Trauma In Fiction: Coping and Growing

"Coping" is only the beginning of what writing about trauma can do for an author.

We talk sometimes about reading or writing about traumatic topics as a way of coping with trauma. And while that's absolutely a thing people do, I think talking about it as "coping" does us a disservice. For those who are drawn to it and who approach it in a healthy way, dark fiction can do a lot more than help us cope. It can be more challenging, subtle, and rewarding than anything the word "coping" describes.