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Writing Process
What does psychology have to do with fiction?
Author Jacqueline Sheehan Imparts a Psychologist’s Perspective
A
strong background in psychology is one of the best preparations for the
vital skills of writing fiction. What motivates a character to dispose
of her husband’s ashes in a bizarre manner? What motivates someone to
become diabolically obsessed with a dog? Why would an intelligent and
athletic teenaged girl decide that food must be earned by acts of
deprivation and sacrifice?
These questions
would not have been impossible to answer for authors bathed primarily
in the literary world, but they are simply far easier for a
psychologist. This is our daily oxygen; we figure out why people do the
things that they do. I have been a psychologist since 1989, and in my
new novel, I make full use of my clinical background to give depth and
texture to a book about the complexities of grief.
Even
though the main character Rocky is a psychologist, she is shattered to
the core when her young husband dies suddenly, and she is stunned at
her inability to regain her footing. All of her psychological knowledge
seems to betray her when she tries to apply the clichéd approaches to
dealing with grief. The stages of grief sound hollow to the person
stumbling through them. Technically, our heroine fits all the criteria
for a major depressive episode, and yet sorting this out from a course
of grief is a daunting task and not even considered by the main
character, Rocky. She is wonderfully flawed, making her more accessible
than a therapist who seems to have it all together.
Other
therapists have made their stamp in the world of fiction. Jonathan
Kellerman, best selling mystery writer, draws heavily on his background
as a child psychologist to guide us into the most unsavory places;
frequently offering us the motivations of people who deliberately harm
children. For better or for worse, Kellerman has a deep understanding
of this from his first career. Amy Bloom, award winning novelist and
short story writer, was first a psychotherapist. Her short story,
Silver Water, is one of the most brilliant portrayals of schizophrenia
that I have ever read. I was floored when I first read that story in
1994 and no less so when I read it again recently. Bloom’s
understanding of a major thought disorder gave a crystalline purity to
the tortured, funny, brilliant, and tragic character who suffered from
it. And of course, Bloom just happens to be one of finest writers. Good
combination.
In Lost and Found, characters
developed over time that presented me with their psychological
struggles, much as patients do when they first appear at the door of a
therapist. Melissa showed up with tight skin and her hair pulled
tightly back, wearing bagging sweats. Eating disorder, provisional
diagnosis, I thought with my therapist mind. An older woman with wild
white hair appeared first in a bookstore on the island and I felt
instinctively that there was something unusual about her, not
pathological, just very different. At the same time, I was learning
about synesthesia, a neurological condition where multiple senses fire
at one time, often in a surprising way. Numbers have colors, sounds
have smells. Immediately I knew this was perfect for Tess, our sage,
who would have heightened and unusual senses. Other characters stepped
into view and they appeared with obsessions or chemical imbalances. And
lastly, a dog appeared in the book, who turned out to be a better
therapist than anyone.
I am convinced that
therapy works for some of the people some of the time. While that is
not a ringing endorsement of psychotherapy, it is true. I am far more
convinced that animals offer us something more potent than talk therapy
because I have seen examples of it often in the lives of my patients.
The dog in my novel is a huge presence for both Rocky and the young
girl and the dog offers a form of redemption that was not found in the
human relationships. Pet-facilitated therapy.
I
once worked with a college student who was suicidal. She was
dangerously depressed. In desperation, I remembered that she had a
puppy at home, a beautiful brindle boxer. I asked her, “If you kill
yourself, who will take care of your dog?” When she realized that no
one would take care of the dog, she vowed to stay alive and get better.
I know this sounds ridiculously simplistic, but I have seen the bond
between human and animal to be a powerfully sustaining force.
Another
patient who I worked with for several years struggled with a family
where alcoholism, betrayal, physical abuse, and neglect were the
hallmarks. After every visit with her family, she would appear in my
office devastated from more disastrous interactions. Finally she
convinced her mother to allow her to get a dog, a very tiny dog. From
the moment that the six-pound dog trotted into the house, everything
changed in her family. Everyone had someone to love, to be affectionate
with, to protect, and be protected by. The family didn’t become
perfect, but by having the dog to love, they were all able to practice
how to love.
I maintain a private practice and
deliberately keep my patients out of my books. Their confidentiality is
sacrosanct. But the understanding of human motivation, trauma,
resiliency, and recovery has been essential to my writing.
The Process of Writing Truth
A Conversation with Jacqueline Sheehan, author of Truth,
a novel about Sojourner Truth.
Q. What inspired you to write Truth?
A. Several things came together at once. I was writing more fiction,
mostly short stories when we moved from Chico, California to
Massachusetts. I quickly learned that Sojourner Truth had lived in the
same town in Massachusetts. Even though I had known only small bits of
her life prior to that time, she had been a powerfully inspirational
figure. I slowly started to read about her life, first her own
Narrative that she dictated and eventually other accounts of her life.
When I first started digging below the surface, I was shocked that she
survivied with her spirit not only intact, but large enough to help
heal a nation. I was especially moved by her tenacious attempts to save
her son, Peter. I spent the next four years researching and writing
about Sojourner.
Q. Sojourner was a real person. How did you combine history and fiction?
A. This is a work of fiction based on the life of one of our great
American heroes. It was important for me to do as much research as
possible to provide the authenticity that this project deserved. I
needed to be comfortable with the 19th Century world; the clothes, the
food, the sensibilities, and with her physical environment. Then I had
to gain an understanding of slavery that, despite what I previously
thought, I never really had before. Basing a novel on true events also
meant not being too heavy handed with the historical information. For
example, I did a week of research about women’s clothing, and corsets
in particular, only to be able to let Sojourner make a few comments
about adjusting to corsets. Although it was a balance between fiction
and historical fact, in the end, telling a strong story always took the
lead.
Q. You wrote this novel in the first person, in the voice of the main character. How did you decide to do that?
A. I wanted this story to be told close to the bone, inside the skin of
Sojourner (or Isabella as she was first called). From the beginning,
this story demanded to be told in her voice, as if she was finally
telling us everything about her life.
Q. You are white. How did this affect writing about a primarily black experience?
A. This is a primarily American experience and one that we, both black
and white people, have been denied in most history and fiction. We have
skimmed over it, which is quite amazing. Some of the most courageous
people emerged from one of the worst time periods of our history.
When I first began writing, I heard a constant, nagging voice in my
head that said I shouldn’t be writing this because I was white. I was
faced with the choice of giving in to this voice, which was really the
collective unconscious of our country’s racist guilt, or to be what I
am, which is a writer. And writers create stories and characters and
unless we are writing autobiographies, these stories are not about us.
We have to be able to know our characters exquisitely, both the
sympathetic characters and the characters who appear to be beyond
redemption.
Q. Why does most of the novel focus on Isabella when she is a child or
a young woman and less on Sojourner’s life when she is older and famous?
A. If people know anything about Sojourner, they know her as the fiery
orator who could outwit and outtalk anyone. What I wanted to know was
how she survived the abuses of slavery to become one of the most famous
women of the 19th Century. For me, the process of becoming was even
more interesting than the woman she became.
Q. You are a psychologist. How did this affect your approach to the novel?
A. I can't think of a better background for writing fiction than
psychology. My knowledge of psychology helped with character
development and motivation, and it was the true foundation for
understanding why she was not crushed by slavery when somany others
were. I worked for years in California and spent a lot of my time
working with women who had been sexually and physically abused as
children. I knew the kind of nightmares they had and the roadblocks
they faced. I developed an enormous respect for the unlimited potential
of the human spirit to survive and to thrive. I was also sobered by
seeing the unlimitend potential that we all have to inflict
unimaginable pain on others.
Q. What was the hardest part of the book to write?
A. I was completely surprised by my reaction to her relationship with
her son because so many parts of her life were brutal. But I realized
that her drive to save her son was the compelling force of a large part
of her life. When she finally learned his fate, I was in tears and I
had to stop writing. I surprised myself even more by going to a church,
which would not normally be my destination, but I knew that’s where
Sojourner would have gone. Of course the church was locked, which
jolted me right back to the present day.
Q. What are working on now?
A. I am working on something completely different. It is a novel about
a woman who is a psychologist who completely loses her grip when she is
unable to save her husband’s life. She tries to run away from her life,
changing who she is, but finds that she is confronted by the very
things she hoped to escape. There is a dog in the story that is
currently stealing the show. We’ll see how that goes.
Q. Who are your favorite authors?
A. We have a wealth of fine contemporary authors. Barbara Kingsolver
changes me every time I read one of her novels. I remember changing my
understanding of family after reading Animal Dreams. I was at the check
out counter at the grocery store right after I finished Animal Dreams
and I was suddenly unable to see the clerk in the same anonymous way;
whether we liked it or not, we were both part of the same large family.
Dorothy Allison’s novel, Bastard Out of Carolina has also changed me.
Up until that time, I was unable to understand the women who chose
their abusing husbands over their children. If I had any understanding,
it was only an intellectual one. Dorothy Allison gripped me with the
desperation that some women feel. She changed me on a deep, emotional
level.
What does psychology have to do with fiction?Author Jacqueline Sheehan Imparts a Psychologist’s Perspective |
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A strong background in psychology is one of the best preparations for the vital skills of writing fiction. What motivates a character to dispose of her husband’s ashes in a bizarre manner? What motivates someone to become diabolically obsessed with a dog? Why would an intelligent and athletic teenaged girl decide that food must be earned by acts of deprivation and sacrifice? These questions would not have been impossible to answer for authors bathed primarily in the literary world, but they are simply far easier for a psychologist. This is our daily oxygen; we figure out why people do the things that they do. I have been a psychologist since 1989, and in my new novel, I make full use of my clinical background to give depth and texture to a book about the complexities of grief. Even though the main character Rocky is a psychologist, she is shattered to the core when her young husband dies suddenly, and she is stunned at her inability to regain her footing. All of her psychological knowledge seems to betray her when she tries to apply the clichéd approaches to dealing with grief. The stages of grief sound hollow to the person stumbling through them. Technically, our heroine fits all the criteria for a major depressive episode, and yet sorting this out from a course of grief is a daunting task and not even considered by the main character, Rocky. She is wonderfully flawed, making her more accessible than a therapist who seems to have it all together. Other therapists have made their stamp in the world of fiction. Jonathan Kellerman, best selling mystery writer, draws heavily on his background as a child psychologist to guide us into the most unsavory places; frequently offering us the motivations of people who deliberately harm children. For better or for worse, Kellerman has a deep understanding of this from his first career. Amy Bloom, award winning novelist and short story writer, was first a psychotherapist. Her short story, Silver Water, is one of the most brilliant portrayals of schizophrenia that I have ever read. I was floored when I first read that story in 1994 and no less so when I read it again recently. Bloom’s understanding of a major thought disorder gave a crystalline purity to the tortured, funny, brilliant, and tragic character who suffered from it. And of course, Bloom just happens to be one of finest writers. Good combination. In Lost and Found, characters developed over time that presented me with their psychological struggles, much as patients do when they first appear at the door of a therapist. Melissa showed up with tight skin and her hair pulled tightly back, wearing bagging sweats. Eating disorder, provisional diagnosis, I thought with my therapist mind. An older woman with wild white hair appeared first in a bookstore on the island and I felt instinctively that there was something unusual about her, not pathological, just very different. At the same time, I was learning about synesthesia, a neurological condition where multiple senses fire at one time, often in a surprising way. Numbers have colors, sounds have smells. Immediately I knew this was perfect for Tess, our sage, who would have heightened and unusual senses. Other characters stepped into view and they appeared with obsessions or chemical imbalances. And lastly, a dog appeared in the book, who turned out to be a better therapist than anyone. I am convinced that therapy works for some of the people some of the time. While that is not a ringing endorsement of psychotherapy, it is true. I am far more convinced that animals offer us something more potent than talk therapy because I have seen examples of it often in the lives of my patients. The dog in my novel is a huge presence for both Rocky and the young girl and the dog offers a form of redemption that was not found in the human relationships. Pet-facilitated therapy. I once worked with a college student who was suicidal. She was dangerously depressed. In desperation, I remembered that she had a puppy at home, a beautiful brindle boxer. I asked her, “If you kill yourself, who will take care of your dog?” When she realized that no one would take care of the dog, she vowed to stay alive and get better. I know this sounds ridiculously simplistic, but I have seen the bond between human and animal to be a powerfully sustaining force. Another patient who I worked with for several years struggled with a family where alcoholism, betrayal, physical abuse, and neglect were the hallmarks. After every visit with her family, she would appear in my office devastated from more disastrous interactions. Finally she convinced her mother to allow her to get a dog, a very tiny dog. From the moment that the six-pound dog trotted into the house, everything changed in her family. Everyone had someone to love, to be affectionate with, to protect, and be protected by. The family didn’t become perfect, but by having the dog to love, they were all able to practice how to love. I maintain a private practice and deliberately keep my patients out of my books. Their confidentiality is sacrosanct. But the understanding of human motivation, trauma, resiliency, and recovery has been essential to my writing. |
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The Process of Writing Truth |
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Q. What inspired you to write Truth? |