Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Characters Showing Strength

In just a couple of days I will be sending the manuscript of my collection of humorous short stories off to my beta reader / manager for editing and feedback. I have had a blast working on that book and I cannot wait to get the cover on it and ready for release at the end of August. With that said, I am now jumping back in on my Sharing Strength series. It is a huge switch to go from writing and editing fun, entertaining stories about casino life to telling the story of a teenager dealing with a major trauma.

For those that don't know, Sharing Strength is a novel I wrote in response to a documentary I was watching. I spent three hours observing how the writers and cinematographers went about explaining PTSD, its effects on those living with the syndrome, and finally telling the audience that unless you served in the military you couldn't possibly have PTSD. I was infuriated. I was diagnosed with PTSD when I was in my early twenties and I have served a day in my life. I don't believe for a second that what I went through was any less traumatic for me than a soldier seeing combat. It is simply a different form.

My anger at the creators of that documentary immediately awoke a series of characters inside me. There was Craig. A father dealing with intense depression and self-hatred after being involved in a single car crash that killed his four year old son Jeremy. Craig suffers from a horrible case of survivor's guilt and deals with it by spending most of his time in a drunken stupor. He doesn't want to live the way he is but he doesn't know how to cope any other way so he joins a support group.

Brian and Kyle have been best friends since they were ten. They became like brothers from the moment Kyle moved to the neighborhood and Brian's father took him in as another son. Kyle's mom was a single mother and was grateful for the friendship and father figure her son found. Along with Brian's younger, they worked on cars, learned to target shoot and after high school the bets friends joined the military. On a mission one day their team was ambushed and they witnessed several friends killed in action. They take dramatically different attitudes toward what the experienced and approach the support group with those opposing views as well.

Jasmine is a survivor of domestic abuse. She has the scars, both mental and physical, to show what she has been through. She doesn't trust men and lives behind the lens of her camera. It is safer for her to stay disconnected and observe the world from a distance. She has a loving family but she never told them what she was going through because her abuser convinced her everything was her fault and everyone would either laugh at or blame her if she spoke up. She believes there is a way to be happy again but knows she needs someone who isn't so close to the situation to talk to in order to find her path back.

Rachel is a good girl raised in a strict, religious household. She is a teenager but her worst rebellion is staying awake to read a romance novel before bed instead of doing her Bible studies or homework. She has close friends on the swim team and has always found swimming to be the perfect escape. She is gifted in the pool so much her friends call her Fish. One night she is called on by one of those friends to rescue her from a bad situation and ends up the victim of a sexual assault. She is so ashamed she rushed home to hide what happened but things get even worse when the boy that attacked her tells everyone she came on to him. Rachel's world turns upside down as she fights to clear her name and deal with the fallout form the rumors surrounding her. When door after door in her life slams closed she finds the support group looking for someone who will listen and not judge her.

I began writing the background stories as a novella called Survivor. Jasmine's story is based on what happened to me as a teenager and while, for legal reasons, it is a fictionalized version, it was important for me to finally admit what I went through. Survivor has had a tremendous response and I have heard from others who experienced similar pasts how it helped to see they weren't alone. I am now preparing to write Rachel's story and then I will be moving on to Craig. For Kyle and Brian I am working with a combat veteran who is helping me get a first hand look into the world of combat. These are not easy stories to share but I think they are ones the world needs to know.

As soon as the four novellas have been released I will be releasing the full novel. As it is a follow up and shows the support group working for all of the characters and how they interact with each other I wanted readers to get to know each of them individually first. I love every one of them and hope my readers will have the same care and affection I have found in the fighting spirits and desire to heal they share with one another and the me as well.

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