#needs to thread the needle about their portrayal of a character’s PTSD so that it is not only accurate | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

waterberry-strawmelon · 2 years

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Random question, but fellow writers/readers:

At what point does portrayal of traumatic events and trauma recovery become romanticized, or when is the portrayal actually more harmful than it is an interesting story?

#does this make sense?#basically I’m personally a sucker for trauma recovery fics #But any story that aims to explicitly portray the traumatic event (particularly if it is related to torture/assault/violence of some kind)#needs to thread the needle about their portrayal of a character’s PTSD so that it is not only accurate #BUT ALSO in a way that’s not romanticizing the trauma.#to be more specific—I have a story idea in mind about a codependent relationship developing between 2 ppl in the aftermath of #an extremely traumatic experience being tortured together. And in particular I wanna explore how a relationship like that #could with time and healing become healthier #and not just a coping mechanism. BUT I have never been through anything NEAR what I might want to depict in the story #should I not post something like that at all; or is there a way I could do it that—with enough care and research and editing #and beta reading—that I could theoretically write something like that without sensationalizing or romanticizing these experiences?#if u have any thoughts feel free to reply or message me or drop by my inbox #just needed a general soundboard yknow? Cuz in all honesty sometimes I’ll read someone else’s work and it’s hard for me to parse if maybe #they shouldnt have written a story like that—or at least not in the WAY they did it. Yknow?#mine #just some thoughts #ideas #fandom

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