
Kritika M Narula
Workshop at S@H! Fringe Litfest: Empathy in fiction writing
Updated: May 17, 2020

As a part of the Stay at Home Fringe Litfest organised by the students in Glasgow Uni's Creative Writing department, I hosted a workshop called 'Watch Your Language', part-writing, part-sensitivity training in how to create responsible depiction of neurodivergence in fiction. Here are all the details:
Watch Your Language!
Workshop to discuss how stories can be sensitive in the language around ‘disability’
Brief description of event:
Mode: Zoom
The recording is available here: https://youtu.be/9wSlqDjqt0Y
The presentation is available online here or as a .pdf here:
Here is the transcript of the audio, to make it accessible to all: Workshop Transcript
Concept Note: The description/depiction of mental illnesses/psychosocial disabilities, neurodiversity and physical disabilities in fiction is susceptible to being mired in insensitive imagery and language. The temptation to dramatize or sensationalise a traumatic event is always present: fiction and non-fiction alike, but when a writer chooses to broach this topic, it is up to them to handle it with empathy.
Workshop tools:
Excerpts from fiction that do/don’t handle the theme sensitively
Alternatives to plot points, words and phrases
“Expert by Experience”: research
Ideas:
Person-first versus identity-first language
Stigmatizing language versus safer language
Use of humour to ‘humanise’ a situation that has been robbed
Research about such issues usually involves experts; it’s time to consider including people with lived experiences
Books mentioned in the workshop Memoirs:
How to be alone by Lane Moore
Maybe you should talk to someone by Lori Gottlieb
Fiction:
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Twilight series (abusive relationship)
13 reasons why by Jay Asher (Problematic; readings: https://www.self.com/story/13-reasons-why-suicide-and-mental-health and https://www.weareteachers.com/problem-with-13-reasons-why/)
Pretending by Holly Bourne
Something Like Happy by Sasha Greene
Other resources to read:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/04/books/book-review-reader-response-coronavirus.html
Bojack Horseman (Netflix series)
A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit
Cultural power of a joke: punching up/down http://www.maskmagazine.com/the-joy-issue/life/stand-up-punch-down
Person-first language over identity-first (recovery lens): https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/mental-pubs-n-recovpol-toc~mental-pubs-n-recovpol-ref#r78 https://www.mhfa.ca/sites/default/files/safer_language_reference_guide.pdf
Statistics: https://www.madinamerica.com/2020/05/almost-everyone-meets-criteria-mental-illness/
WHO Mental Health-related resources: https://www.who.int/mental_health/en/
https://www.standoutbooks.com/writing-mental-illness/ (wonderful resources on empathetic writing on this blog)
Henry kindly agreed to let me use his illustrations in the presentation. Check him out on Instagram or Twitter.


