Why I Write Of The Damaged

“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”

― Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

The world eventually broke Hemingway to the point that he took his own life. Many have speculated about the reason(s) why the greatest American author of his time took his own life, even I discuss it in One Day I Was. However, regardless of why, the fact is that a strong-willed person, who had become stronger many times, was eventually broken. The world always wins.

The characters I write are all, in one way or another, damaged, and some eventually become broken. I write about damaged and broken characters because in my experience, the damaged person is the norm, not the exception.

We are all, to one degree or another, in some way damaged. That is not a bad thing. Many of us survive and even thrive from the world’s efforts to break us. Additionally, as writers, understanding the damage within ourselves, allows us to understand, and further explore the damaged and broken in others, and eventually, in our creations. Thus, we can give voice for those who may otherwise have no one else to let the world know of their great, often internal, struggles.

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