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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34684
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I think this comes down to how you write. I'm what one might call a method writer, so if I'm not feeling the emotions of my characters, I don't know where they are mentally and emotionally, so I can't get them written right in that scene.

For me, 'writing scared' could mean just that. But I think you mean more writing _about_ the things that terrify us. And that too has value.

Look. Things are never as simple as yes and no. Should you keep pushing yourself? Yes. Should you push yourself to talk about a trauma that has you swimming in wave after wave of panic attack? No, that's just not healthy. Not unless you're trying to desensitize yourself, but even then I'd argue you should talk to a therapist first to make sure you aren't doing more harm than good.

I've done it, though. Because my writing is my therapy, so I've written about all the things that bother me, all the things that scare me, all the things that have hurt me. And let me tell you, it brought me to, and saved me from, some dark places.

The advantage? Well, I write fiction, and my characters live and breathe to an extent that people have read and re-read works of mine that are over 500K words. To be able to give your character that level of depth that they jump off the page and take your reader by the hand and take them along on an adventure is absolutely addictive for me to write.

I've written about depression, suicidal ideation, transgender issues, mental health issues, struggling with self-identity, the balance between what our family needs from us and what we need for ourselves, racism, homophobia, transphobia, existential crisis, women's issues, murder, mental and physical trauma, abuses (mental, physical, emotional, verbal, and social). And all of it within a tale that shows the reader how these things play out, not in a vacuum, but within the confines of a person's life.

But that is both a blessing and a curse, because few ever realise just how much of my soul I bare for them. And that level of vulnerability sometimes keeps me up at night. Be careful with that, because you need to function as a human being when you close the book.

Original score: 3