I would have to say that writing about my family and traumatic childhood definitely made me more crazy. The stories were in my consciousness as abstractions and the more I wrote about them, the more the pain and trauma engrained and defined me. It was like I was etching in the stone of my being every time I took pen to paper. I lost my fucking mind.
I would have to say that writing about my family and traumatic childhood definitely made me more crazy. The stories were in my consciousness as abstractions and the more I wrote about them, the more the pain and trauma engrained and defined me. It was like I was etching in the stone of my being every time I took pen to paper. I lost my fucking mind.
Okay, but did you rush through them? Or did you unpack them slowly and craft them? Among my students, the ones who rush through memoir-based fiction reinforce the trauma. But the writers who pace it and present it beautifully crafted -- so the emotion lands with the reader and serves the reader -- those students seem very happy. And ready to write more fiction.
Another faction is the writers who write and rewrite their trauma until they plain get bored of it. Then they move on and write joyfully and with freedom. But that initial trauma novel is good for learning skills and experimenting. And your trauma keeps you practicing your skills. Once you're bored of that trauma, you've still got a new batch of writing skills.
I would have to say that writing about my family and traumatic childhood definitely made me more crazy. The stories were in my consciousness as abstractions and the more I wrote about them, the more the pain and trauma engrained and defined me. It was like I was etching in the stone of my being every time I took pen to paper. I lost my fucking mind.
Okay, but did you rush through them? Or did you unpack them slowly and craft them? Among my students, the ones who rush through memoir-based fiction reinforce the trauma. But the writers who pace it and present it beautifully crafted -- so the emotion lands with the reader and serves the reader -- those students seem very happy. And ready to write more fiction.
Another faction is the writers who write and rewrite their trauma until they plain get bored of it. Then they move on and write joyfully and with freedom. But that initial trauma novel is good for learning skills and experimenting. And your trauma keeps you practicing your skills. Once you're bored of that trauma, you've still got a new batch of writing skills.