Writers in the Storm

By Becca Puglisi

We know the importance of making our characters authentic, believable, and memorable for readers. But relevance is important, too, because it makes them relatable. Readers see characters who are facing the same issues they’re facing or dealing with the same struggles they’re dealing with, and a bond is formed.

As an example, look at To Kill a Mockingbird. It was written in 1960, but this story about children navigating a racially-charged culture that is altering their safe and comfortable world is still relevant to us almost 50 years later.

Are your characters relevant?

Relevance in your stories is about finding an element for your character or story that your reader can relate to in the real world. It might be heavy (a theme, social or political issue, moral quandary, or mental obstacle) or minor (a hobby or interest, dominant character trait, or common missing human need). Either can be effective. And if you can come up with a common thread that hasn’t been used a million times, that’s always a plus.

To that end, I’d like to share a real-life malady I’ve recently learned about that may be incredibly relevant to readers today.

Introducing "Compassion Fatigue"

When Angela and I were writing our latest thesaurus on occupations, we were researching the nursing career and stumbled over a term we’d never heard before: compassion fatigue. It’s defined as:

Exhaustion, emotional withdrawal, apathy, or indifference experienced by those who have been exposed to repeated trauma, tragedy, and appeals for assistance

This condition is all-to-common in occupations where people are constantly exposed to trauma (e.g. first responders, social workers, journalists, therapists, animal welfare workers, etc.) The frequent exposure to horrible events inherent in these jobs leads to a necessary psychological withdrawal as these workers try to distance themselves from what they’re seeing. While a certain level of withdrawal is healthy, serious cases can lead to problems on the job, relationship conflict, and debilitating mental conditions like PTSD.

Well, you might think, that’s interesting, but my character doesn’t have that kind of job.

Due to the 24-hour cycle of social media and news networks, compassion fatigue is becoming much more widespread. The public’s constant exposure to the suffering of others—sometimes on a hard-to-fathom scale—is taking its toll.

Compassion fatigue presents with the following symptoms:

• Physical and emotional exhaustion 
• Moodiness
• Increased apathy
• Lack of focus
• Weight loss
• Insomnia
• Increased drug or alcohol use
• Isolation
• Feeling hopeless or powerless
• Loss of interest in things that once brought joy
• Self-blame (for not doing more)
• Decreased efficiency at work
• Denial

This should give you an idea of how detrimental compassion fatigue can be. You may even recognize some of these symptoms in yourself as you navigate the constant barrage of news coverage. This malady is becoming more common, and therefore more relevant, for today’s readers. As such, it might be something that could work in your story, but as with any real physical or emotional affliction, it needs to be handled responsibly and thoughtfully.

Questions to help you decide:

1. Does It Fit for My Character?

The first consideration is whether or not compassion fatigue actually works for your character. We’ve all seen the results of authors trying to force certain habits, personality traits, or emotional responses onto their cast members. The inauthenticity is almost unbearable, leading to a disconnect with readers.

As with any other aspect of characterization, you have to do your homework and make sure it makes sense for the character. Compassion fatigue might be a reasonable outcome for someone who…

• works in a job where trauma and tragedy are frequent.
• lives, works, or volunteers in a war zone or area of high crime.
• is a caregiver to a chronically or terminally ill loved one.
• consistently sees trauma second-hand (on the news, social media, etc.).
• is highly empathetic and compassionate to begin with.

Basically, if your character consistently witnesses circumstances that naturally arouse their empathy but they’re unable to do anything about those situations, they’re at high risk for compassion fatigue. If this is the case for your character, it may be something that can be written into your story.

2. Have I Done My Research?

Compassion fatigue is a real ailment and, like any real-life element, it needs to be represented accurately. If you’ve suffered with this condition, you’ll have firsthand experience and it will be easier to write. If you haven’t, get to work researching.

• Find people who have dealt with it and talk to them.
• Read medical journals and legitimate sources.
• Join discussion groups and online communities.

Gather the information you need so you can write this condition accurately and realistically for your character.

