Mixing Urban Drama with Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

URBAN DRAMA

Amazon best-selling authors can typically be found in the Mystery, Thriller & Suspense category.  This is a popular category because many readers love to devour this type of fiction.  It doesn’t matter whether they buy it from the Kindle Store or some other type of digital download, or if they purchase a traditional print publication.  When it comes to curling up with a good book, there’s nothing better than enjoying Mystery, Thriller & Suspense.   

But what happens when you throw a lot of urban drama into the mix?  You end up with a dark coming of age story like:  Skipping Childhood:  A Novel (From Abused Foster Child to Adolescent Serial Killer).

When you think of an urban setting, you couldn’t ask for a better one than a rundown apartment on the south side of Chicago.  As for drama; is a twelve-year-old serial killer enough drama for you?  Needless to say, this story contains some other weighty content so you can expect profanity and violence.  With heavy subject material like physical and sexual child abuse, not to mention murder, why bother trying not to curse?  In fact, the entire raw and gritty tone of this African American novel is what makes this fictional piece of urban drama an interesting read. 

If you typically enjoy browsing through Amazon’s Mystery, Thriller & Suspense category for a good read, why not try a little urban flavor in the mix and check out my new novel: Skipping Childhood:  A Novel (From Abused Foster Child to Adolescent Serial Killer).

Adult Child Abuse Survivors: Sometimes it’s Hard to Keep it Real

CHILD ABUSE

As an adult child abuse survivor, I have to admit; sometimes it’s hard to keep it real even after taking that huge step of making your abuse public knowledge.  It’s no secret that I started this blog to promote and build a dialogue around my book Skipping Childhood:  A Novel (From Abused Foster Child to Adolescent Serial Killer).  I’ve stated that from the very beginning.  This work of fiction can be found in Amazon’s Mystery, Thriller & Suspense category.  But something else I also stated from the beginning is that a large percentage of my novel is based on true events.  The child abuse and neglect was real, the characters were based on real people, the settings, etc… 

Now before the cops come knocking and asking about dead bodies, let me restate that everything EXCEPT the murders were based on true events.  The fictional murders were symbolic of an adult survivor victim’s attempt to kill the bad memories, regain a sense of power and find closure.  But the blog has awakened a new need for this survivor.  I want really want to address these related issues from a “reality” or non-fiction standpoint, and tie it in with dialogue about the book.  And that leads me to my point about it being hard to keep it real.  From a personal aspect, I sometimes find it difficult to address certain topics on my 2017 list of words; though that is my primary mission of the blog.   

All Abuse is Bad

When it comes to different forms of child abuse; as the years progress, some adult survivors tend to minimize the level of abuse they suffered.  Whether it is child neglect, emotional abuse, mental abuse, physical abuse, or sexual abuse, there is no justification for it.   The abusers should not be let off the hook, even if only in our minds.  Regardless of how we try to minimize or even justify the events, all child abuse is bad and unwarranted.

This point recently came to my mind as a topic for discussion.  Lately, I’ve been paying particular attention to books related to mine in any way shape or form.  It can be really tricky trying to make sure your book title is categorized correctly.  For instance, in addition to being available in the Amazon category that I mentioned above, Skipping Childhood is also listed in the coming of age section.  I put it there, because most of the other titles I found on the topic of child abuse were listed as “true story” books and available in the non-fiction category. 

As I looked over those books and saw some of the horrible things that people have actually done to children, I found myself minimizing my own horrors.  I also found myself wondering if the events I describe in my novel would even remotely justify murder when compared to some of the true life cases.  That is when I began to wonder how much more of my own truth I should divulge, or if in fact I want to cross that line.  Then I told myself what I just stated in the subheading:  “All abuse is bad”.  I don’t have to compare horror stories to determine the level of abuse I experienced.  I also don’t have to feel bad about the way I choose to shed light on this very real issue.  I sincerely hope that everything I have posted thus far and that I continue to post will be of benefit to someone somewhere.  I also believe that my novel can be just as much a source of inspiration and empowerment as some of the non-fiction self-help books for adult survivors.

Even though I’ve made some of my truth known in Skipping Childhood, I have definitely left a lot open to interpretation.  Throughout this year, some of your questions about my ties to the book may be answered in this blog.  I have no doubt that somehow, I’ll muster the courage to continue trying to keep things real in my writing.  I know it won’t always be easy but I plan to stay true to the mission for this blog.  As an adult child abuse survivor, when confronted with difficult choices, I do what we do best; SURVIVE!  

