THIS BIRD FLEW AWAY - AUTHOR INTERVIEW

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

This Bird Flew Away is the sad, yet hopeful, story of Bria, an abused and neglected child.   This is a departure from the usual book and post found at BookBelle but it is my hope that everyone will take a few minutes to read and watch today. 

On behalf of Enchanted Book Tours, it is my privilege to now bring to you a preview of Lynda Martin's book, This Bird Flew Away.

Please stop by again tomorrow for my review of This Bird Flew Away.

Belle:   How long did it take you to write this book?

Lynda:  The rough draft of This Bird Flew Away took me four months to write, but the story had lived in my mind for so long, it would be a simple matter of letting the words flow – or so I thought. The rewrite process, including the decisions of the best way to approach each episode required another year. Then, I went into one last rewrite just prior to publication. So the sum total would be two years...

Belle:   You spent 30 years working in Child Protection, as well, you've raised two daughters, and can you explain the process you used to create Bria's character? A character like this is clearly not created overnight.

Lynda:   My daughters, my foster daughters, my granddaughter and many of the girls I worked with all went into the formation of Bria. True. But I’d have to admit there’s a good dash of my own youth in there, as my childhood was not an easy or happy one. Over the years I noticed that those girls who went on and did well in life despite the misfortune of their childhood had something in common: spirit. They may have been hell-on-wheels to handle from a parental point of view, but the combination they all possessed of intelligence, stubbornness, persistence, optimism and above all, resilience carried them forward. I am so weary of the media’s portrayal of these survivors as victims, full of neurosis, brittle and fragile, suicidal and twisted; I wanted to portray something closer to the truth. Not that survivors don’t carry their scars; they do – but who does not? I strove to develop Bria as a realistic example of the girls it was my honor to know.

Belle:   The book spans twenty years in Bria's life. What were some of the challenges you faced in taking a character from age 10 to approximately 30 years of age?

Lynda:   By far the greatest challenge was to develop an authentic voice for each age. Writing from the child’s perspective requires letting go of the adult’s conception of childhood and digging deep into our memories, cultivating friendships and observing children and talking to them. Of course, it helped that I’d taken many courses in child development, necessary in outreach work when you’re required to assist children of various ages verbalize their experience. Each age faces different abilities and restrictions. For example, we meet Bria at nine, ‘almost ten’ and at that age, children can and do state their minds, but do so with little censorship. In fact, little goes on in the interior that does not find its way out their mouths. That first chapter relies much on dialogue. I published an article on the challenges of writing from the child’s perspective. Those interested in knowing more can find it here. http://hubpages.com/hub/Good-Writing-Is-9-The-importance-of-voice-1

Belle:   My reaction towards Jack Connelly was very strong. How did you wish for your character, Jack Connelly to be perceived by readers?

Lynda:   One agent who was considering This Bird Flew Away told me I’d have to completely re-write the character of Jack because he acted like a child molester (in the opening chapter.) She completely missed my point, taking the situation in reverse. A child molester acts like a good friend, a process called ‘grooming the victim. How are the adults in a child’s life, let alone the child to tell the difference? Do we over-react, and deny our children all adult friends out of fear?

Bria was a neglected child, daughter of an unstable, self-centered and mentally ill single mother. She needed a connection, a friend, someone to count on. Jack’s initial kindness to the girl triggered a profound affection, a crush, an obsession from her, one he was ill-equipped to handle.

I saw Jack as a morally upright young man, determined to the ‘right thing,’ lonely, the eldest of five brothers under the domination of an authoritarian, abusive father and with no understanding of girls and how they function. He is clumsy, pedantic, intelligent but naive. He is homely, not worldly, nor experienced with females. Bria’s devotion and dependence on his friendship, her admiration fulfills needs of his own. He recognizes a kindred spirit in Bria, sets out to help her and heals himself in the process. Eventually, his sense of ‘rightness’ causes his undoing.

I loved Jack and hoped my readers would love him, too.

Belle:   The statistics are staggering. How many men and women are abused or exploited in some way before reaching adulthood?

Lynda:  Childhood abuse is far greater than official statistics would have us believe – 10% of boys and 22% of girls. Any professional in the field will tell you this represents only the reported cases, or around 20-30%. Some years back, I attended an international conference of child protection workers where I learned that worldwide, the numbers are estimated as: 4 out of every 10 boys and 7 of 10 girls will be sexually assaulted by the age of 16. That’s 70% of women! This also means that two-thirds of all survivors get no help. The majority of child sex-abuse is familial, with the term family including extended relatives and close friends. Workers also estimate abuse goes on in 1 out of 3 homes. Atrocious, isn’t it?

Belle:   Do you feel this book is suitable reading for our high school age daughters?

Lynda:   Yes. The book was targeted to women and mature girls, though some disagree with me on that point. One Mom wrote to me saying she wouldn’t want her fifteen-year-old daughter to read the rape scene as she wouldn’t want the girl’s first exposure to sex to be something so ugly. My private reaction was this Mom is living in denial if she thinks a girl of fifteen has yet to be exposed to anything sexual. My granddaughter, then sixteen, helped me write the book, then shared the not-quite-polished manuscript with many of her friends ranging in age from fourteen to nineteen. According their responses, these girls loved the story and related very strongly to Bria. Some shared their own unhappy sexual experiences with me. And that is the point: our girls are very vulnerable in this world. Bria’s story may help them.

I recently found myself involved in correspondence with two twelve-year-old girls whose mothers had shared the book with them (after writing to the mothers and receiving their blessing.) These girls argued the book was entirely suitable for girls of their age as “no one of our age doesn’t know about sex and rape and what can happen in the world.” I was so impressed with the common-sense and maturity of these girls, I invited them to help me write an article called “The 21^st Century Twelve-Year-Old Girl,” linked here, if anyone wants the wisdom and insight of these intelligent girls. http://hubpages.com/hub/The-21st-Century-Twelve-Year-Old-Girl

Belle:  You seem to be a DIY (do-it-yourself) writer and promoter. What part of the process have you enjoyed the most? The least?

Lynda:   My answer to this question varies with each day. Yes, after a year of hearing ‘It’s great, but readers don’t want this. They want feel-good and fantasy,’ I chose to eschew agents and go with an independent publisher which leaves me pretty much on my own with the promotion and marketing – both of which I find a challenge. I enjoyed the production process, particularly as my publisher allowed me free reign over the style, the cover design (I love the photo) and my choice of editor. However, as a neophyte marketer, it’s a slow, up-hill climb. This Bird Flew Away continues to reap good reviews, but the fact that sales come in one’s and two’s is a lesson hard learned.

There is so much ‘noise’ in the world it is difficult to draw attention. Everyone who has the read the book has good things to say, but how do you let readers know it is there? That’s the frustration.