Trauma-Informed Writing and Character Development

Come join us at 2:30 p.m. on January 11 at the Millhopper Branch of Alachua County Library when Michelle Dunlap will share what she has learned about trauma-informed writing to help create characters with greater depth and complexity. Dunlap is the author or co-editor of five books and dozens of published articles and essays. She also is a sensitivity editor and writing coach. She draws on her multicultural and other relevant life experiences in her teaching, storytelling, and workshops.

When we write about characters in fiction or non-fiction, how do we present them as whole people? It’s fairly easy to totally demonize or idealize characters, but we can lose a character’s breadth when we do that.

“Consider the trauma a person may have endured and the impact trauma can have on an individual,” Dunlap says, “to help create fuller characters—characters who are not all-good or all-bad, but complex humans—a mixture.”

Dunlap was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in psychology from Wayne State University and a master’s in social psychology and a PhD in social psychology from the University of Florida. She is Emeritus Professor of Human Development, Connecticut College, where she taught for 28 years (1994-2022). For further details about her, see https://drmichelleteaches.com/.

She currently serves as WAG’s program coordinator and has brought many interesting programs and speakers to WAG. Her own talk last year, “How to Fit Writing into a Vibrant Life (without going bananas),” was inspirational and fun. So, you won’t want to miss this one.