3. Does It Serve My Story?

Like any physical or mental ailment, compassion fatigue doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It will have far-reaching effects on your character that will impact your story, so it should only be included if those effects serve your purposes. Here are a few natural outcomes of compassion fatigue that might do your story some good:

• It Provides Organic Conflict Options. Insomnia, lack of focus, moodiness—the symptoms of compassion fatigue are going to cause problems for your character at work. Likewise, increased apathy and withdrawal will make it harder for him or her to connect with loved ones. Good stories require conflict in every scene, and compassion fatigue can provide that conflict at home, on the job, and everywhere in between.
• It Impacts Human Needs.Basic human needs are universal to everyone. They’re important to us as authors because when one of them is threatened or removed, it becomes a motivator, driving the choices and actions for your character. Compassion fatigue can impact many of these needs. So whether you need your character to make a monumental error, hit rock bottom, or recognize their need for change, it can be used to position them exactly where you want them.
• It Contributes to Character Arc. What changes does your character have to make in order to grow and evolve by the end of the story? Maybe she needs to learn that she is as important as the people she serves, and she needs to take better care of herself. This might relate back to a wounding event she’ll need to finally confront and deal with—one where she was devalued or mistreated in some way. If compassion fatigue can tie into any of this, it will make it easier for you to map out that arc.

Final Thoughts

Compassion fatigue is just one example of an element that could provide a sense of relevance for your readers. The options for writing stories that feel very “now” are endless.

 If you can find that one element to connect your character with today’s reader, it won’t matter how different they are in gender, age, race, time period, or geographic location. It will be enough to start that empathy bond that can carry readers all the way through the story to make sure the character comes out okay.

What’s relevant about the story you’re writing? Or have you read a book recently that resonated with you because it felt very now or current? Please share it with us down in the comments!

About Becca

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and other resources for writers. Her books have sold over 500,000 copies and are available in multiple languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Writing is an odd often-spooky dream to nurture. We write happy. We write scared. We write sick. We write tired. We write in every mood because we are dream-chasers, and dreams matter, even when we get scared.

[Take heart, y'all. We are writers. We are mighty beings formed of stubbornness, creativity, and caffeine. We've got this.]

Every writer falls differently on the fear spectrum but most of my pals have some form of The Big Two:

• Fear of Failure. Ex: What if I never finish/format/publish my book?
• Fear of Success. Ex: What if I go "all in" with this dream and my life has to change?

Many of us have some extra worries that extend beyond The Big Two. It's almost Halloween -- the perfect time to open the door to the spooky parts of our psyche. So, let's chat...

Named Fears are Less Spooky

Studies show that admitting to a problem or fear out loud lessens the anxiety associated with it that worry. Put simply, named fears are less spooky, whereas unnamed fears tend to grow larger and larger in our minds until they crowd our rational thoughts. As the line from Harry Potter goes, “fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself.”

In case you haven't noticed this phenomenon yet, many writers have brains that lie. Our pesky brains will snatch a worry out of the air and pounce on it like a hungry cat.

Fae Rowen, one of our founders at WITS used "fear" as an acronym to express this concept to her logical mathematician brain:

FEAR:
False Evidence Appearing Real

She put that up where she'd see it every day to assure herself that most of her fears and worries were not real. We ALL do that. For her, the fear of not being able to do something perfectly kept her from sending her writing out for years. Now she has one book released and another on the way.

She remembered her dreams, and she persevered. She wanted to see her book on the rack of a bookstore or a grocery store or a gift shop.  She wanted to share her stories with others.

I'll bet that you have some specific dreams yourself. Think about those for a moment. (I'm going to ask you about them in the comments.) Think about why you spend time nurturing those dreams.

Why We Chase Dreams

Dreams are important and scary and real – for a writer, chasing them is the hardest game in town. I don't think we give ourselves enough credit for the sheer doggedness that keeps us going.

Why is chasing dreams so scary? How does our traitorous psyche manage to kick our butts so soundly?

