We’re continuing with the hero’s journey, and today I want
to tell you about the trauma that awakens the hero and catapults him or her
along their journey. The trauma can be a death (especially one that is
unexpected or sudden), a divorce or split, job loss, illness or a move—especially
one that is necessitated by financial burdens. These traumas comprise the most
stressful events an individual can experience in their lifetime.
In The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King, Andy Defresne’ journey begins
when his wife is murdered and he is tried, convicted and sent to prison though
he is an innocent man. It is one of any man’s worst nightmares, because all he
has known is gone and he is left powerless, often victimized in a tough prison
where there is no escape—or so we think. Andy embarks on the reluctant hero’s
journey because it is not one of his making, but as we turn the pages we
discover that Andy finds traits within himself that will not only keep him
alive but eventually turn the tables on the corrupt prison management.
All great books show us characters that are transformed by
their journeys, whether it is Andy Defresne, Scarlett O’Hara or Oliver Twist.
I try to remember the life-altering traumas when I write my
own books. In Vicki’s Key, for example,
the book begins with a recurring nightmare, a memory buried in Vicki’s
consciousness when a CIA mission failed, resulting in innocent children’s
deaths. It is that mission that so traumatizes her that she leaves the CIA and
embarks on a new life—only to have the CIA catch up with her. She is
transformed through the series as she gains strength and ultimately faces her
demons.
The Tempest Murders
begins with a different type of trauma when Constable Rian Kelly’s lover dies
at the hands of a killer during one of the worst storms in Ireland’s history. We
then switch to the present day to find Kelly’s great-great-nephew, Detective
Ryan O’Clery, investigating a string of murders identical to those Kelly had
been investigating—and Ryan discovers his nightmares are actually the memories
of his ancestor. He, too, is transformed as he must face inner demons that have
haunted him since childhood.
In A Thin Slice of Heaven,
we encounter another type of trauma that leads our hero on her journey.
Charleigh arrives at a remote castle in Northern Ireland anticipating a
romantic anniversary celebration when she receives a text from her husband
telling her he is leaving her for another woman. Stranded at the castle, she first
wallows in her grief before pulling herself together and moving on—and in the
process, discovering things about herself.
Great books thrive on conflict: they move the plot forward,
they keep readers guessing at the outcome, and they ultimately change the main
characters forever. A great book leaves you feeling like you know the main
character as if he or she were a close friend; long after you’ve closed that
last page, you find yourself thinking of them.
It was like that for me as I
read The Girl from Ballymor by Kathleen McGurl, the haunting story of a young
woman experiencing the Irish Potato Famine in the late 1840’s. Kitty McCarthy
had six children by the age of 30 and within a three-year span had lost her
husband to a copper mine accident and five children to famine and disease. I
found myself awakening during the night thinking of her life and how similar it
must have been to thousands of Irish.
A life-transforming journey not only changes the main
character but also has the ability to change the reader, our views of history
and our world, and of mankind—where we came from and where we are heading.
Join the discussion on my Facebook page. Let me
know which books and characters that have remained with you over the years, and
their life-transforming journeys.
Pictures of staged crime scene and Ireland courtesy of FreeImages.com.
