Kathie Giorgio on How To Handle Writing The Hard Stuff

By: Kathie Giorgio

“You say what you want to say when you don't care who's listening.”

― Allen Ginsberg

When you ask writers why they write what they write, you will get as many answers as there are to the question, “What is the meaning of life?” We writers write for every reason imaginable, and some of us change those reasons with every project, while others gnaw at the same bone our whole life through. 

And then there are writers like me, who basically just can’t keep our mouths shut.

I’ve been called a “dark” writer, a “disturbing” (thank goodness not “disturbed”) writer, a “fearless” writer, an “honest” writer. Of them all, I like “honest” best. I tend to write about the things that people have very strong feelings about – and consequently, if they see something that defies that, they get angry.

I’ve written about abuse and infidelity, rape, and especially the treatment of women involved in all of these. In my nonfiction, I wrote about being assaulted by a man in a Make America Great Again hat, a few days after Trump’s inauguration. Most recently, I’ve written about suicide, not about the people left behind, but about how those who choose to end their own lives feel, and how they are treated. 

There have been times I’ve wished I could be a “light” writer, and some of my favorite writers are exactly that. But I find that what most often makes me run for my computer is something that twists my heart and my psyche, and I write about it in order to find out more, to learn, which is what I hope my readers do too. And ultimately, I write to help.

There are some drawbacks to this, of course. These are things you have to learn to deal with, if you’re going to do this kind of writing. First, look at how I am described as a writer, that I just listed above. Hearing yourself called dark and disturbing is…disturbing. You may question why you write such things, why you’re interested in them, and I’ve certainly done a lot of that. And sometimes, it’s right in your face. I was teaching once at a writing conference, and I happened to be close by the book-selling table when I saw a woman pick up my novel, Rise From The River. This book is about a young single mother who is raped, and it covers the issue of 39 of our states giving the rapist and his family more rights than the victim. Someone standing next to the woman who was looking at my book said, “Oh, you should get that. I’ve read it, and it’s amazing!” The woman put the book back down. “No,” she said. “It’s just too dark.” And she wiped her hand on her jeans like she’d been holding something dirty.

That hurt. And these things will hurt. I write, and other controversial writers write, with a sense of sincerely wanting to shed light on something, usually something that needs to be changed. So to be treated as part of the problem, and not part of the answer, can be difficult. So what do you do?

You do your best to not remember the woman who put your book down, and remember all those that picked it up. 

That’s a universal problem, it seems, across the board of writers. From the writers I know, to the writers I teach, to myself, it is somehow much easier to remember the rejections and insults than it is to remember the acceptances and praise. You might have to print out some of these good comments and keep them somewhere where you can readily see them. 

And you always need to remember your motivation. You don’t write to hurt; you write to help, and to try to make the hurt go away.

Another issue that arises when you write about controversial issues is, in a sense, battle fatigue. Writers sink into their characters. We are immersed in them. When we’re not writing, the characters follow us around and tap us often on the back, reminding us there’s a story to be told. But when you have a “dark” story to tell, it’s very possible to start feeling pretty dark yourself. 

The solution? Take a break. Write something else entirely different. Don’t write at all. Spend a week reading nothing but comic strips. Walk in the sun. Hug your favorite person. Let them hug you. 

And then remind yourself that you’re a good person and get back to it. 

If you’re writing about controversial issues, you’re doing so because you care. Because you want to make a difference, because you want to help. You want change. And the most important thing about writing on these topics is to keep doing it. To keep reminding yourself of your motivation. You aren’t writing for shock value (some writers are), you aren’t writing for attention (some writers are), and you aren’t writing to hurt someone (some writers are). The most important thing to do when writing about controversial issues is to be true to yourself. Remember who you are and why you’re writing. 

And then just keep going. 

Kathie Giorgio is the author of seven novels, two story collections, an essay collection, and four poetry collections. Her latest novel, Hope Always Rises, will be released on February 28, 2023. She’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in fiction and poetry and awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association, the Silver Pen Award for Literary Excellence, the Pencraft Award for Literary Excellence, and the Eric Hoffer Award In Fiction. Her poem “Light” won runner-up in the 2021 Rosebud Magazine Poetry Prize.  In a recent column, Jim Higgins, the books editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, listed Giorgio as one of the top 21 Wisconsin writers of the 21st century. Kathie is also the director and founder of AllWriters’ Workplace & Workshop LLC, an international creative writing studio. 