Because we worry. We creative types worry about the darndest things! And we often allow that worry to defeat us. Chuck Wendig wrote a post almost a decade ago at TerribleMinds where he discussed how “Writers Must Kill Self-Doubt Before Self-Doubt Kills Them.” (It's wonderful!)

So what do writers worry about the most?

I've narrowed it down to some version of the following five items:

1. What if I write the book and nobody buys it?
2. What if I write the book and everybody buys it…can I be that brilliant again?
3. What if I can’t meet the deadlines of a publishing contract or schedule?
4. Who would want to read what I have to say?
5. When I say what I have to say, they’ll know who I am.

Every time an artist creates, they’re shouting to the world: “This is who I am.” What a heady, frightening, mind-blowing thing! For most artists, if our work is found wanting, it feels like WE are being rejected too.

How is the worried artist supposed to cope?

Laura Drake and I are HUGE fans of titanium panties. We just strap on the proverbial Big Girl Titanium Underpants and do the next thing. For myself, if I stop and think about the fear, I’ll hyperventilate or (worst of all) I'll freeze. I have to keep going, even if I work on something different than the thing that’s scaring the crap out of me (like my memoir).

What have I observed other writers doing when things are in the crapper? When rejections roll in and plots stall, when blog posts bomb and the WIP rises up like a scary beast?

• They depend on friends and family when the going is rough.
• WINE.
• A supportive critique group.
• COFFEE.
• A writing network is priceless. This could be your local writing chapter, or online groups, or Twitter communities.
• GUMMY BEARS.
• Okay, I'll stop. I'm making myself hungry.

5 things to remember about this writing life:

• It never gets easier. We simply adjust.
• Remember: Your brain lies. Some of that fear is manufactured by US.
• Writers are wicked brave. It takes courage to persevere.
• We have weird habits. (I want to hear about those in the comments too!)
• Writers must write, even if it's only to ensure our family can stand us. (I don't know about you but I am nicer when I write. Also funnier and more attractive.)

How do you deal with the fearful part of your dreams? What dream are you chasing right now? What are your weird writing habits and rituals? We’d love to hear about it down in the comments!

About Jenny

By day, Jenny provides corporate communications and LinkedIn advice for professional services firms. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction, and short stories. After 18 years as a corporate trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

When she’s not at her personal blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Facebook at JennyHansenAuthor or at Writers In The Storm.

Top Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay.

Writers constantly juggle deadlines, word counts, obligations, and self-care. Often we whine about it (at least I do). Often we shipwreck our own creativity. However, one of the best qualities of any writer is resilience.

Today, I'm taking you on a virtual journey to meet a writer named Anna McLean. She's writing a book about rowing 3000 miles across the Atlantic, based on her real experiences during a rowing contest with her brother, Cameron. The two of them faced many obstacles -- 60-foot waves, sharks, and illness. They handled their obstacles with MacGyver-like skill, using limited resources from their tiny rowboat in a competition called the Talisker Whiskey Challenge (2020).

Their journey offers great lessons about how mental outlook can sharpen a writer’s focus and inspire a wave of creativity.

Being tossed at sea can be a good metaphor for writers during these uncertain times but, despite our societal turmoil, we can refrain from spiraling into an emotional tailspin. As a break from the chatter diverting our writerly attention, I offer this post as a life-vest of analogy to lift your spirits.  

A bit of backstory on the McLean "Seablings" (along with my thoughts in blue).

They began their voyage on the Canary Islands and rowed in constant 2-hour shifts until they reached Antigua 43 days later. Talk about work ethic! This puts my daily writing sprints into perspective as no one but my muse is waking me through the night to swab the deck.

Soon after launching, their navigation system broke. They steered with their feet until they were able to repair it themselves. The mechanical parts breaking would be my cosmic message to turn back to safe, dry, land. I can relate to that rudderless feeling, and the pull of self-pity and doubt.

Their water pump, which provided their allotted 500 milliliters of daily fresh water, also failed, jeopardizing both their health and their goal. Under those circumstances, I would have called for a water taxi and requested some iced tea.

Anna McLean faced real privation during the experience that led to her book.

