How to Use Personal Traumatic Experiences in YA Writing
It’s no secret that writing can be a therapeutic and healing practice. From journaling to blogging, letting our thoughts flow onto paper can help us make sense of the world around us. Moreso, when it comes to storytelling, using personal traumatic experiences in YA writing can help us express the feelings and emotions that are buried deep inside.
Whether you’re putting all of yourself into one character or pieces into each one, using your own traumatic experiences in your story will be an entirely different writing process than you’re used to.
Sharing the most private stories from our childhoods may make us feel vulnerable, or like we’re giving away too much. But, at the same time, pulling them from a place filled with emotion and truth will help you tell a narrative that’s as raw as it is real. As you’re building your characters and their stories and you decide you want to write from a place of truth and experience, here are some things you’ll want to keep in mind.
First, ask yourself if you’re truly ready
Have you ever experienced that moment when you start writing and you just can’t stop? Your mind is racing and your fingers can’t type as quickly as your thoughts process?
Once you start writing about personal experiences, this can (and most likely will) happen, and it might get ugly.
Writing can certainly open raw emotions and, if you haven’t had closure, you may not be ready to face the way you feel. You may get triggered. You may lash out.
It’s important to understand the consequences that may arise from sharing your dark secrets and thoughts, and only you can decide when you’re fully ready.
You’re going to have to get out of your comfort zone
You don’t have to share every last detail from a traumatic experience that formed who you are, but you don’t have to shy away from it either.
Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Let your writing do the healing. Live through your characters and let them be the ones to tell your story for you.
Author Jess Lourey said it best:
“We heal when we transmute the chaos of life into the structure of a novel, when we learn to walk through the world as observers and students rather than wounded, when we make choices about what parts of a story are important and what we can let go of.”
It might get a bit… uncomfortable
As you’re putting your characters in your shoes, you may find yourself feeling scared or anxious. You may uncover a memory that’s been long suppressed, and that may have a sort of domino effect on your life.
You may find yourself getting angrier with each keystroke, or sobbing with each sentence. On the other hand, you may feel proud and confident, or giggly and wired.
As you express yourself through your words, your mind and body will be working to heal. You’ll be growing both as an author and as a person with each word, and you will certainly feel it in your soul.
Always remind yourself that you are not alone
As much as it may feel as such, you are not the only person to have experienced various types of trauma. You should not feel ashamed. You should not feel like you have to hide.
There is a high probability that your words will touch someone whose been in situations very similar to yours, and your story might be exactly what they’ve always needed.
Readers look to books for temporary escapes from their lives. They look for ways to connect with characters and try to find parts of themselves within the pages. Using personal experiences in your writing can and will speak to someone, and you just might be the help that they need to get through a difficult time in their life.
You can learn from your reactions to trauma
Using personal experiences is especially helpful when you’re writing about how your characters react to an event or obstacle. Ask yourself: How did I react when this happened to me? Take your answer and build on it or line it up with what, in hindsight, you think you should have done. You can allow your characters to react the way you once did and let them learn from it, or you can have them handle it in a way you wish you had and live vicariously through the outcome.
Get ready to meet the real you
As you write about your characters experiencing things the way you did, you’ll be faced with questions about yourself. Why did this happen to me? Could I have done something differently? What positive impacts did this traumatic event have on me? Answering the questions about yourself will help develop both your characters and your true self.
You may also have several breakthroughs and epiphanies. As you write, you’ll begin to describe situations and settings that you may not have ever discussed verbally. You will realize things about yourself and come to conclusions about who you are.
You’ll begin to see your courage and your strength. You’ll come face to face with your weaknesses and shortcomings. You’ll understand the impact the trauma has had on who you are and who you are becoming.
Take a break when you need to
Close your laptop. Put down your pen. Walk away from your desk.
Be honest with yourself and admit when it's too much.
While writing about your personal experiences is therapeutic, sometimes it can become too heavy. And you know what? That’s more than okay.
When in doubt, take it out
If you don’t feel comfortable sharing certain aspects of your experience, don’t. This is your book, after all.
Using personal traumatic experiences in YA writing is an invigorating process, one that will undoubtedly change you as both an author and a human. Whether you’re writing a book for the masses or just for you, including anecdotes and stories about what you’ve gone through is a creative way to express yourself.
Disclaimer: I am by no means a mental health expert or professional. This advice stems from what I’ve learned as I’ve gone through the writing process, sharing my innermost personal traumatic experiences within my chapters. I found that putting parts of myself and my life into my characters has helped me immensely and I wanted to share that with you.
