ENG 401 - Creative Writing Seminar: Trauma Writing

This class will use these questions from Roxane Gay to guide our exploration of how to write trauma and how to write it well:

• How do we convey the realities of trauma and its aftermath without being exploitive?
• How do we write trauma without traumatizing the reader?
• How do we write trauma without cannibalizing ourselves?
• How do we write about the traumatic experiences of others without transgressing their boundaries or privacy?
• How do we tell stories of trauma without allowing the trauma to become the whole of our narratives?
• How do we avoid creating work in which there were only victims and villains, instead of flawed people who are and were hurt?

In searching for our own answers, we will read a variety of texts looking at different ways to write into trauma, discuss practical supports necessary to write safely into pain, and implement culled craft techniques to write our own narratives. We’ll think about how research can reframe experience, how placing the personal within the cultural can expand meaning, and how structure can carry content. Class will feature reading discussions, in-class presentations, written assignments, and practical advice for writing about traumatic experiences safely. The course will culminate with a reading where students will have the opportunity to share work they’ve developed in the course and received feedback on.

 

Prerequisites & Notes
Ideally, students who enroll will have taken a creative writing course at the 200 level or higher.