Writing Characters Who Are Trauma Survivors: A Blog Series

My blog series, Writing Characters Who Are Trauma Survivors, contains writing advice for folks who write erotica and erotic romance and who want to include realistic depictions of trauma in their stories. As I add posts, I will include a short summary of what they contain. If there is just a title, it is a post that I’m planning to write. I will update as posts go live.

1. In Writing Characters Who Are Trauma Survivors, Part 1, I discuss the reasons why erotica and erotic romance writers might include characters who experience trauma and who have PTSD in our stories, and give some (hopefully) clear and concise definitions of trauma and PTSD.
2. In When Trauma Survivors Get Triggered, I talk about what happens when trauma survivors get triggered, name common types of triggers and walk through an example of what might happen if your character got triggered.
3. In Ways Trauma Survivors Manage Triggers, I give concrete examples of the kinds of strategies survivors use to cope with being triggered (including links and a downloadable emergency emotional safety plan), offer some general information about managing triggers, give you some characterization questions, and offer tops for including coping strategies in your story.
4. Where Sex/Kink and Triggers Meet
5. Ways Partners Respond when Survivors Get Triggered
6. Common Trauma Therapies
7. Complex PTSD
8. Trauma Cycles
9. Ways Trauma Impacts Relationships
10. How Others Respond
11. Common Co-Occurring Mental Health Issues
12. Taking Care of Yourself As You Write About Trauma

What do you want me to discuss? I welcome your questions, so please feel free to comment or send emails to praxisproductions at gmail dot com. Let me know what you’d like to see me write about, what kind of information would be the most helpful to you.