Trigger Warning: Writing Sci-Fi With Emotional Awareness – March 19, 2022 at 11AM EST on Zoom!
Various traumatic events like wars, genocides, invasions, & colonization — on an individual, global, and often galactic scale — often form important plot and thematic points in Science Fiction. While these are important events to represent, they also present a dilemma as they are traumatic events with wide ripple effects that can be felt for generations on individual, social, cultural, economic and national levels.
Developing an aware and conscientious approach when working with emotionally triggering content is important when working with material of this type or scope. This panel will discuss how to tackle sensitive subjects in Science Fiction, and how writers can cultivate informed and effective story development while avoiding harmful stereotypes. We’ll also discuss when, how & where to add trigger warnings to your stories.
This panel is part of Storycrafting Sessions: Science Fiction, a 100% FREE virtual conference happening on March 19th.
Tickets are available now! Sign up today!
The Moderator
Bethany Baptiste
Bethany Baptiste grew up in Jacksonville, Florida where she thrived on southern food and stories. Now as a slightly responsible grown-up, she lives in a little brick house with her fiancé, three chaotic evil dogs, and too many books.
Bethany holds two degrees in Early Childhood Education. For the last six years she’s had the pleasure of teaching kids how easy it is to fall in love with reading and writing.
When not prying a shoe from a Schnauzer’s jaws, she writes about Black kids with big hearts and little morals. Bethany is represented by John Cusick of Folio Literary Management.
Find her online here.
The Guests
Jaecyn Boné AKA Charli Boné
Jaecyn Boné AKA Charli Boné (he/they) is a disabled, queer, Asian-American author and artist. They while away their days fantasizing about faeries, pirates, and eating the rich. He lives in Billings, Montana, USA with his spouse, his two kids, his sister, and possibly a ghost or two.
Find them online here.
Lex Vranick
Lex Vranick is a dark fiction author and poet based in Sarasota, Florida. She holds a B.A. from Excelsior College and is a J.D. candidate at Florida State University. Her work has been published by Cagibi, Kissing Dynamite Poetry, Rhonda Parrish Anthologies, and Fahrenheit Press, among others.
When not writing, Lex works as a writing couch and English language tutor. She can often be found at the nearest dog park, plant shop, or record store. She apologizes for never shutting up about Wes Craven, and is always down to discuss ‘80s rock and vampire movies.
Ken Wolfson
Ken Wolfson has always been writing. He wrote and deleted half a dozen novel before deciding Vindication was good enough to publish. That was met with positive reception so he’s continuing the rest of the series. He attended SUNY Geneseo where he got a BA in Rugby, with a minor in English Literature, and served in the US Navy before a medical discharge sent him home.
Currently, he Lifeguards at a gym by day to pay the bills, and writes every minute he has free. Ken Wolfson likes dogs, military history, and bar crawling NYC with his friends. He despises pie, and maintains that a home made brownie will never steer you wrong. He will never stop writing.
Charlie Knight
Charlie Knight is a professional editor for self-published authors, an author of fanfic and SFF, and an advocate for disabled, transgender, and neurodivergent writers. They’re a mom, a gamer, a coffee addict, and already thinking about what color their hair will be next.
Meike Torkelson
Meike (they/them) is a science fiction and fantasy writer based in Wellington, New Zealand. Y’know, Lord of the Rings central. They themselves are a migrant from Britain, a theme which was core to the Melody Harper series, where an Earth girl struggles to adapt after a move to a Lunar Colony.
What fascinates Meike about science fiction, is we may be reaching for a fantastical frontier, but we’ll still struggle with the essentials of being human. Finding our place, discovering our people, but most of all falling in love.
Find Meike Torkelson on Twitter.
Find the full schedule for all our event panels here! Trigger Warning: Writing Sci-Fi With Emotional Awareness is a part of the Storycrafting Sessions: Science Fiction virtual conference.
This event is hosted by the Weeknight Writers group and sponsored by Renaissance Press.