“Zodak and Nishan care for weak and wounded children.” In the process of brainstorming ideas and plot structure for a novel I want to write, the above quote is one of several notes made during this process. Yet, the more I studied the craft of writing and read about real-life experiences and the need to write and experience in tandem, I slowly began to realize an important truth: I could not write about two characters caring for weak and wounded children without doing the same myself. Such would give my writing no credence and prove me a hypocrite.
About a year and a half after graduating college and working odd jobs to head off payment of my student loan debt, I started substitute teaching in the public schools. Ironically, I found several students of all grade levels who fit the description of weak and wounded children, particularly students labeled Emotionally Impaired. I worked with these precious children five days a week for seven months. Theirs’ were tales of abuse, drug use, and a great amount of insecurity, leading to exceptionally strange behavior and talk in each child kindergarten through age twelve. One third grade girl called me Mom during my time teaching in her class, most likely because she knew she could trust me. Somewhere during those brutal hard days, I recalled the novel note I had made years earlier. I was caring for weak and wounded children. Now I could write about characters who did the exact same and have experience to draw upon. Fiction had indeed intertwined with reality!
Come, learn with me about life and writing and their intricate interchange…
Composition Craft 