Traumatic experiences can elicit strong reactions from readers, but first writers must overcome the challenge of confronting the emotionally uncomfortable situation. At Beyond the Margins, Juliette Fay describes writing from her discomfort zone:

I learned more about the gruesomely creative ways in which humans can inflict harm on one another than I ever wanted to know in a hundred lifetimes. Some days I just had to stop and do something else. Some nights I couldn’t sleep or had nightmares when I did.