Kanchan Bhaskar on The Healing Process of Writing

By Kanchan Bhaskar

I never considered myself a writer or had the urge to become one. Although, I have always been an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction. I am fascinated by writers’ courage and admire the expression of their thoughts and feelings but could not fathom the driving force that made them hold a pen and paper in their hands to build their narrative. 

My children have pushed me for years to write my story and get it out there. It was not until my therapist Leslie told me I needed to share my compelling story of transformation from a victim of domestic abuse to a survivor. “Become their advocate, Kanchan. They need you”. I teared down and hugged her, standing in her embrace for good thirty seconds. And she failed to hide her emotions too. Writing my story and reaching out to people in adversity became my core purpose, my mission. 

On my way home from the clinic, I called my three children one after the other, “Mom is ready to write.” They were thrilled to hear the eagerness in my voice. I came home fully energized and inspired. I straight away routed to the garage and looked for the box labeled Kanchan’s notes, loosely filled with written legal papers, inked in napkins, post its, papers from notebooks turned yellow bearing my emotions and mental thoughts scribbled on them throughout my years of agony. I picked up the box and brought it to my patio. I then moved my writing desk to the patio, opening up into a nicely trimmed lawn with pine trees, facing a church, across the road surrounded by mature oak trees which brought in soulful vibes.   After all, I needed an environment to write. Isn’t that the way authors bring out their thoughts? I had to follow their practice to become a writer, I kiddingly smiled to myself. However, my patio is my favorite space in my whole house where I spend most of my time, after work and on weekends. 

I was all set to take off-blank sheets from my printer, my surface pro, although my first draft was to be on paper, and a set of my preferred black ink gel pens.  After chronologically arranging the papers from the box and sketching the framework, I started to write. It came as a surprise and a pleasant revelation that I had the flare to express. I was astonished and enthused in the same breath when I read back the pages voicing my emotions on paper. “I can do it,” I said to myself. However, putting out my tumultuous journey of living in the imprisonment of an angry, alcoholic and violent husband was going to be treacherous.  I was trapped under his control, power and sadist behavior-solitary, isolated and alone for years. But, my commitment to writing kept me going day after day, page by page, diving back to my deep embedded hurt, which I believed was gone, that I had moved on, turned out to be not true. I realized it was going to be a tough jaunt, tougher than I had envisaged. 

It brought back the remnants of the torture and suffering, transported back the symptomatic, physical, mental and emotional pain in my body. It was a roller coaster ride, soaring high in the sky one moment, bringing a smile of joy, hope, desire, tenacity and empowerment of the times when I got free, turning into moments of loud shrieking noise coming from my heart with the downward spiral reminding me of the gory episodes, the torment and distress, the depressive spells and the silent agony.  I went through a period of PTSD. But the core purpose of writing my story, sharing it with the world, and reaching out to people of domestic violence did not deter my spirit from writing. I was as relentless now as I was when building the ramp toward my freedom along with my three children, who were casualties of the gruesome environment. 

Reaching out to people was my only mission and there was no stopping me. I was needle focused, generating chapter after chapter. There were times when I had to take short breaks- walk in the nature or meditate to remain sane and centered. Then, I had to take a couple of longer breaks to come out of the PTSD spell, and overcome writer’s block. I took a vacation to Munich, Germany and Vienna which I always wanted to do. Hallstead was my favorite in that trip, setting serenity and calm in me. I felt inner happiness and sensed the true healing enrapturing me. I recognized writing my narrative of distress and pain were going to cure my crushed heart and soul which it seemed had not yet completely healed. 

I had just suppressed my pain in the wake of moving on and enjoy my newly found freedom. Now, I allowed myself to create more space in my heart and brain for acceptance and forgiveness to keep working on the core purpose of my life. I came back from my retreat full of exhilaration and warmth in my heart to begin the chapters where I had left. In the previous chapter, I had already escaped and survived, protected my children and brought them to a safe place. I had to complete a few more chapters of my life. My journey had not stopped after coming out as a survivor. Now, I had to live my life and catch up for the days lost. I had freed my body but there was more healing to be done to free my mind and soul. Thus the journey towards spirituality began. 