Pick up a copy of 

“Skipping Childhood:  A Novel”

Book Talk: What Comes to Mind When You Think of Urban Drama

URBAN DRAMA

Are you an avid reader who enjoys combing through a variety of fiction book genres?  If so, what comes to your mind when you hear the words urban drama?  Perhaps you get an image of families arguing, fussing, fighting and putting their business in the street.  Maybe you envision street thugs having beef over drugs and territory.  Or maybe you picture some of the hot steamy romance books that I’ve found a lot of under the book category of “urban” fiction.  In fact, I can’t help but notice how a large number of novels in Amazon’s urban category (both in the books and the Kindle Store section) focus on black romances usually gone bad.

I hope this doesn’t sound like a generalization on my part because I’m not saying this as a complaint or as a negative in any way, just a personal observation.  I think the reason I’ve been able to make this particular observation is because I was purposely looking for books that don’t focus on this particular aspect of urban drama.  While I know that romance stories sell big time, even the gritty ones, I also know that urban drama can center around other issues besides romantic entanglements and the rough gangland street life.

My new title Skipping Childhood:  A Novel is an urban novel and falls into the African American fiction category, among other things.  Some Amazon category listings make it hard to pinpoint where exactly to place your book title.  For instance, Skipping Childhood is a coming of age story that has some suspense elements, as I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts.  But because of the story line, my form of suspense is not as dramatic as a scene that you might find in one of the more typical urban books.  My romance and sex related scenes are not the highlights of the book.    

This is by no way to suggest that my new novel:  Skipping Childhood:  A Novel (From Abused Foster Child to Adolescent Serial Killer) doesn’t have a romantic angle because it does.  In fact, my main character and her “Romeo” have a very strong bond that spans throughout the book, but their romance is not the driving element of the story.  I guess urban drama is no different from any other drama, regardless of a person’s background, because the reality is:  Drama is life, and life is drama, urban or otherwise.

Check out a copy of:

Survival Strategies: Abuse Victims Can Find Freedom in Writing

EMANCIPATION 

Finding freedom through your writing is a smart and therapeutic way for survivors of abuse to gain emancipation.  The technique works, whether you decide to write for the masses or you write for yourself as a way of chasing away the demons.  I’ve been journaling for a whole lot of years.  My daily journal writing started as a way to dump or unload all my negative mental crap so I wouldn’t go crazy.  But the more I wrote, the more I wanted to write; not just about what was going on in my life, but about all kinds of things that troubled or interested me.

For me, journal writing eventually led to article writing and publishing non-fiction ebooks.  I’ve published books on a lot of useful topics (many of which I’ve made free on Amazon for the next week).  In the course of my writing, I began to notice an interesting fact.  The more I wrote about more personal things or topics close to my heart, the more rewarding it felt.  This gave me a liberating feeling.  For instance, the simple little ebook I wrote called:  How to Live Life in a Positive Bubble was so enjoyable to publish because so much of me went into the book.  I talked about issues and topics that were important to me and probably a lot of other everyday people. 

I realize now that although I wasn’t talking about my negative past or discussing such deep topics as abuse, I was still finding freedom in my writing.  Writing gave me a sense of emancipation.  I begin to understand that the more truthful I was in my writing, the freer I felt.  That is why it was so liberating for me to write and publish my latest novel:  Skipping Childhood:  A Novel (From Abused Foster Child to Adolescent Serial Killer).  So much of my own truth went into this book, and as a result, I was able to release a lot of buried hostility and negative emotions.  The result was true emancipation.

Why Survival Strategies

Survival strategies are needed by anyone who has ever suffered some form of abuse and never admitted to it and never found healing.  The term “survival strategies” is just another way of saying ways to live with yourself.  No matter who the abuser was and how long the abuse lasted, just because you were able to move on doesn’t mean that you’re okay.  In fact, you may never be okay unless you find a healthy coping mechanism.  For thousands of survivors, that coping mechanism is writing.  At some point, adult abuse victims can find the freedom they seek by expressing themselves and their pain in their writing. 

If you’re intimidated by the idea of putting your deepest and darkest secrets down on paper (or a computer screen), why not start off simple.  First get used to writing thoughts and ideas that are not so dark or secret, just private thoughts.  Try hard not to censor yourself.  It’s not easy, but you have to get used to the idea of writing like no one will read what you write; and after all, no one has to.  The more you write, the easier this will get.  One thing you should NOT do and that’s go over what you wrote.  You should not allow yourself to get stuck on going over your words and editing your “freestyle” work.  The whole point of this type of therapeutic writing is to get it out, not to read it; not even to share it, but simply to get it out. 

There’s no better time than the present to start writing to emancipate yourself.  Don’t plan what you will say or think about it, just write.  Give yourself a minimum of days to write consistently, whether you feel like it or not.  Then be sure to stick to your word and WRITE!