Trauma, Part II: Trauma as a Character in Writing

Few people reach adulthood without experiencing some painful, emotional, and traumatic events.Yet, for us authors, those trying events can become a treasure of knowledge and understanding that we can use in our writing.

Come join us at the Millhopper Library at 2:30 p.m. on the second Sunday in June for a second look this year at using trauma as a resource in your writing.

WAG member Kathy Connor Dobronyi will share her personal stories of trauma and the stories of her characters to help you write about trauma.

Trauma is a word we often hear, yet its true nature is frequently misunderstood and underestimated. There are three levels of trauma: acute, chronic, and complex, a combination of the aforementioned. There is no single definition of trauma; it can be different things to different people.

Kathy has lived with complex trauma from a childhood of abuse and war. In her writing, she uses the memory of her time in Saigon, where she experienced terrorist bombings at an American theater and other facilities where Americans congregated. She also witnessed human immolation and heard the bombs and gunfire during the overthrow of the South Vietnamese President on November 1, 1963.

Kathy is not a therapist or a clinician. She is a retired high school teacher, a storyteller, and a writer. Using stories from her life and the lives of her characters, she shares the different facets of trauma and healing.

Although she wrote articles for trade journals and developed lesson plans used by the Folgers Institute, she never considered herself an author until she was asked by a local newspaper editor to write her story: Under the Wings of a Good Luck Phoenix: Memoir of an American Girl in Saigon, June 1963 to March 1964.