

dholcomb1 — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 06:52:05 +0000

It's hard to not write it, but sometimes after I write it, I delete it because it doesn't fit the feel of the book, but it's still cathartic. denise

By: colleen

colleen — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 06:07:50 +0000

In reply to deleyna. Yes, that's what happened to me too. In an excellent article in "Poets & Writers" magazine (Sept/Oct 2021) by Mira Ptacin she talked about coming at trauma "from the side" which describes so well what you're talking about. And yes, healing regardless. Best of luck with the story!

By: colleen

colleen — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 06:04:26 +0000

In reply to jamesr403. Thanks, James! Oh wow. What a rewarding letter to get from a reader. Ha ha ha. Love that when you can make your story turn out like things should be! :O)

By: deleyna

deleyna — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 06:01:06 +0000

Thank you for this, Colleen. I had a story that randomly shifted into a trauma that I hadn't planned on dealing with that way. I had to set it aside until I was prepared to deal with it. I'm still polishing the draft, but it was very healing to work on - once I was ready to.

By: jamesr403

jamesr403 — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:12:26 +0000

Excellent post, Colleen. I started writing -- and still write, in my mind -- for entertainment. Nevertheless, when I wrote a protagonist whose wife had been killed, I got an email from a reader who said it helped him through the loss of his wife. Wow, totally unexpected.
My own trauma, one that I never discuss, came out when I wrote a character who was short. I realized his anger was mine. It worked out ok. He hooks up with a stone cold fox.
Thank you.

By: colleen

colleen — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 19:27:54 +0000

In reply to Christina Anne Hawthorne. Thanks so much, Christina, and thanks for sharing some of your writing journey. I love what you said about your writing "giving back." I have found that as well. Writing is so unique that way. And so true about holding onto the core of who you are. I think writing helps us to stay connected to that too. :O)