Faith in universe had taught me orderliness follows chaos, peace follows war and joy is not far behind suffering. I had a firm belief joy will come in my life someday, one day. I read spiritual books, listened to podcasts and interviews of spiritual gurus and learned men. Met and talked to seekers, like me. Mindfulness, surrendering to anger, greed, lust, attachments, and ego were some of the fundamentals of spirituality that touched my inner self. While writing the chapter, “Rekindling my spiritual journey”, I reminisced, how I gained my inner strength, humility and gratitude. How serenity and tranquility brought me to clearly see and admire the rising orange ball from the east side of my house, stillness in the trees, the white swans gliding in the infinite sky, the water falls, the star studded atmosphere, the ever changing shapes of moon. I could once again laugh at jokes, and move my body at the turning on of music. I had come full circle with a regained identity, dignity and close to my bare Self-Who I was. The choice to write my memoir was the wisest decision I took. I feel fully recovered and healed now.  

Kanchan Bhaskar (Kan-chan Bhas-car), an Indian-American, is a first-time author. She holds a Master's Degree in social work and a certificate in life coaching. She is also a certified Business Coach. Being a successful Human Resource professional, her expertise is in training and mentoring. She is a certified advocate, speaker, and coach for victims and survivors of domestic violence. Kanchan lives in Chicago. Learn more about Kanchan on her website: kanchanbhaskar.com

Jordan King on The Inspiration for "White Oaks"

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. 

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Jordan King, author of White Oaks, a story about a disabled veteran whose repeated drug overdoses result in him being sent to a mental hospital with a dark secret.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

Yes, so White Oaks started as a short story; it was actually one of the first things I ever wrote. If you read the book, chapter four is that original short story. Although it has always been fiction, there are elements that are pulled from my real life. Like my protagonist, Jason, I’m a disabled veteran and have had a lot of issues over the years and continue to deal with a lot of chronic pain. There have been periods over the last 15+ years when my way of dealing with those issues was with substance abuse. I wanted to address that head on with the short story, and I just couldn’t get it out of my head so I started to expand it and it ended up becoming like therapy. How I processed the things I’d done over the years and how I was ultimately able to let some of that stuff go and move on.

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

I just started asking what if questions. What if Jason were to get clean? Would it be voluntary or forced? If forced, who would force it and what would those circumstances be? It was obvious to me from the start that it should be forced, so I started thinking of ways to make Jason’s world much smaller. I couldn’t think of a better way to do that other than stripping him of his autonomy, and putting him in a place he couldn’t simply walk away from when things got too hard. Somewhere he’d not only have to deal with his personal issues that landed him there to begin with but simultaneously deal with fundamental things like survival. 

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

Oh absolutely. I’ve heard authors talk about how they often felt like the story wrote itself, or once the characters were firmly established, they’d take on a personality of their own. I never understood that until I started writing myself. I plot and plan and map things out before I start writing. Usually, I’ll stick to the plan (or somewhere plan adjacent), but there are times when things just kind of happen while I’m writing, things that are nowhere near the plan, they just end up on the page. Even though it can be problematic at times for “the plan” those are some of the moments I enjoy the most about writing…when the characters take over and push the story in a direction I never considered before and I just kind of vanish, like I’m narrating events rather than creating them. 

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

They come often enough to keep me busy continuously, but that’s probably because I focus on novels and those take a really long time, so if I don’t have a solid idea for several months, it’s not a problem because I’m still working on the last one. If I was a short story writer, I think I’d be in a lot more trouble as far as coming up with fresh material regularly. Successful short story writers are like magicians to me. I can rarely figure out how to write something interesting, fleshed out and complete in such a small package.

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

White Oaks is my second novel. I have a third finished (still looking for an agent or publisher!) and am working on my fourth novel now. Each time was the same. I chose whatever I couldn’t stop thinking about. There are some ideas that come and go, but the other ones (the ones that become books), I obsessed over until I felt like I just HAD to write it. Also, going back to what I said about plot and feeling like I vanish into the story. That’s probably the best part for me and when I really know I’m working on the right thing, when I sink in so far that I feel like I’m narrating events and the real world around me and anything that’s wrong with it vanishes into the story with me.

I have 6 cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

I don’t have any pets, so no writing buddy for me. I don’t think I’d find distracting at all – it’d be a comfort, but I say that from a place of complete ignorance of what pet ownership is like. That said, my brother and his wife have a Great Dane (Duncan) they rescued a couple years ago. I just met Duncan for the first time recently and he is the sweetest living thing I’ve ever encountered. He can be my writing buddy any day. 

Jordan King earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Miami of Ohio. His non-fiction essay "Lost Time: A Road Trip Journal" was published in Adelaide Literary Magazine, February 2019. White Oaks was a finalist in the Ohio Writer’s Associations’ Great Novel Contest of 2019, and is Jordan’s debut novel. He lives in Central Ohio with his wife and son.