I write what I see; I document what I hear; I talk when I’m listened to; I listen when talking in need to be heard.

Showing posts with label psychological novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label psychological novel. Show all posts

Friday, May 08, 2020


Stolen Truth
By
Henya Drescher


My novel, Stolen Truth, will be published on March 18, 2021, by Black Rose Writing.

The writing process was a time-travel adventure. The pace of my journey was slow and fraught, with many difficulties. At times, it seemed as if I had a more fulfilling relationship with my characters than with life itself. And beyond that, trying to pull off the perfect, satisfying twists that should look seamless. But I learned the hard way. In one draft, I introduced several scenes just for the sake of bringing in incidents that meandered nowhere. My editor politely asked why they existed. What would happen if we just deleted them? The answer was ‘nothing.’ It had zero effect on the plot other than lazy, gimmicky devices.

Stolen Truth captures the fraught frustrations of Bree, who may or may not have been the mother of a kidnapped newborn, as she plunges into her quest, facing many internal and external uncertainties. Bree bears the history of being a troubled woman, yet she is passionately determined. The complexities of her character drive the story through accumulating dead ends and detours.

To those of you who shared in my journey, please accept my sincere thanks for believing in me.

Saturday, April 20, 2019

Blind Pursuit


unsplash

What is Moral Injury

Moral injury is the damage done to one’s conscience or moral compass when that person perpetrates, witnesses, or fails to prevent acts that transgress one’s own moral beliefs, values, or ethical codes of conduct. ~~ Syracuse University
Since war is a constant human condition, a devastating form of MORAL INJURY confronts most of the warriors once they return to civilian life. In the heat of battle, soldiers are often ordered to do things that are unspeakable in civil society: kill enemy soldiers; toss grenades into houses; burn down villages. These atrocities turn into memories that many veterans cannot discard.

In BLIND PURSUIT, my psychological thriller in progress, Homa the main character is an Afghanistan veteran who shows all the symptoms of suffering from a moral injury.
An ex-intelligence officer, Homa’s job was to translate and analyze communications between the Taliban. Though Homa was not in the front line, the knowledge that the consequences of her decision-making had caused loss of life is just as impactful as if she were experiencing it first-hand. This knowledge causes her to suffer a betrayal of her core belief of what’s right and just, even if such an act had to be used in high stake situations.

Until recently, experiences of war which is exhibited in rage, and isolation were diagnosed by the mental health community as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD.)

But the familiar diagnosis of PTSD as an explanation of deployment-related suffering does not entirely capture the silent type of anguish. PTSD is attached to a description that points to a kind of fear syndrome. It’s easy to understand a car accident victim, or a brutal attack, or a witness of a horrendous murder. But what about, the kind that shows depression? The kind the sucks the life out of you, and you don’t know why?

MORAL INJURY is associated with a trauma that is characterized by symptoms of guilt, shame, depression, anxiety, anger, self-harm, and social problems.

BLIND PURSUIT is an intimate look at Homa’s journey through her struggle with service-related PTSD and moral injury. Her symptoms involve constant thoughts and memories of death-related events, vivid nightmares that make it hard for her to sleep, anxiety and loss of interest in relationships, or any activity outside her job. She has developed obsessive behaviors. She often checks the windows and the front door of her apartment. She is hyper-vigilant of her surroundings. She gets claustrophobic in tight places.

In Homa’s voice: “I have to accept my shame and feelings of wrong-doing, there’s no point trying to push them away. I’m going to feel terrible; it’s going to come in waves — stronger then weaker then stronger again — that twist in the pit of my stomach, the anguish of shame, the heat coming to my face, my eyes squeezed tight as though I could make it all disappear.”