Creative non-fiction

Writing About Sexual Trauma: Safety, Prompts, and Tools (PTSD)

/ Leif E. Greenz / Leave a comment

Hi, I’m Leif E. Greenz. In this video, I’ll discuss how to write about sexual assault safely and effectively. This video does NOT contain graphic descriptions of assault and should be safe for most survivors to watch.

Follow me on Instagram: @leifegreenz
Subscribe to my YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/user/leifegreenz

In today’s video, I’ll start by discussing two examples of sexual assault in writing and analyze why some approaches work and some don’t. Who can write about sexual assault and why?

Next, I’ll explain how people with PTSD (or C-PTSD) can write about sexual assault without retraumatizing themselves. The writing tricks you’ll hear about in this video include surrealism, repetition, detachment, and metaphor.

If you have any questions or want to share your experiences with writing about rape, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll be sure to write back!

Connect with me on Instagram @leifegreenz

Hire me: https://thewritingleif.com

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New essay up on Entropy!

/ Leif E. Greenz / 2 Comments

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I’m very grateful to announce that my second published piece of memoir is now up on Entropy. “La Petite Mort” is an essay about sex, love, drug addiction, and a dear friend of mine.

Read it here!

Threesomes, empaths, and dead animals

/ Leif E. Greenz / Leave a comment

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Uh. I am not a poet. I did, however, enroll in a poetry class at my local community college to keep myself from stagnating. The prof hated my guts until I turned in a sexually explicit poem about threesomes last week. She REALLY likes writing about sex. I know this because she often reads us her weird sex poems. Now we’re cool.

Here’s the poem that saved me from gaining a 50-year-old archenemy. You should not be reading it if you are related to me. TURN BACK RIGHT NOW, MOM. I’M SERIOUS.

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Creative Nonfiction: Ten of Swords

/ Leif E. Greenz / 1 Comment

Hi. This, on the surface, is a story about the uncomfortable process of falling in love. Dig a little deeper and it’s a story about how trauma complicates love. Be warned: this is a rough draft with minimal edits. Also, I glossed over certain traumatic details because I don’t feel like dealing with them right now.

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Creative Nonfiction: Blood Moon

/ Leif E. Greenz / Leave a comment

Again, not travel related, but this is one of the two pieces I’ve written over the years that I can still sort of tolerate.

It is graphic. If sex makes you uncomfortable, TURN BACK NOW. There might be people you know in this story. I’ve changed some names to protect anonymity, however, there are a few that remain unchanged.

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