CQUniversity
Browse

Turning the tide: A post-traumatic recovery journey framework for creative writers

journal contribution
posted on 2018-11-30, 00:00 authored by Leanne Dodd
While we can’t change the past, we can change the way we view the past and the story we tell about it, which can transform identity. This is the premise of narrative therapy. However, some writers choose to work with fictionalised traumatic experience because of the difficulty of exposing hidden subject matter in an autobiographical work. Creating a fictional work may allow reflection on traumatic experiences with similar emotional aftereffects, but with the emotional distance to be able to write with a deeper exploration of the subjects writers are reluctant to confront autobiographically. This article proposes that writing a fictional account of traumatic experiences might achieve similar benefits as the personal accounts relied upon in narrative therapy. It further deduces that the hero-journey model could provide a metaphor for writers to become the hero in their own post-traumatic growth journey through creative writing. The culmination of this article is a mapping of the commonalities between White’s maps of narrative therapy steps and Campbell’s Hero’s Journey stages, and a case study of how this framed my post-traumatic journey through creative writing. This framework may be useful for other creative writers embarking on a similar writing journey for post-traumatic recovery.

History

Volume

8

Issue

2

Start Page

1

End Page

13

Number of Pages

13

ISSN

1838-8973

Publisher

University of Canberra, Australia

Peer Reviewed

  • Yes

Open Access

  • Yes

Acceptance Date

2018-04-08

Era Eligible

  • Yes

Journal

Axon: Creative Explorations

Usage metrics

    CQUniversity

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC