How to write a story that doesn't suck

Character Angst/Trauma

This is a bit of a delicate subject. Basically this chapter will cover how to give characters angst and/or trauma without messing it up.

First of all, research the trauma. Even though different types of people will be affected differently, it's good to know how usually someone would react.
For example: Your character was physically abused by their parents all through childhood.  That typically causes a person to shut out people in their life and some may fear adults (depending on the abuse). Most people may not want to talk about it or admit it. It's uncomfortable for them, typically. They may become a people pleaser. They may allow themselves into abusive relationships because that's how they feel loved. They may let people trample all over them.
Just don't let it define the character. I've seen way too many people give their character an abusive family and romanticize it. (Not romance).

-Most people don't talk about their trauma openly

-If they do talk about it, it doesn't make the trauma go away.

-Having a character talk to someone after keeping it secret is good for possible character development.

-Give them a stress reliever.
Ex: picking skin, chewing nails, fidgeting, bouncing their leg, drawing on themselves. (Also nervous habits).

-If multiple characters have the same trauma, don't make them go through it the same way.
Ex: I have two characters who are brothers. The older one is blind, and had a girlfriend before the timeline of my story. Without him knowing it, his girlfriend was sexually harassing his brother and eventually him aswell. For the older brother, he managed to break up with her after realizing that it was wrong and was able to move on quickly. He's very comfortable around people and a very touchy person (hugs people, links arms with friends, touches hair, etc). The younger brother however, became more closed off and nervous. He doesn't touch people because he doesn't want to be touched himself. He's got a lower self esteem, and DEFINITELY doesn't talk about what happened. Neither of them do, but the older one will when he feels he needs to. For the younger, it's basically his biggest secret.

-There are different types of trauma. A lot of people tend to just slap family trauma onto a character an call it good. Trauma and angst spawns from so many different things and it's VERY IMPORTANT to research whatever it is before you write about it.
Examples from my stories on different types of trauma and how characters deal with it:

Ex1 on family trauma: an MC of mine (Amante, Land of Armonia), has been pressured and overworked by the people of his tribe,  especially his father. He was physically harmed by him, but that didn't affect him that much. He can only think of the way he was treated as "rough love" and accepted it as being normal, as he never really saw any examples of non toxic relationships. He sees his mother as an Angel and in all his descriptions of her, she's perfect. But when my other MC sees her, she describes her as aging, hagged, scarred, and judgmental, because that's what she truly is.

Ex2 on family trauma: a different MC of mine, (Azon Conners, The Black X) has had to deal with his parents getting a divorce. He hates his mom's knew husband, because the man got her to start smoking again. He blamed a lot of his frustration on his step dad (even if he didn't do anything to cause it) and later ends up harming  (possibly murdering) the man as if it would make the pain go away. It doesn't. Azon is a mute character, his family life is unstable, he's extremely shy, and prone to anxiety. So having a divorce and a new parent that he doesn't like caused him to devolve into his lowest point as a character and affects character development for him.

Ex1 on circumstantial trauma: yet another MC of mine, (Iisan Takanashi, The Lunch Wall Heroes), has trauma. Surprise surprise. He had to move from Japan—which is where he had been raised—to immigrate to America. He has a lot of problems with leaving his home country behind, and it gets him to slowly tune everyone out. He also happens to have a weird appearance that people around him criticized and teased him about so I suppose that would make it easier for him to shut the entire world out. His father ends up getting cancer and over time, unfortunate events just pile up on him to a point of him breaking.

(I have plenty of trauma for my characters but those top three are my best examples because they're the most flushed out).

Now it's time to talk about triggers.

Characters having triggers almost perfects the writing of angst. But don't overdo it. Triggers may be:
-Something that triggers a flashback (loud noise like gunfire, mention of someone committing suicide, slipping on ice and hitting your way the same way you did when some traumatic event happened, etc)

-Something that sends you into a panic attack. (Make sure to research panic attacks if you don't experience them yourself).

-Something that makes your survival senses come out (fight, flight, or freeze).

-Something that makes you feel ill when brought up (from trauma of course. If blood makes you uncomfortable because it's blood that's different, but if bloods makes you uncomfortable because it reminds you of a traumatic experience, that's a trigger).

Again, don't overdo triggers. If a character doesn't like being touched cause it triggers them, be subtle about it. Make them scoot away from people who sit directly next to them, or lean away from the offer or hugs or other physical contact. Then later you can add drama by revealing/confirming that they don't want to be touched. Have them absolutely freak out and panic because someone was touching them continuously, even if it was playful.

A TRIGGER IS NOT:

-Something that offends you.

-Something that makes you uncomfortable. (Unless it's tied to a traumatic event as stated previously).

-Something that grosses you out.

-Something that makes you angry.

TRIGGER WORDS:

In writing, these can be a masterpiece and also the worst thing you could include. Say a character had an abuser who called them by a pet name. That character may not be able to stand anyone calling them that pet name or even using it around them.

But at the same time, trigger words can be annoying if not done well. (Don't get mad at me for saying this, I'm talking about the art of writing. But this is influenced by my experience with people who have "trigger words" and really just abused the term.)

The last thing I need to add to this is... DON'T GLORIFY TRAUMA/DEPRESSION/PTSD/SELF HARM!

That's all. If you have any questions or would like to add something, put it in the comments!