Writer Eric Fisher on writing about mental wellness and authentic storytelling

Writer Eric Fisher is a Canadian Certified Counsellor residing in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally from Tennessee, he has more than 15 years of experience working outpatient and inpatient treatment settings in the US and Canada. He has two books published at this time: The Martial Art of Recovery: Self-Mastery Practices to Subdue Addiction and Achieve Mental Wellness, and Buried Alive: Four Ways to Free Yourself from the Dirt.

Eric Fisher

Eric is a master practitioner of Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) and is also trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), both of which are evidence-based treatments for trauma. Eric's private practice, Recovery Arts Counselling, serves individuals, couples, and families both locally and remotely. He also serves as an associate for local clinics in the surrounding area. In the past, Eric has supervised master's-level graduate students and counsellors early in their careers. Eric is a Canadian transplant, and Southern US-born. He has won multiple awards for screenwriting, and has a black belt in two martial arts styles: American Kenpo and Wadō-ryū.

From counselling to writing about mental wellness

OCW: What life experiences have shaped your writing style?

Buried Alive by Eric Fisher

EF: I believe that moving from one place to another has shaped my writing style. I’ve moved from Arkansas to Tennessee when I was around five years old, Mississippi to New Zealand for over a year when I was in my late 20s, and from New Zealand to Western Canada, where I have now lived for more than10 years. The people I have met in these different countries and the experiences out in nature have influenced my writing style. I also work as a clinical counsellor, so in my style I do sometimes bring in some wry humor because of the work that can be challenging and demanding with the dynamics involved with working with folks. With more than15 years working in the mental health field, I’m sure the experiences with the work influence my writing from a mental, emotional, social, and spiritual viewpoint.

OCW: Which authors and/or types of books do you like to read?

EF: I enjoy reading non-fiction books that give insight into the human condition. I’ve read books in the non-fiction realm by the likes of Gabor Mate, Bessel van der Kolk, Viktor Frankl, Mark Wolynn, and John Gottman. In the past, I’ve enjoyed fiction books, thrillers and sci-fi mainly, by authors like Harlan Coben, Steve Perry, and Robert Ludlum. I hope to delve into fiction books once again.

OCW: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

EF: More often than not, I’m a plotter. I scheme ahead of time. For my next book, I’m using the blueprint from an unpublished feature-length screenplay I’ve written as the foundational material and adding onto the story to flesh out the characters, action, dialogue, etc. I am able to write about what the characters are thinking, which is impossible except for character dialgoue voiceovers in a screenplay.

OCW: What advice/guidance would you give to writers?

EF: There often exists an inclination to write what you’re knowledgeable about. Although this may be easier, the challenge rests in being able to create worlds and learn about topics that you didn’t know well in the first place. View writing as an opportunity to learn. Take your time. The words are not going anywhere except onto the page. Don’t rush in order to push through writer’s block. Clarity comes through the process of writing and not at the first step.

Take feedback with a grain of salt while never dismissing what’s given outright. I remember receiving feedback on my screenplays through a website called American Zoetrope. At first, getting the criticism felt like a personal attack. I had to learn to take the feedback without getting extremely offensive and understand that what was sent to me wasn’t meant as an offensive attack by another writer.

Treat manuscripts like the first encounter with a conflict with a friend — a rough draft that can’t be taken as finality. Editing will happen, and that’s okay.

OCW: Do you see generative AI as a benefit or a threat to writers? AB: If I had to pick one, I’d say that AI is a threat to writers. One reason I say this is because there are fewer solutions than trade-offs when writing with AI. Let’s say I write a book and implement AI for a large portion of its creation. This includes the actual content with plot points, character dialgoue, etc. I can’t seethe with frustration when a book reviewer uses AI to generate a review.

I believe that AI takes away the potential to enjoy the creative nature of bringing stories to life in a reader’s mind. The excitement of finally breaking through on how to proceed with a part in the story’s plot that a writer was stuck on an extended period. The ability to tell someone that, yes, I wrote the story and came up with the story without any help from a third-party, such as AI.

There was a time when we found inspiration and ideas from people’s experiences and our personal scenes felt and endured. Now, we have let readers know that we didn’t use a third-party AI system in the creative process. I believe that AI is a negative factor for writers with regards to building trust and rapport with an audience.

If readers cannot decipher whether a work used generative AI or not, then the writer’s reputation can be damaged. As an example, imagine someone works in the mental wellness field and writes a self-help book on boundaries. The book reads amazingly well with great points, case examples, and strategies. Later on, the readers learn that the material was crafted with meticulous AI prompts that led to the written content and not from the author’s mind. The prompts were as far as the author was able to go. If the author doesn’t reveal they created the material in a way other than naturally, then their reputation may be severely tarnished. I’ve seen that AI cannot replicate an author’s voice, and that’s another reason I view AI as a threat to authors. For the reader, they won’t be able to experience the authenticity of the writer with their experiences, personality, talent, and knowledge.