Writing Spotlight - Crash

 Continuing on in the Sharing Strength series, the third book is Crash. This book was one of the most difficult for me to get started as I worked my way through the stories and I was truly concerned for awhile that it would be the cause of me never completing things. I am thankful that wasn't the case and I learned a lot through this book.

When I first began writing Sharing Strength it was the only book. This was never meant to be a series. I wrote the book that would become the last and had no idea the impact the characters would have on me and my life. Craig Stillwell, the main character of Crash, was one I almost overlooked. He was quiet and played second fiddle to every other character in the book. He was troubled and sad but it was about a support group for people with PTSD, everyone felt that way. He suffered from survivor's guilt which I knew and it is something I know about, but I never felt that spark of a connection with him. He was just there.

That was why I worried so much when it came time to work on his story. The novella I wrote about his background, how he got to Sharing Strength in the first place, sat stagnant for months. I couldn't get him to open up and writing his story felt like typing up a report on someone who barely spoke. It wasn't until I was cleaning my office during the shutdown two years ago and a song came on in the playlist I was listening to that connected me to him finally. It was such an emotional song and hit me so hard I fell to my knees crying at the raw pain I felt coming from him in my mind. Once I was able to get myself under control again I managed to get into my desk chair, grabbed a pen and a notebook and wrote the entire outline of the story in one sitting. After that it took less than two weeks to write it all out. 

Craig's story is unique in a number of ways. While I have experienced a small amount of survivor's guilt in my life it has never risen to the level of trauma. I do not know anyone personally this story could be considered based on. And it is the only one I did no research for. On top of that it is the only one of the books that requires reading Sharing Strength to have a full understanding of the characters complete transformation through the PTSD. He went from being a secondary character I almost forgot about to quite possibly the main character and representation of the series itself. I hope you will take some time get to know him and see how his story may touch your life as well.