Recent Life trauma: Writers block

#1

I recently went through several life traumas and felt emotionally destroyed by a failed romance on the tail end. I am currently coming out of the end of the crisis and feeling a bit better…

I’m wondering how to use my traumas and experiences in my writing…

I’d like to start a thread on this topic… Anyone else been through something like this?
I don’t think it’ll make a good film… I just think it could tie in with human stories -etc… or I just wanted to confess my recent personal failures online to soothe myself.

#2

Don’t think about it is the best advice I can give. It’ll just come through in your writing.

I got 35 pages into a script before I realized I was emotionally connected to the lead character because of a similar family incident.

It’ll happen, just write. If you try and access it purposefully, you’ll probably become known as the “writer that cries for 5 hours because he goes into psychologically traumatic experiences to write one line of dialogue.”

#3

Sorry about the rough patch. I’m glad you’re coming out of it.

A lot of people say you shouldn’t write about traumatic events until you are fully through them. That said, I think they mean write for publication. I would journal your experiences and feelings, then worry about how to incorporate them later.

Another thing you can do to use this to remember how fully you are feeling these emotions. Then, when you write – about anything – see if you can be as immersed in the feelings as you are about what you just endured. That should then come through your writing.

#4

Placing stories in a historical past helps.

#5

The greater the trauma, the longer it will probably take to acquire the right perspective on it. This March it will have been 2 years since I buried my 21 year old son. I’m still probably not in a place to address it in writing–at least in anything but an immediate and superficial level.

When it comes to truly profound topics in fiction, like good poetry, I feel it is best that they be addressed indirectly. If you come at it too directly, you only end up catching a piece of it and may even distort the message you intend. (I don’t know if that makes any sense or not.)

My advice is write, journal, blog and talk about it all you want, but when it comes to fiction–particularly fiction you intend to share–give yourself the time you need to truly grasp the meaning of things and approach it with an almost sacred caution. The Tao that can be spoken is not the true Tao. Words are poor things to communicate the deepest truths.