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Topic : Re: Giving a character trauma but not "diagnosing" her? In my post-apocalyptic novel, my MC Eris is severely traumatized by the death of her family at her own hands. Because of this, she has - selfpublishingguru.com

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The issue is how "trauma aware" you are to trauma as a writer rather than calling it out as PTSD or labelling it as "trauma" explicitly.

The frustration resulting in the "call-out" is the anger at the lack of trauma awareness in writing. This unfortunately triggers the reader, especially if there is the denigration of the trauma experience and its impact on the character. As a writer if you can communicate how aware you are of trauma and its impact, that is probably the major issue to tackle rather than the labelling and how much the character follows the traditional trauma experience.

Whether you diagnose the trauma is probably not as significant as to whether you are sensitive to the trauma experience. Usually writers that are not aware of trauma have no idea how trauma impacts people and write totally unrealistic and probably insulting plotlines. Realize though, PTSD and trauma is highly constructed in our world and is very "medicalized" in the therapeutic community and society in general.

How much your world and novel engages with this structure and the therapeutic process is another important issue to tackle. It could be that your world is anti-therapy or that your world has a hostile attitude towards people with trauma and PTSD. However, somehow you should attempt to communicate your "trauma awareness" as a writer despite your world's stance towards trauma. If your readers (who have been traumatized) do not feel heard or respected, and you as a writer suppress their experience, then you may be open to the same criticism as JK Rowling etc. The lack of trauma awareness in writing is often felt as a silencing, and echoes the continual suppression in society of trauma. Trauma is often dismissed as being "oversensitive", insignificant and unimportant ("get over it", etc).


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