Stories Are What Save Us: Writing About Trauma With David Chrisinger

Writing can help us process trauma — whatever that means for you — as well as help others through our words. In this episode, David Chrisinger explains why stories can save us. In the intro, thoughts on print distribution [Jane Friedman]; Hachette's acquisition of Workman and why backlist is key [The New Publishing Standard]; Your Author Business Plan; The Magic Bakery. Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with Scrivener, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 25% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna. David Chrisinger is an award-winning nonfiction author and teaches writing at the University of Chicago. His latest book is Stories Are What Save Us: A Survivor's Guide to Writing About Trauma. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes * What is trauma and how is it different for different people?* How to write about trauma without suffering further* Is it possible to write a factual memoir?* Tips for creating space between you and the ‘character’ you are writing about* How do we deal with people who might be hurt by what we write? You can find David Chrisinger at DavidChrisinger.com and on Twitter @StrongerAtBP Transcript of interview with David Chrisinger Joanna: David Chrisinger is an award-winning nonfiction author and teaches writing at the University of Chicago. His latest book is Stories Are What Save Us: A Survivor's Guide to Writing About Trauma. Welcome, David. David: Thank you so much for having me. Joanna: It's great to have you on the show. Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing. David: I sometimes joke that I'm about a million miles from where I thought I was going to be when I started college because I went to college initially to be either a wildlife or a forest manager. And I even got certified to fight wildlife and forest fires. For whatever reason, I realized halfway through that, it was more of an interest or a hobby,