Yes, she chose to enter the rowing contest. But she was forced into a level of action that few writers must endure in order to tell her story. Below are three quotes inspired by her incredible journey that might help re-energize your creative life.

1. “Teamwork is Dreamwork.”

The rowing pair used this mantra as their motivation and to avoid distractions that could set them off course. They worked as a team, communicating and accepting more of the workload when needed. Anna once rowed 36 hours without a break as her brother recovered from an injury. Cameron, in turn, rowed for three days when she could not get through her nausea. 

They didn’t do it all alone.  When times were exceptionally tough, they called one of their 70 supporters for encouragement and advice. Even in the open ocean our modern technology supports us in ways our predecessors only could imagine.  How lucky we are to be a phone call away from others who can be the wind in our sails and keep our focus on our writing goals.

Close-to-home example of "Teamwork is Dreamwork."

I have seen examples of teammates stepping in at WITS in the past months as members, writers, and readers offer support.  Our writers at WITS have suffered illness, loss of loved ones, and faced natural disasters with fires, floods, and deadly smoke levels in the last month. This blog couldn’t be the treasure trove of resources without the contributions of every writer.

The WITS team stepped in and wrote extra blog posts, writers switched days (and months!) while one writer healed from surgery and another was forced to deal with an insane COVID-world workload. 

Writers work better as a team when a man is down. Like Anna and her brother, the WITS team finds a way and keeps this blog we all love afloat. We appreciate your readership and support! And I'm sending an “Aye, Matey” to the large team of contributors who provide invaluable weekly writing insights.

2. “Row to compete, not just to survive”

If the thought of spending 43 days in the open ocean conjures up nightmare stories like Life of Pi or of Tom Hanks in Castaway, you are not alone.  The rowing pair agreed to see their circumstance as a competition to avoid the traps of disillusionment.

We may not feel we have the energy to move forward but when we dig deep and find that mini burst, it can jump-start our creativity and get more words on the page.

Even if writers compete primarily against themselves, the mindset of overcoming obstacles can help keep a project on course. Pushing the limits of word count and timelines, the market, the constantly changing climate of publication, the drive to create your perfect story, can all become worthy ‘foes’ to motivate you towards your goals. 

Likewise, each of us has our own writing supports. (If you haven’t discovered yours - keep looking! Consider joining Nanowrimo, for example.) Writing supports are key to success as a writer. And don't forget to support yourself. Our biggest support can be the most powerful when it comes from within.

3. “What’s on your search engine?”

Anna shared advice she received to bolster the mental challenges of rowing 3000 miles of the Atlantic Ocean.  

“Our minds are like a search engine - you type in a word and it gives you other words related to it.  So, [on our journey] if we thought about positive things, that led to more positivity.  Every day, I still think ‘what am I putting in my search bar?”

The McLean siblings broke a World Guinness Record traversing the ocean in a 24 x 4 foot boat.  They returned to their Gloucestershire home in victory, but within a few weeks COVID 19 set them once again into confinement. 

Anna now writes and does public speaking engagements via her computer.  Some of her presentations have been shared with up to 6 different countries in one day. She's remaining positive about the perks of working without having to travel. 

Final summary

1. Teamwork is dreamwork.
2. Row to compete, not just to survive.
3. What's on your search engine?

We all have stories inside us, dying to burst onto the page. But they can only come into being if we put our keyboards into action. Our proverbial rowboats are equipped to deliver our messages, but are we at the helm? Are we prepared for the realities that await in the depths of the sea we call publication?

What are your thoughts? Where are you today in your writing journey? Had you heard about Anna McLean? Share your insights, and hope you lift up some writer pals today.

About Kris:

Kris Maze is an author, freelance writer, and teacher. She enjoys writing twisty, speculative fiction with character driven plots. After years of reading classic literature, mysteries, and thrillers, she started to write her own books. Her first dystopian sci-fi romance, IMPACT, was published in 2020.

She also writes for various publications including a regular post at the award-winning Writers in the Storm Blog. You can follow her author journey at her website at KMazeAuthor.com.